Heart of War

Today, the Singapore Artillery remembers two of its fallen gunners in an annual tribute it has carried out for the past 13 years.

The newspaper tributes pass almost unnoticed year after year, except for people familiar with the events that took place during the first Thunder Warrior artillery war game on 9 March 1997 in Waiouru, New Zealand.

On that fateful day, tragedy gave way to heroism as Singapore’s citizen soldiers and New Zealand Defence Force personnel fought to save the gun crew of an FH-2000 155mm field howitzer that blew up during the live fire exercise.

Full-time National Serviceman (NSF) Third Sergeant Tan Han Chong, 21, an artillery specialist, and NSF gunner Lance-Corporal Low Yin Tit, 18, died when a 155mm shell exploded prematurely in their FH-2000. The shell had been armed with a faulty fuze, sourced from the United States but actually Made in China. Go figure.

The gunners were from the 23rd Battalion, Singapore Artillery (23 SA). Eleven other SAF servicemen were injured and four were hospitalised.

Years before this blog was started, I noticed that Headquarters Singapore Artillery (HQ SA) would remember 3SG Tan and LCP Low on their death anniversary. At first, I wondered if interest would peter out after a couple of years.

But HQ SA has never failed to mark the occasion.

I may stand corrected but the Artillery formation is the only one I know among all the SAF Services – Army, Navy and Air Force - to have run tributes for so many years. Defence watchers who track SAF developments from open source material are likely to have arrived at the same observation.

I find the newspaper tributes very touching. HQ SA’s dedication to its gunners exemplifies the core value “Care for Soldiers” (in this case, “Care for Gunners”?). It is one of the seven core values that many Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) servicemen will probably be unable to recite by heart even with the threat of extra duty.

The gunners in 23 SA would have been refreshed several times over in the past decade and it is likely that few NSF artillery officers and gunners in the battalion would know 3SG Tan and LCP Low personally.

At HQ level, probably only a handful of gunners who gained firsthand experience with Exercise Thunder Warrior 1/97 are still in service.

But the tributes continue, reflecting the Singapore Artillery’s desire never to lose touch with its past.

The inquiry into the fatal incident produced results that could have shaken the confidence of a less cohesive command structure.

But live-firing exercises resumed and gunners’ confidence in their weapons was restored.

How long more the newspaper tributes will carry on is open to question.

Even if the annual tributes are dropped some day, I am confident that somewhere within the ranks of HQ SA, the two fallen gunners will be remembered.

At 23 SA, every round counts. So does every gunner.