A Daughter's Quest

17 September 2012, I received this e-mail from a stranger....A pleasant surprise indeed...

Hi I am the daughter of late Capt Choo Yeok Boo. Am wondering if you have any old photos or information on my father. 
thanks

Zena Choo

From left: The late Capt (A) Choo, arwah Capt (A) Mustaffa Kamal

The late Capt (A) Choo Yeok Boo, one of the 11 killed when a Nuri, FM 1715, was shot down in Gubir ops area on 26 April 1976. And, he was one of the 3 recipients of PGB from the RMAF. In my reply, I told her that I'd documented the tragedy in my book and the National Archive. Her response...

It's really good to hear from you so quickly. How do i get a copy of the book and also, do you know who else i can contact for photos of my father?

My dad received a PGB medal posthumously, and it was stolen from my mother years ago. Do you know how i can obtain some records of it?

I also want to visit his grave, the last time i was at the camp, they informed me that the graves were moved.

Well, the least I could do was to forward her email to KP JHEV....

Saya harap pihak Dato' dapat membantu Ms Zena, anak kepada mendiang Kapt (U) Choo Yeok Boo PGB yang terkorban dalam nahas Nuri pada 26 April 1976, berkenaan dengan rekod PGB bapanya. Sepertimana yang dinyatakan, pingat PGB berkenaan telah dicuri orang. 

Kerjasama Dato' sangat dihargai. Terima kasih.

I also asked her if she wouldn't mind telling me about the family after the incident. I told her that readers are interested to know what happen to the kins of those fallen heroes. And if possible, photographs. I'm happy that she willingly obliged to my request.... 

I was only 8 months old when my father passed away. I am now trying to find out more about my dad as I have some time on my hands. 

My mom went on to marry a Sgt from the air force, Krishna Moorthy when i was 3 yrs old, which ended in a divorce 10 years later. In total there were 3 of us from my father and 2 more from my stepfather. It's difficult to put into words how things were after the tragedy. I hear wonderful stories from random people about him, but never knew him. I am now on a quest to find out more about him and document as much as possible.

This is a photo of us taken 2 years ago during CNY. 

Photo Caption (L to R) :  Prema Swea Choo a/p Krishnamoorthy (born 1981), Grete Han Choo a/p Krishnamoorthy (born 1983), Lani Choo May May (born 1974), Chong Bee Yim (my mother), Tahirih Choo Fay Fay (born 1971), Zena Choo Lay Lay (born 1975)

This morning, I called No 7 Sqn, RMAF Kuching, requesting if they could assist her in sending her father's photographs if still available in their Scrap Book. I'm happy that the officer is willing to assist and, in fact, asked her to call him.

Now that I'm in contact with the families of the late Capt (A) Choo, arwah Capt (A) Mustaffa Kamal and arwah Lt (A) Wan Munsiff (click here), I wonder what happen to the families of the others perished in the crash. Those with any form of information relating to the families are most welcomed to email me.