Finally, the Last D10 Member is Found!

Today is a HUGE day in our D10 Reconnection journey.

The final missing member of our platoon is located and importantly, rejoined.

He is none other than our very own Willie Lim.

I remember him back in OCS as a devout Christian, always bible in hand outside the corridors of our OCS barrack. He was taller and bigger sized than me and it was always great to have him help out in weapons carry, bashing through jungle, etc. He was always cheerful (no doubt aided by a positive Christian outlook) and gung-ho; a demeanor that often brought levity to an otherwise serious platoon proceeding, especially during mission topos and training overseas.

He also had his own way of thinking and that often made our PC Ang say: "Lim Willie... Must be different!"

Whether he was quirky or into his own Christian world, it was never a doubt that Willie was a good chap to have about. He as also pretty sportive.

I recall sparring him in the boxing ring. It always felt a challenge as he was bigger and rather bullish. A good thing I took karate-do in my teens and thus was not so easily put-off.

I think in boxing we all took away some important personal lessons. But the one thing we all can agree on is how tired our arms would become, often hanging limp by our sides after each training session. Our triceps were certainly still soft as tofu during those fresh NS years.

Finding him.

I knew he was devout - and from SAJC - so my first search was if he had become a senior member of a church.

I made calls to SAJC but they were fruitless, as were searches on the Internet.

How about Facebook? As a resource it was useless. There were just tens of Willie Lims...many not anointed with a profile photo. So, how to identify if any were our Willie Lim? Of course at times I would send a Messenger message to enquire. Thus far, no replies.

After each failure to find him, I would take a break and hope something of him would appear in a Google search later. (Hopefully good news!)

I would also wonder each time I came across a Christian organisation, if Willie Lim belonged to it.

This happened one time when I passed by a Family Victory Centre near my place. I thought about it but left it at that.

Then last week, I came across a flyer from VFC. The thought of Willie's association returned and I sat down to do a Google search. I used the keywords: Willie Lim, 55

A search result with Willie Lim's name finally turned up. It listed him as a volunteer at an VFC outlet. Could it be him? Well, it was a week-day morning so I put a call to the VFC HQ. Turns out there was a Willie Lim but he was helping out at a VFC pre-school. I made some inquiries and left my number. Days passed and I forgot all about the matter.

So imagine my surprise when just the other night (Friday), I checked my phone at about 1 am+ and received the following text:

.

It was like seeing something really amazing... a lost locket or special childhood toy! And he had seen our D10 blogs!

(By this time, I had completely forgotten all about me calling VFC and trying to locate him (such was the frequent disappointment of looking for folks). It had turned out that my reach-out to VFC was fruitful. And here he was, sending me messages and even a photo!

It is really nice when an old friend is willing to reconnect.

Apparently after Willie Lim learnt I was looking for him, he went and checked up on me on the Internet, trying to affirm if I was actually doing work for D10, not for some tax collector from the IRS or "dai yi long" (debt collector) from Geylang (haha).

So, it was a fantastic day for D10. For Chee Hwa, Willie was his buddy from BMT days. He was Tiah Ann's D10 buddy. I am sure his SAJC mates will be thrilled to re-acquaint with him.

So with this, the search for D10 mates officially comes to an end. With Willie found, it behooves folks like Adrian, Mooi and Ho Soon to finally find peace of mind and circumstance to reconnect with the rest of us at Platoon 10, Delta Coy, 1/82 IOCC. We wish them well and patiently await that day.

- Happy like bird! as they say, heheh. ;-)

84mm Life Firing. Willie there holding the dummy round. Me on the gun. Fun times. ;-)