SINGAPORE - For years, Winston Wong’s family only knew him as a former captain in the army who was calm and reserved.

Until his retirement in 2018, Wong, now 79, kept his roles as a pioneering member of the SAF’s bomb disposal and naval diving units relatively hush.

His was an illustrious career, from sweeping war relics and explosives to leading a mission to dispose of a heavy, active bomb in Bangladesh.

After graduating from the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute (SAFTI) in 1968 and bomb disposal and mine clearance diving courses in the UK in 1970, the combat engineer’s first missions involved neutralising hidden sea-mines and bombs from World War II.

“When Singapore developed with a lot of excavation and building of houses, they discovered a lot (of unexploded devices). There were sea-mines also laid during the war. Some were not very active, but still very dangerous because we have international sea lanes,” added Wong.

In the 1970s, remnants of sea-mines were uncovered across the sea channel to the Keppel Harbour area, he said.

Wong spoke to The Straits Times on Sept 11, two days before he was to speak to the public about a critical Bangladesh mission that he led in 1978 to safely get rid of an unexploded bomb near an industrial estate in Joydebpur, north of Dhaka.