Veteran Singaporean bomber pilot Captain Ho Weng Toh will turn a ripe young 100 in March next year.

But he's still fit as a fiddle, travelling, meeting with countless friends and luminaries here and abroad, and most recently on Tuesday (Nov. 19), launched his very own autobiography.

Book launch at National Archives building

Held at the Oldham Theatre of the revamped National Archives building, which took over the old Anglo-Chinese Primary School campus 50 years ago, the 132-seat venue chosen for the launch was packed and overflowing with attendees, many of whom were senior and former Singapore Airlines pilots who were trained by the pioneer flight instructor.

There were sons, daughters, nephews, grandchildren of Ho's former comrades, old friends, tennis buddies, and even his current girlfriend (his late wife, Augusta, succumbed to lung cancer in 1977) in attendance.

Ho also counted among the ranks of his "fan club" the likes of Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh, former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong and founding chairman of Singapore Airlines (SIA) J. Y. Pillay.

In a short speech he gave at the event, Ho recalled he was initially very surprised that people would actually be interested in his life story. The idea of recording his life story in a book, he said, came rather accidentally — when he was having dinner with former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo and billionaire Robert Kuok in Hong Kong some time back.

"During the dinner, over a few drinks, I was carried away and told them my life in China, they were so taken and said, 'you are such a colourful person, you should do it, otherwise what you have done will not be recorded and it will be a loss!'"

During the question and answer segment, Ho was asked if his story will be made into a movie. Ho said doing so would need to pull in a lot of resources but what he really hopes to do next is to translate the book into Chinese so that Chinese-speaking people can also read about his story — and through that, understand better the contributions of the Flying Tigers.

Immense contribution to SIA and a good boss that S'pore needs

In Koh's opening speech at the book launch, he mentioned two things that he learnt from Ho — the first being that "life is an unpredictable journey".

Ho had never wanted to become a pilot — he aspired first to be an engineer. But as life panned out for him, he eventually survived seven missions as a bomber pilot and after the war, he came to Singapore and joined SIA, where he spent much of his career mentoring and training many SQ pilots.

Koh also complimented Ho as a "living example of somebody who is a good boss", following a recent op-ed he wrote on why Singapore performed so poorly in an annual survey on employee engagement.

"Why do I say that? He was a good boss because he believes you don't demand respect from others, you earn the respect from others by respecting them. He believes the two most important qualities are modesty and humility. He was kind to everybody and not just to pilots, from cabin crew to ground crew. He is the kind of boss that Singapore needs and is in very short supply."

Following the book launch, Koh also posted about Ho's book launch on Facebook, describing his life story "like the script of a Hollywood movie".

About the book

Ho's book, Memoirs of a Flying Tiger: The Story of a WWII Veteran and SIA Pioneer Pilot, retails for S$28 (paperback) and S$86 (hardback) in major bookstores and online. It is co-written with National University of Singapore philosophy lecturer Jonathan Sim.

It is a poignant story of Ho as a small-town boy from Ipoh who stumbled into a lifelong flying career spanning 38 years as a pilot.

The book spans his good and bad years, and the trials and tribulations he encountered in his journey from being a refugee student to becoming a Chinese Air Force B-25 bomber pilot. It also captures Ho's will to live, his burning desire to contribute towards the World War II effort and his endurance of the hardship he went through alone, often in silent solitude.

Beyond the war, Ho also shares memories of his childhood days and his growing-up years, his family and important values imparted by his father, his eight-decade friendship with his late best friend Meng Seng and amusingly, his numerous romantic encounters.

Top photo via Tommy Koh's Facebook page