125thAnniversary Souvenir Magazine-1852-1977 1977 | Page 113

Commanding Officers

Year

This year , as the school celebrates its 125th Anniversary , the SJI Cadet Corps enters its 71st year of excellence . Since its inception , the Cadet Corps has always acted as a training ground and has been responsible for the feeding of men into the Local Forces . Brigadier T Campbell , Col John Morris , Lt Col James Teo , Lt Col Zee Chee Kiong , Maj Robert Wee , Maj Timothy De Souza , Maj Tham Chee Onn and Capt Stephen Wong are but a few former SJI Cadets who hold positions of trust and responsibility in the Singapore Armed Forces .

The seventy-one year old St Joseph ' s Institution Cadet Corps came into existence in 1906 with the late Capt Caldbeck as its first Commanding Officer . In the following year , the cadets formed a Guard-of- Honour at the opening of SJI Anderson Building by the Governor of the Straits Settlement , Sir John Anderson .

Disbanded during the outbreak of the First World War , the Corps was reformed in 1926 under Capt R H pennefather , an old boy and a veteran of the Gallipoli War Front . He installed a thirty yard long Miniature Rifle Range beside the School Hall ( now non-existent ). In 1933 , he resigned his commission and was succeeded by Capt C V Reutens . The other officers of this period were Lts A W Jansen , Lim Choo Sye , Ngui Jim Chiang , Guy Machado and S P Nayagam .

Up to the early thirties , there were only 2 cadet units in the whole of Singapore : SJI and Raffles Institution . Officers and NCOs from both schools attended a one week " All Malayan Schools Cadet Corps Camp " at Port Dickson for two successive years , when invariably at games , it became Brothers ' Schools vs Govt Schools . Later , camps were held annually on the Straits Settlements Volunteer Forces camp site , which is now the Frankel Estate . The cadet ' s uniform then consisted of Khaki drill shirt and shorts , kneelength puttees and slouch hats .

One of the most heartening incidents in the history of the SJI Cadet Corps was the readiness with which some officers and older members of the Corps answered the call for the defence of Malaya and Singapore against the Japanese invaders at the outbreak of the Second World War .

After the Japanese Occupation , the officers who left the Corps were replaced by Lts Joseph David , A C James and John Tseng . The Corps became a Unit of the newly formed Singapore Military Forces and cadets took courses at the HQ of the SMF at Beach Road for the Certificate ' A ' Proficiency Examination , Parts I and 11 . It was around this time that the slouch hats were replaced by brown berets and the puttees by gaiters and annual camps were held at Pulau Belakang Mati ( now Sentosa Island ).

In 1952 Lt J David left to join the Singapore Education Service and was replaced by Lt C Carnegie . Capt Reutens retired in 1953 as the Commanding Officer and was succeeded by Capt Lim Choo Sye . Lt John Tseng resigned soon afterwards and Messrs Low Siew Mok and John Morrice joined the Corps as lieutenants . In 1956 the Corps celebrated its Golden Jubilee with a gala shooting competition between the old and new cadets . During this period , the brown berets were replaced by green ones and a new cap badge was worn . The gaiters were discarded and a new type of puttees with hose-tops was issued together with jungle green web belts of the 1944 pattern .

Following the tragic deaths of Lts James and Low in 1957 , Lts Joseph Yip and Khong Jin Kiat joined the Corps . In the same year the Corps of Drums was formed . In 1958 , the annual camp was held on Pulau Tekong Besar and at the end of the year , Lt J Morrice joined the Singapore Infantry Regiment , in which he is now a Colonel . In 1959 the Corps became attached to the Royal Army Service Corps of the British Army . Lt Michael Tan joined the Corps in 1959 followed by Lt Benedict Oei in 1960 .

In January 1961 , Messrs Tang Wing Kee and Patrick Branson both old boys of SJI , joined the Corps as Under Officers . They were sent for Officer Cadet training with the S . V . C . of the Singapore Military Forces . Mr . Branson did not complete the course and left SJI to join Changi Prison as a Prison Warden . In 1962 cadets mounted the Guard-of-Honour at the Singapore Airport to welcome the Superior-General of the C . B . S ., the Very Rev Bro Nicet Joseph . With the retirement of Capt lim Choo Sye , Capt T 0 Aeria took over the Corps . In 1964 , for the first time in its history , Capt Aeria invited boys from St Joseph ' s Secondary School ( as the afternoon session of SJI was then called ) to join its ranks . Formerly , membership was restricted to pupils of the morning session . In that year two outstanding cadets L ! Cpls Tham Chee Onn and Peter Gan successfully completed the O . B . S . Course at Lumut .

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