Winston Choo
| Winston Choo Wee Leong | |
|---|---|
| Born |
18 July 1941 Singapore |
| Allegiance | Singapore |
| Service/branch | Singapore Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 1959–1992 |
| Rank | Lieutenant-General |
| Commands held |
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| Battles/wars |
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| Awards | see #Awards |
| Spouse(s) | Katherine Seow (m. 3 December 1966) |
| Other work | see #Diplomatic career and #Other work |
| Winston Choo Wee Leong | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 朱維良 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 朱维良 | ||||||
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zhū Wéiliáng |
Winston Choo Wee Leong (born 18 July 1941) is a Singaporean diplomat, civil servant and former general. He was the first Chief of Defence Force of the Singapore Armed Forces from 1974–1992 and held the rank of Lieutenant-General.
Choo was given the name "Winston" by his grandfather, who named him after Winston Churchill. He grew up in Makepeace Road in the Newton area and received his education in Monk's Hill School (1947–1952) and Anglo-Chinese School (1953–1957). While he was in Anglo-Chinese School, he captained the school's football team, played hockey, and won the Queen's Badge (now the Founder's Badge) for his activities in the Boys' Brigade.
Choo enlisted in the Singapore Military Forces (renamed "Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)" in 1961) in December 1959 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in December 1961 after completing his officer cadet training in Port Dickson, Malaysia. Following that, he served as a platoon commander in the 1st Battalion Singapore Infantry Regiment (1 SIR) and was involved in two major operations. The first was when he was deployed to Sebatik Island, Borneo between 1963 and 1964 during the Konfrontasi. The second was when he led his men in patrolling the streets during the 1964 race riots in Singapore.
After Singapore became independent on 9 August 1965, Choo, then the battalion signals officer, was appointed as a military aide-de-camp to Yusof bin Ishak, Singapore's first President. He was recalled to the SAF in 1966 and served as the first Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Signal Battalion from 1967–1968. Between 1968 and 1969, Choo attended the Long Telecommunications Course at the School of Signals in the United Kingdom, returning to Singapore to serve as the Second-in-Command (2IC) of the 1st Signal Battalion. In 1970, he was appointed as the Chief of Communications and Electronics (now the Chief of Signals).
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