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The Lion Above the Door
Illustrated by Pippa Curnick
Leo and his best friend Sangeeta are the odd ones out at school. They look different, eat different, and even get bullied different.
Leo's dad tells him that being Singaporean and Indian makes both him and Sangeeta 'special'.
But how can they be special, when none of the heroes in all their history lessons look like them? Or have names like theirs?
Not even in books about entire World Wars!
All that changes however when, on a school trip to Rochester Cathedral, Leo sees something incredible on a wall commemorating World War II heroes: his own name, Leo Kai Lim.
It's a name that leads Leo and Sangeeta on an epic quest to uncover the story of a forgotten soldier, and the thousands of brave men and women whose stories remain missing from the pages of history.
DID YOU KNOW?
The soldier 'Leo Kai Lim' in the story is based on the real-life Singaporean RAF WWII pilot, Tan Kay Hai.
Tan Kay Hai was trained as a Spitfire pilot in Canada, before taking on one of the most dangerous roles whilst flying combat missions during WW2. He was one of the only Singaporean pilots to fight on D-Day.
Shot down over France in 1944 and captured by Nazi forces, Tan Kay Hai managed to escape the prison camps in 1945 before being rescued by US forces. He went on to march through the streets of London on VE Day, and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) by the RAF for his courage and role in felling at least 17 Luftwaffe planes (saving thousands of lives).
In 2024, following invitations to speak at the Tanglin Trust international schools in Singapore, Onjali launched a public quest to find the family of Tan Kay Hai.
With the help of the Strait Times' Ian Cheng, she was able to find and meet his eldest son and some of his grandchildren. See article HERE.
And with the help of one phenomenal librarian, Onjali was also able to locate and pay respects to the site of Tan Kay Hai's gravestone.
But that is not this end of the story...
NEW MISSION
Tan Kay Hai's story (like so many of our forgotten / eradicated s/heroes) deserves to be known of and celebrated in history books and museums across the world.
NO ONE deserves to have their stories of heroism eradicated because of Racism.
Onjali is now working on a number of exciting projects to ensure Tan Kay Hai is honoured properly and known about by global audiences
If you would like to assist, please CONTACT US through the contact form HERE.
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