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Solemn military send off for 3SG Gavin Chan, NSF killed during Ex Wallaby

SINGAPORE — On a drizzly Saturday (Sept 15) morning, more than a hundred family members and friends of Third Sergeant (3SG) Gavin Chan, who was killed in a vehicular accident during an overseas military exercise on Sept 15, turned up at the wake near his Pasir Ris home to pay their last respects and send him off.

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SINGAPORE — On a drizzly Saturday (Sept 15) morning, more than a hundred family members and friends of Third Sergeant (3SG) Gavin Chan, who was killed in a vehicular accident during an overseas military exercise on Sept 15, turned up at the wake near his Pasir Ris home to pay their last respects and send him off.

His parents and three younger siblings, who were visibly distraught, were among the last few to say their final farewells to the full-time national serviceman, as 3SG Chan's favourite song – entitled Later in Mandarin – by Taiwanese singer Rene Liu played softly in the background.

At one point, a soldier leaned down to comfort 3SG Chan's youngest sibling, putting his arm around the nine-year-old as she sobbed into a piece of tissue paper.

Then the coffin was shut, and the national flag draped over it.

And as the light drizzle turned into a downpour at about 10am, fellow 3SGs from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) — all sporting black armbands — loaded his flag-covered coffin on a hearse. The cortege, armed with black umbrellas, followed the hearse as rain began to fall in earnest.

Arriving at the Mandai Crematorium, 3SG Chan was accorded the honours of a military funeral, where about 400 people, including 300 military personnel and 3SG Chan's family members, were waiting to receive him. 

Servicemen of all ranks lined one side of the road as the hearse approached the service hall, accompanied by the military band playing George Handel’s funeral march, Dead March from Saul. When the hearse came to a complete stop, they saluted smartly.

The flag-draped coffin was then carried by eight pallbearers into the service hall, where eulogies were delivered, before the state flag was handed over to 3SG Chan’s parents.

Three rounds were fired by six soldiers as a salute, before The Last Post bugle call sounded, representing a final farewell to the late serviceman.

One minute of silence was observed, followed by the sounding of the rouse — a bugle call commonly used in conjunction with the Last Post at military funerals and services of dedication and remembrance — marking the end of the military funeral.

3SG Chan, 21, was a vehicle commander from the 41st Battalion Singapore Armoured Regiment.

While participating in Exercise Wallaby at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia, the Bionix Infantry Fighting Vehicle that he was guiding out of difficult terrain landed on its side.

The incident left him unconscious and an SAF medic carried out resuscitation efforts on him.

He was then evacuated via helicopter to Rockhampton Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 10.36pm last Friday. The driver and two other passengers travelling in the vehicle were unhurt.

Writing on Facebook on Saturday, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen wrote: "The SAF mourns the loss of this precious son and extends our deepest condolences to the bereaved family.”

On Saturday morning, Serangoon Junior College, which 3SG Chan attended from 2013 to 2014, posted a farewell tribute to him on their Instagram page.

Calling him an “inspiring community champion, student leader, college ambassador, and most of all, a young man with the heart of an angel”, it said 3SG’s passing was “not the way things should be”.

“But we hold on to the way he showed us life should be – driven by deep feeling and purpose, poured out for others in word and deed. May this live on through the hearts and hands of those of us whom Gavin has touched,” it added.

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