In 2017, I started my research on the fate of granduncle Silvestr Nemec, a young Czech employed by the Bata Show Company in Singapore, who volunteered to fight the Japanese when they invaded the island during World War II. He went missing in 1942 and was involved in two historic events of the falls of Singapore: the battle of Pasir Panjang Ridge where the Malay Regiment made their last stands on Bukit Chandu and the Alexandra Hospital massacre.