Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“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, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Court disagrees - but terrorist is to die
Judge : Red had pistol - Assessors say 'NO'
Kuala Lumpur, Wed. A High Court judge today disagreed with assessors on the question of whether a terrorist Yap Keow Sin, 35, had a pistol and ammunition when he was captured - and he sentenced Yap to death. The assessors Mr.Loh Kim Wah and Mr.J.M. Burke said they were not satisfied Yap was carrying a pistol and ammunition. Yap, reported to be a section leader of the Min Yuen organisation, was convicted of unlawfully possessing a Browning pistol and 29 rounds of ammunition.
He was captured after a police patrol had wounded him in the left arm and chest at Sungei Gantong, Rawang, on January 2nd 1956. With his arm in plaster Yap stood in the dock today - the third day of his trial - and was overwhelmed with emotion as he heard the judge say he would be hanged. He gave notice of appeal. The assesors, Mr.Loh Kim Wah and Mr.J.M. Burke, had said they were not satisfied that Yap had the pistol and ammunition when Mr.Mukhtiar Singh, leader of the patrol captured him. Mr. Mukhtiar Singh had said that after the shooting he took the pistol and ammunition from Yap's waist. The assessors however were satisfied that Yap had no lawful authority to carry firearms.
Satisfied
They did not think it likely that the pistol had been entrusted to him for safe keeping by another person. Neither did they consider that he had intended to surrender. Mr. Justice Smith said that although he disagreed with the assessors on the questions of the pistol and ammunition, it was implicit in their answers that they were satisfied Yap had had the pistol and ammunition at some stage. "I am satisfied that what Mr. Mukhtiar Singh described actually happened." Mr. Justice Smith continued, " I consider it improbable that the accused, wounded as he was, would have been able to loosen and cast off his belt with his heavy load of pistol and equipment." "I regard it as extremely unlikely that a uniformed terrorist such as the accused would be without a weapon, particularly a person whose terrorist associations appear to date from 1949."
The judge said he was satisfied that Yap was shot in trying to escape and when caught offered no resistance. To that limited extent only could he be said to have surrendered, he said. Yap, he added admitted carrying the pistol and ammunition of a sick comrade. He had not proved that comrade was in lawful possession of the arms or that he himself was a person in any way entitled to be in possession of arms and ammunition. See more of Inspector/Captain Mukhtiar Singh in the news and his letters of commendation.
