GOING BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY

For many, watching the National Day Parade (NDP) live can be a special occasion. But what made the night even more memorable for a family of four was the kindness shown to them after the parade.

Mr Len Chua and his family had just finished watching the NDP rehearsals at the Padang on 11 Jul and were making their way out when he found that they were stranded near Swissotel the Stamford. His car was parked at Raffles Place and the route there was closed off to members of public.

As there was a mass of people leaving the parade then, spectators were encouraged to move towards City Hall MRT for smoother flow of traffic. Personnel from the NDP Show Management Committee were on the ground to manage the crowd flow.

Among them was Captain (CPT) See Haojie, Officer Commanding of Lion Company from 42nd Battalion, Singapore Armour Regiment (42 SAR). When he realised that Mr Chua's wife had difficulties walking, he made an exception by allowing them to access St Andrew's road. The road was originally off limits to the public.

Explained CPT See: "It was at the East sector of the Padang where I discovered Mr Chua and his family asking for help from my soldiers. I approached them only to realise that they were asking for directions to their car, which was parked at Raffles Place."

He provided them an alternative route, but soon found that due to certain road blocks, it would make the Chua family walk even further to get there. CPT See decided to take things into his own hands by escorting them down St Andrew's Road, which led them directly to Raffles Place.

Seeing that the Chua family had two young children - a three-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl - he helped to carry them so that Mr Chua could better attend to his wife.

Lieutenant (LTA) Elijah Lim, a Platoon Commander from 42 SAR who was with CPT See, went ahead to clear the way and scout for a safe and convenient route to get to the Fullerton.

From across the Padang, CPT Raymond Ang saw the situation and came to help the family as well. The Logistics Officer from 42 SAR then carried Mr Chua's son while CPT See carried the daughter.

Because of their assistance, Mr Chua was able to focus his attention on helping his wife during the long walk back to their car.

That very night, Mr Chua conveyed his gratitude towards CPT See, CPT Ang and LTA Lim for their compassion and service through a Facebook post.

He wrote: "As they led us, they even conversed with our kids, asking them what they thought of the show, and entertained them by getting them to high-five the ushers along the way.

"I really salute them for going beyond the call of duty, and for their compassion and service. What a great example of the Singapore Spirit!"

Within hours, the post went viral and received positive comments from the public. One commenter, Brandon Crouch, wrote: "With all the negativity going on in social media, this story warms my heart. Its small random acts of kindness, such as this, that continues to restore my faith in humanity... Hats off to them!"

When cyberpioneer spoke to CPT Ang, he said that Mr Chua's son was quite tired after the show and he was talking to keep the boy's spirits up.

Through his conversation with the family, CPT Ang also discovered a fun fact: Mr Chua had participated in NDP as a band conductor many years ago and understood the enormous amount of work needed to put up a good show for the spectators.

Said CPT Ang: "I really appreciate the kind words on Facebook. I'm sure many of our guys did something similar in our many weeks at the Padang in preparation for NDP.

"We were just doing what many other Singaporeans would have done and are really humbled by all the great comments."