Agnes Fong Sock Har (born 1946) is a Singaporean former military officer. She was the first woman to hold the appointment of a commanding officer in the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A component of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore), Ministry of D ...

(SAF) when she took command of the first Air Supply Base in 1979.

Military career

In 1967, Fong was working as a clerk at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

when the first batch of recruits were called up for conscription (National Service). Along with Nancy Tan Soo Keow and Patricia Koh Kim Toh (both of whom later served with the

Singapore Police Force The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is the national and principal Police, law enforcement agency responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in the Republic of Singapore. It is the country's lead agency against organised crime; hum ...

), Fong voluntarily signed up for military service and was commissioned as an officer later that year after completing an officer cadet course. In an interview with ''Pioneer'', a publication by the

, Fong said: "The early years were particularly frustrating. I was working in various logistics departments then. A few other women officers joined me later but we felt we were not contributing to the nation as much as we could. Nobody trusted women much those days and we were assigned unimportant tasks that were quite irrelevant to an officer's grooming." Fong, then holding the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, made history in 1979 when she was made Commanding Officer of the 1st Air Supply Base. It was the first time in Singaporean history when a woman was appointed as a commanding officer. When asked about how she felt, she replied, "I'll try hard to respond to the challenge. After all, I've more than my own future prospects to lose. This the first time they're putting a woman to such a major test." After her appointment, she was given more opportunities to develop her analytical and leadership skills. By the time she retired, Fong had been promoted to the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. Fong was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame in 2014. The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame was launched in 2005 to honour some of Singapore's pioneering women activists, educators and philanthropists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fong, Sock Har Agnes Women soldiers Singaporean military leaders 1946 births Living people