Dateline 4 March Sunday 2012, Raymond Goh after a grueling morning tour which stretched 3 hours, returns to Bukit Brown after lunch and scored a hat trick which helped connect relatives to their ancestors.

Tomb  1-

The family of a  certain Mdm Fong Fon who died during the war. They family had contacted  LTA who then advised them to contact me. They  emailed me previously but I had not time to reply. So I  decided to search for her the day before  and found it, and today (Sunday) I saw them looking for graves at Blk 4 with some tomb keepers., Out of curiosity I approached  them. They were looking for plot number 20. Bingo! It was the same tomb belonging to the same family who had emailed me. The plot number was indeed 205, but it was at Blk 3 Section .

Tomb 1 lost & found

Tomb 2 –

I was coming down from the Gan Eng Seng tomb when I  encountered  3 people looking for their grandfather’s tomb. They had never been to their grandfather’s tomb  but recalled  their father telling them it was somewhere up a hill. They managed to obtain the tomb number  from the burial register, it was Blk 3 Section B tomb 389.  He was a certain Mr Ng who hailed from Tong Ann. I led them quite high up the steep hill, and when they saw their grandfather’s tomb they apologized to him for not visiting for a long time. They then  informed him that if it had not been for a volunteer to guide them, (yours truly) they would never have found him, and they thanked the stars for this wonderful reunion.

Tomb 2 lost & found

Tomb 3 –

This was the third attempt of a request to locate the grave of a  17 year old woman Tan Lay Chee who died in 1932.  Although the tomb address is  Blk 3, Section C, 857,  it was actually located at the very top of the hill, some where  in Section B. I think for all of us, each and every tomb in Bukit Brown  is precious, whether big or small, poor or rich, for it means something special to someone out there. It was third time lucky as they say, but sometimes the spirit of Bukit Brown works in mysterious ways and my last tomb find of the day, enriched me greatly at the end of a long day.

Tomb 3 lost & found

text and photos by Raymond Goh