“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.”
“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace,
for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man." “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
Tribute to a respected commanding officer By Adrian David - June 4, 2022 @ 5:59pm
Sunday, June 05, 2022
Col Harchand Singh during his service days
New Straits Times : PORT DICKSON: The late Col (Rtd) Harchand Singh had the distinction of having commanded four Royal Ranger Regiment battalions. Till today, he still holds that record of helming the 4th, 2nd, 5th and 9th battalions.
Harchand, who turned 92 on April 7, died following an illness at his
Port Dickson home on May 24 and his remains were cremated at the
Sendayan Fairy Park, the next day.
At his funeral, Harchand's former student, Major-Gen (Rtd) Datuk Toh
Choon Siang had high praises for his master, someone he has known for 45
years.
Harchand left a lasting impression
among his charges, whom he had often described as his 'precious jewels'
who fought alongside him in many battles against communist insurgents,
the Confrontation (with Indonesia) and the two Emergencies.
"I had known him since the day I joined the Army way back in January
1977, when my Short-Service Commission Intake 31 batch mates and I
reported for training at the Pre-Officers Cadet Training Unit (Pre-OCTU)
at Sebatang Karah camp in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan.
"Harchand was the facility's commandant (as a lieutenant-colonel),"
said Toh, in his eulogy at Harchand's funeral in Port Dickson, recently.
Present to pay their last respects were Harchand's widow Eva Guest
and son Zoraveer Singh, Army Senior Officers Institute commandant
Brig-Gen Inderjit Singh and his deputy Col Suthan Venkatachalam, Army
Training and Doctrine chief of staff Col Jagjit Singh and its Colonel
Doctrine Col Norulhisham Mohd Shuib, Army Infantry Directorate deputy
director Col Wan Edenin Wan Mahsin, Negri Sembilan Veterans Association
secretary-general Major (Rtd) Sahi Kassim and Harchand's close buddy
Major (Rtd) A. R. Ramachandran.
Also there were Toh's batch mates Lt Col (Rtd) Lee Chee Kiat, Capt
(Rtd) Loo Choon Chew, Capt (Rtd) Chong Phi Lip and Capt (Rtd) Steven
Liew Hon Seng.
They gathered around Harchand's coffin to accord him a final salute
as the 'Last Post' was played, before Toh handed over the national flag
symbolically to Zoraveer.
Toh, who retired as the Sibu, Sarawak-based Army First Division
commander in 2019, said Harchand's appointment to command four Ranger
battalions was something anyone could pride himself of.
Reminiscing his earlier service days, Toh said between 1983 and 1985,
he had the honour of serving under Harchand again as an instructor at
the Army Combat Training Centre (Pulada) in Ulu Tiram, Johor.
"A true officer and gentleman, Harchand was a great commander,
leader, father and elder brother to all of us in the Armed Forces.
"He sacrificed a good 33 years of his youth serving the Army with
distinction," said Toh, adding that Harchand was among the first group
of multiracial officers who joined the Pre-OCTU of the Federation
Military College in 1952.
"Harchand was among the early ones selected for cadet training, after
the famous 'Templer's 12' (12 young men hand-picked by British High
Commissioner, Field Marshal Tun Sir Gerald Templer to form the nucleus
of Army officers).
"After six months at Pre-OCTU, Harchand's group of 36 potential
officers were initially sent to Eaton Hall, England for a six-month
stint.
"He was among 24 who proceeded to the Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst, England for another six months before being commissioned as a
second-lieutenant in 1955 into the 1st Battalion Federation Regiment,"
said Toh.
Harchand was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1968 and first
commanded the 4th battalion (based in Ipoh, Perak), then the 2nd (Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah) a year later, 5th (Port Dickson) in 1972 and 9th
(Penang) in 1978.
He was promoted to colonel in 1981 as Pulada commandant and retired in 1985.
"Harchand lived a long and colourful life and we are going to miss him dearly.
"Though we are sad that he has to leave us but we should be happy at
the same time, because he need not have to endure anymore pain due to
his recent illness.
"On behalf of all his comrades, I would like to thank Eva for having taken such good care of him all these years.
"He would not have enjoyed the good life he had, without you," Toh said.
He thanked the church for organising the wake and the funeral service.
Toh commended the 8th Battalion Royal Rangers Regiment (Parachute),
led by commanding officer Lt Col Zahari Affandi Mat Noor, for arranging
the pall bearers to ceremoniously send off the Malaysian flag-draped
coffin of Harchand's cortege.
"Lastly, on behalf of Eva, Harchand's friends, relatives and former
comrades in arms, I will like to bid him a heartfelt farewell and may
you have a smooth journey to the better place.