My Grandfather Was A Pioneer Singaporean Firefighter; This Is His Inspiring Story
Singapore netizen Hanirusyaidi Subhan shared short stories about his 83 year old grandfather who served as one of Singapore’s pioneering batch of firefighters. FIREMAN 259 HAJI SUPAHAT BIN HAJI MUHAMMAD served in the Singapore Fire Brigade since before Independence, from 1957 till he retired in 1990. His account also revealed a cheeky side of his grandfather that few knew about.
My mother told me a story about when she used to call the office phone, they would shout “Petot 259” but when it was my grandmother, his wife, they would shout “Fireman 259 Supahat”. Little did the family knew that the reason for the difference in name was to let him know who was on the other side of the phone (so he would know when to rush to the phone and when he could take his time, cheeky fella!).
Hanirusyadi hoped that his sharing would inspire more Singaporeans to show appreciation for our pioneer generation who have contributed and sacrificed for Singapore. He hoped his grandfather would also feel that his friends and fellow retired firefighters have not forgotten him.
Part of Hanirusyaidi’s sharing has been reposted below in case it is no longer viewable:
“One of the most notable events he was deployed in was during the collapse of Hotel New World on March 15th, 1986. Surprisingly, my father was also deployed at the same locality as my grandfather except as a soldier in the Singapore Armed Forces. And coincidentally enough, they’re in-laws now. I tried my best to ask him what he could remember from the rescuing of civilians during the tragedy but he said everything happened so quickly and it was so hectic he wasn’t able to remember anything.
Today is his 83rd birthday and I am blessed to still have him by my side. He is my smoking, coffee, talk cock buddy and I wouldn’t trade the world for him. I got him a Bomba Singapura t-shirt (you can see him wearing it the other way round as he wanted to show the words infront) to show my appreciation to him for his time and energy serving this nation in a place where people go under appreciated. Thank you for your service and happy birthday, FIREMAN 259 HAJI SUPAHAT BIN HAJI MUHAMMAD. And happy birthday Singapore.
If you have grandparents or relatives who would probably know my grandfather, do show them this small article I wrote so that I can show him that his friends and fellow fire fighters aka Bombas still remember him. Please keep sharing this article so that it can reach out to others and hopefully inspire others to show their appreciation for our pioneers.”
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