<![CDATA[Singapore pilot, 99, remembers wartime Hong Kong and being a Flying Tiger]>
One particular memory that stands out for the 99-year-old was seeing Kai Tak Airport " Hong Kong's international gateway from 1925 to 1998 " go up in flames in front of him.
"From the balcony, I had a clear view of the Kai Tak Airport ... The airport had always been a pleasant sight for me. That day, it was not," said Ho, who was born in Ipoh, Malaysia, but was studying at the University of Hong Kong at the start of the war.
"Above the airport were plumes of black smoke rising up to the sky."
Ho Weng Toh when he retired from Singapore Airlines. Photo: Handout alt=Ho Weng Toh when he retired from Singapore Airlines. Photo: Handout
Japanese aircraft bombed the airport and other areas in Kowloon in December 1941, when Ho was living in HKU's May Hall hostel, with " as he recounts " a valet who would make his bed and polish his shoes.
In a newly released 312-page book titled Memoirs of a Flying Tiger: The Story of a WWII Veteran and SIA Pioneer Pilot, Ho describes the Japanese occupation as a "very fearful period" and tells of how he went on to sneak supplies to prisoners of war. Eventually, he fled Hong Kong for mainland China, managing to evade capture by Japanese troops hot on his heels.
Ho eventually volunteered and became one of the pioneering pilots of the famed Flying Tigers " the First American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force (CAF) " that helped China battle the Japanese during World War II.
His memoir, co-written by Jonathan Sim, an instructor at the National University of Singapore's philosophy department, also details his gruelling year-long training to be a pilot that took him to India and the United States, where his American friends nicknamed him "Winkie".
After the war ended, Ho stayed on in mainland China but soon became disillusioned with the civil war that was breaking out between the Kuomintang and the Communists. He decided to leave the CAF and returned to his hometown in Ipoh for a break but then realised that he was proud to call China his home. He returned to mainland China to work at the Central Air Transport Corporation, and married a Portuguese-Chinese woman, Augusta Rodrigues, in Shanghai.
But as the city began to be attacked by communist forces, the couple fled in May 1949 to Hong Kong and eventually ended up in Singapore, where Ho rose through the ranks to become chief pilot at Singapore Airlines. He retired in 1980.
Ho said he overcame the obstacles he faced through resilience " a value his strict family had taught him during his formative years.
The book launch of Memoirs of a Flying Tiger in Singapore. Photo: Handout alt=The book launch of Memoirs of a Flying Tiger in Singapore. Photo: Handout
"I often fall back on a memory of how my father struggled like mad to keep us going. He told me life was a struggle because we did not have much," he said.
"My family also showed me what it was like to be kind, and the right way to treat people."
These lessons would guide his actions in wartime Hong Kong, such as when he risked his life to deliver canned food to prisoners of war held in concentration camps in Sham Shui Po.
Ho said he tailed the POWs marching to the concentration camps as he was curious and wanted to help them however he could. Some were medical students who were volunteering and got arrested because they were in uniform.
"I knew those people would not have enough food. Their health would go down. It was just a matter of compassion," he said.
"I managed to buy some canned food. It was very foolhardy of me, not knowing the danger," said Ho, who was then 21. "The camp was huge and I managed to put the food inside the fence. Then I signalled them since I was a scout."
Ho Weng Toh at the book launch. Photo: Handout alt=Ho Weng Toh at the book launch. Photo: Handout
As part of the Flying Tigers, Ho trained in various places, including Kunming, India and Colorado. He eventually took part in several missions during the war flying the B-25 bomber, aimed at destroying Japanese warehouses and routes to cripple their advance.
Ho was honoured in Beijing and Taipei for his contribution to the anti-Japanese war effort during the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in 2015.
At 99, the former pilot is still "remarkably fit and erect", said former Singapore foreign minister George Yeo in the preface of the memoir.
Robert Kuok (left) and Ho Weng Toh at dinner in 2013 at the Shangri-La Hotel. Photo: Handout alt=Robert Kuok (left) and Ho Weng Toh at dinner in 2013 at the Shangri-La Hotel. Photo: Handout
Ho said he has "a lot of feelings for people", and this connection with others is what keeps him going.
After spending much of his life training pilots for Singapore Airlines, he said many of his trainees now took turns to take him out, and reminiscing about past events was something that brought him comfort.
Ho recounted two romances he had before he joined the air force. The first was an accidental love story, he explained. He was 18 and wanted to improve his Chinese, so friends introduced him to a girl at a Chinese school in Ipoh wanting to learn English. "We had some sort of exchange. One evening when we were studying, an eraser fell [from the table] and both of us went under the table. I think I took advantage and kissed her," Ho quipped.
When Ho was training in the US, he fell in love with a young woman named Marilyn. She wanted him to stay in Colorado but he had to leave to prepare for the battle against the Japanese. To give her a sense of assurance, they got engaged. But to his shock, he received news that she died less than a week later.
"I could not believe it. I just saw her a week before and she was very healthy," said Ho. "I initially thought her mother had objected [to our relationship] but found out she died of acute asthma."
After the war, Ho met his wife, Augusta, in Shanghai. They had three children and she died in 1977 of lung cancer.
Ho also introduced his current girlfriend, Helen, to the audience during his book launch last month.
Ho Weng Toh and his wife Augusta, pictured at their engagement in Shanghai in 1949. Photo: Handout alt=Ho Weng Toh and his wife Augusta, pictured at their engagement in Shanghai in 1949. Photo: Handout
As one of the last remaining members of the exclusive Flying Tigers club, Ho said he decided to write a memoir as many people were curious about the events that unfolded from the 1940s to 1960s, although he admitted he failed to include a handful of "legendary" personalities in the book, and might write a supplement.
Ho said that even though the book was written for his friends and family, he hoped readers would be able to glean some lessons from it. One would be how they should adapt to their environment as life was unpredictable.
"Not everything will be stable all the time. The world is full of turmoil everywhere," he said, alluding to how Hong Kong has been experiencing anti-government protests for six months.
The cover of Memoirs of a Flying Tiger. alt=The cover of Memoirs of a Flying Tiger.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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