Tan Chong Tee
Encyclopedia
Tan Chong Tee is a Singaporean Chinese
Chinese in Singapore
Chinese Singaporeans are people of Chinese ethnicity who hold Singaporean nationality. As of 2010, Chinese Singaporeans constitute 74.1% of Singapore's resident population, or approximately three out of four Singaporeans, making them the largest ethnic group in Singapore...
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran. Born in Shrewsbury Road
Shrewsbury Road
Shrewsbury Road is a street in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, and was the sixth most expensive street in the world in 2007. The street is bordered to the north by Merrion Road and to the south by Ailesbury Road....
in 1918, Tan participated in many anti-Japanese activities such as boycotting Japanese goods and fund raising after the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
broke out in 1937.
Tan lost touch with his family in 1942 and joined Force 136
Force 136
Force 136 was the general cover name for a branch of the British World War II organization, the Special Operations Executive . The organisation was established to encourage and supply resistance movements in enemy-occupied territory, and occasionally mount clandestine sabotage operations...
, befriending Lim Bo Seng
Lim Bo Seng
Lim Bo Seng was a World War II anti-Japanese resistance fighter based in Singapore and Malaya.-Family background and early life:...
. He participated in Operation Gustavus to sabotage Japanese ships. He was captured by the Japanese in 1944 and spent the next 18 months in captivity. When Tan was finally released after the war, he learnt that his older brother Tan Chong Mao and his mother had been killed by the Japanese.
He wrote an autobiography to tell the heroic stories of Force 136.
Further reading
- Tan Chong Tee. Force 136: Story of a World War II Resistance Fighter. 2001, Singapore, 2nd Edition. ISBN 981-3029-90-0.