Pasir Panjang Heritage Day 2 and War Vets Forum

The Pasir Panjang Heritage guides spent Sunday morning illustrating the Battle of Pasir Panjang and the flora (more than the fauna) of the park. It was Day 2 of our special September sessions in commemoration of Memorial Month.

September is Memorial Month and with STB promoting the events especially the conference and commemoration ceremony, we have received more visitors from overseas interested in the war this time.

I put up some half-hearted photos here. I know our NAS partner Stella took more with a heavy-duty SLR today, so am looking forward to those.

Our secret weapon for this walk is the ice cream man - it's no accident he's there, Project Managers Kiah Shen and Wendy call him!

Later Anand, Kenneth & I scampered off for the war vets forum at Singapore History Museum (now at Riverwalk). This photo was taken by Stephanie Hester, a PhD student from Univ. Adelaide in town for the Memorial Month. We guided her at Pasir Panjang earlier.

At the forum I finally met Kark Hack and Kevin Blackburn with whom I had first corresponded with in 2002 for a loan of their map on the Changi (WWII) historic area 1942-2002. It was then a pre-print book and the expensive hardback came out in 2004, I believe. The paperback was launched today and I grabbed a copy from the Select Books counter for $37.50 once I walked in.

Romen Bose was there so we ribbed him about throwing a spanner in the works with that mornings news (from his forthcoming book) about the actual date of the Japanese surrender!

It was an enjoyable forum and we heard a variety of experiences and I have copious notes; unfortunately I had to leave near 6pm before the third session began.

First posted on Otterman speaks, 04 Sep 2005.