When once the flag flew me

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Once, during NS, me and two other guys were made the battalion’s flag raising party for one of many early morning parades.

This task entailed picking up the flags from the Regimental Sergeant Major’s office, checking the cords to make sure nothing was frayed, and rehearsing our marching to the flag poles at the top of the parade square, and then doing it for real during the actual parade, complete with raising the national flag and the Army flag.

We were told several times to check and make sure that the loops for the flags were attached properly before raising the flag during the national anthem, and told in no uncertain terms, on pain of pain, that we should never, ever, raise the flag upside down.

To our horror, as the anthem played, the white portion of the national flag appeared to creep up the pole as we hoped against hope that the flag was merely impossibly crumpled and would unfurl itself soon enough.

It didn’t, and it was the longest Majulah Singapura I had ever heard. Our lives flashed before our eyes as we contemplated a long stint in detention, and we felt the ridicule and then the pity heaped on our backs from our battalion mates standing in parade behind us, as we raised the upside down flag the best we knew, and only took it down once the parade was over.

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5 responses to “When once the flag flew me”

  1. Benjamin Lee Avatar

    From miyagi.sg: When once the flag flew me http://bit.ly/EVuZ6

  2. sivasothi Avatar
    sivasothi

    Gosh, what a tough break! All that practise and this happens.

    An RC ofice near my place displayed the flag upside down an entire day last year. This year they let the flag drape on the floor. I couldn’t take it anymore so I went back there and confiscated it.

  3. Melvin Avatar
    Melvin

    The cords tying to the flag somehow came loose (Don't ask why, I don't know either) and the flag flew down to the floor once when I was raising the flag.

  4. Melvin Avatar
    Melvin

    The cords tying to the flag somehow came loose (Don't ask why, I don't know either) and the flag flew down to the floor once when I was raising the flag.

  5. Xtinatanst Avatar
    Xtinatanst

    This reminds me of the time when I did the same thing at school assembly. As a primary school prefect, there was a roster for us to raise the national flag and school flag for the morning assembly, as the national anthem was being played. It was only after everyone was filing up to the classrooms that the prefect headmistress came over and quietly advised me to correct it. :/ It was cheeky but unintentional, and I’ll probably remember that incident for a long time.

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