Remembering Our Military In The Congo (ONUC) 1960.

On November 3rd 1960, C Squadron 2 Recce (now 2 Armour) minus the Rifle Troop had arrived at the Leopoldville (Kinshasa) Railway Station in the morning. Despite the ongoing strike, we managed to successfully unload all our vehicles, aa great deal through our own effort by the afternoon.

All our Ferret armoured cars were lined up and ready to roll by 1500 hours. It was going to be a show parade driving past "Le Royal", ONUC HQ enroute to our new Camp Ozone.

This was a nice PR exercise to showcase the Armoured element of our Malayan Special Force to the UN and the local populace. No soft skinned vehicles, only the 18 Ferret Scout Cars coloured in Port Dickson green driven in a single file. The irony was, we were led by a non Armoured Volkswagen Beetle driven by Maj Desmond Furney, an Irish man seconded to 1 Recce Regiment and employed as our Senior Liaison Officer at ONUC HQ.

At around 1600 hours, the long thin line of 18 Ferret Scout Cars followed the the Volkswagen of Maj Furney on a momentous journey for the drive past to our new camp. Maj Zain Hashim led in the leading Ferret, 2/Lts Tan Siew Soo in the 3rd Ferret, Philip Lee Khui Fui in the 7th Ferret, Tee Bua Bian in the 11th Ferret and Teoh Say Chee in the 15th Ferret.

Unknown to most of us then, Lt Gen Carl Von Horn (a Swede), UN Supreme Commander appeared smiling at the window of the 6th Floor. What was more obvious and very touching was clearly the friendly wave of hands by the many UN staff particularly the Secretaries who had gathered at the balcony to greet and welcome us. It is an occasion like this that makes one extremely proud of the uniform and the Regiment to which one belongs!!

Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku,

TAN SIEW SOO, Lt Col (Retired) ARMOUR