Tuesday, March 24, 2015

LKY funeral rehearsal


Singapore mourns for its first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew (1923 - 2015).

Preparations for the funeral of Singapore's founding father are moving into high gear.

Seen here are Mercedes-Benz G Wagens from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) configured as Gun Carriages for 25-pounder guns. These vehicles have replaced Land Rover Defender 110s as the vehicle of choice for State and Military Funerals.




2 comments:

Chan said...

David, any idea why the commands were given in English (i.e. "Forward, March") when the coffin was moved to Parliament House?

P said...

I noticed that too. I had the opportunity (whether unfortunate or not) to be involved in 2 military funerals during my NS in 2 different units.

In both instances, I noticed that the RSM and CSMs had to enlist the help of their seniors for advice.

From my understanding, the "book" on drills mentions little on how exactly they should be carried out. It only mentions about the main components and SOP of a funeral.

In both cases, the RSM/CSMs had to have a meeting to agree on a standard and rehearse according to it. We did not use English or Malay but rather rehearse according to cues of "up, up, up" for every step.

Therefore i believe, English is used to standardise the commands concisely given the short time and the prominence of the late LKY.