MERSING CHRONICLES

Chapter 9 Conversations

EYEWITNESS TO THE BATTLE OF MERSING: 4 MONTHS ON PAKU ISLAND

Part 3: Conversations

The New Yorker Magazine, March 16, 2055.

Evelyn Lee remembered the conversations she had with Major Nur, the Special Forces officer from the Royal Malaysian Navy. To get to the peak of the island named Paku Point which was at an elevation of 1102 foot from sea level, they had to climb through a vertical metal ladder enclosed in a one meter diameter concrete tunnel encased within the granite column of the island. The climb was 800 foot high. Her two cousins, Ken and John, who were six footers and much larger than Major Nur had difficulty climbing through the tunnel. They did it once only for the view at the peak and thereafter vowed to not go through that ordeal again after suffering many bruises and scratches. So Evelyn and the Major were the two people who spent the most time together at the top. She recalled snippets of a conversation below:

"You were trained as a mechanical engineer, and yet you joined the army and became special forces? Why?" Hiang asked point blank.

It was a full moon night, clouds were everywhere, and the sea seemed to be shimmering, the moonlight glinting off its surface. Not a single warship in sight.

"Didn't see myself fit into a desk job. Engineering is a lot of desk work and looking at screens and reports. After years of studying, I thought a far more active career would be better."

"Aren't there jobs in engineering that requires physical activity? For example oil rig workers?"

"You don't use engineers to tighten valves, that's what grunts do. Moreover.." Nur said emphasizing the 'Moreover', "I sort of like the military ethos, the do or die mentality of the soldier, the 'yours not to question why, yours but to do and die' ethos."

She rolled her eyes, "Really?"

"I saw that movie 'Charge of the Light Brigade' years ago and I thought it was pretty dumb what happened to them," she emphasized.

"I didn't mean it that way. Sure question orders if you think they are stupid, but after all that, and the orders are pretty solid and have a good rationale, the soldiers obey even if it means death."

"As in when General Lee gave orders for General Pickett to charge the union lines at Gettysburg?"

Nur was taken aback. Approximately 12,500 Confederate troops under General Pickett charged the center of the Union line at Gettysburg on the 3rd day of battle in July 1863 during the American Civil War and was repulsed with heavy casualties.

"Exactly," he said. "How did you know about that?"

"I read Major," she turned around, "Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels. Even visited the battlefield."

"You're into the American Civil War?"

"Major Nur, I am into a lot of stuff."

"Am missing a wingman," Nur said.

"What?"

"My Singaporean counterpart manning this fort with me. He's supposed to show up 4 weeks ago. So am missing a wingman."

"Here take this bino and scan the other side for me, I can't cover everything," he handed her the binoculars.

"What do I do?"

"If you see anything at all besides a fishing boat, holler."

Hiang took the binoculars and scanned the south, while Nur scanned the north.

"What happened to the Singy guy?" Hiang spoke into her mike.

"Think he got caught in the fighting. Chinese had landed at Desaru too and maybe they got to Kota Tinggi before he could get past the town."