Springbok 2016

LEGIONNAIRE JOHANNES CHABA, ASSISTED BY LEGIONNAIRE CHARLES ROSS, LAYS A WREATH AT THE SS MENDI MEMORIAL SERVICE IN ATTERIDGEVILLE.

JUNE 2016

SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 TABLE OF CONTENT Message from the National President ……………………………………………………………………………….2 From the Editors Desk ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 National Headquarters………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 National Executive Committee Workshop 01 to 03 April 20016……………………………………….……4 Assistant National Secretary…………………………………………………………………………………………….……7 SA Legion – New B2C Poppy Logo…………………………………………………………………………………….……9 Department of Military Veterans Data Base…………………………………………………………………………12 New Veterans Badge…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13 Establishing the Women Military Veteran Association of South Africa…………………………………13 Royal Commonwealth Ex-Service League Meeting……………..………………………………………………..14 Portfolio Committee Reports……………………………………………………………….…………………..………14 The Relief & Welfare Portfolio of the SA Legion………………………………………..…………………………14 Projects: Delville Wood 2016 Tour…………………………………………………………..………………………….14 Public Relations……………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………15 Branch News…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15 Brakpan Branch ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 Cape Town Branch……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16 Durban Branch ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16 Durban and District Battlefield Tour…………………………………………………………………………………..18 Kagiso Branch…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20 Pietermaritzburg Branch …………………………………………………………………………………………………..21 Port Elizabeth Branch ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..22 Pretoria Branch …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22 Soweto Branch ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….22 Legion MC…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22 Legion Riders ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………25 United Kingdom and Europe Branch ………………………………………………………………………………..25 Commemorations………………………………………………………………………………………………………..28 SS Mendi Memorial Service Atteridgeville……………………………………………………………………….28 Three Ships ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..31 SS Mendi Hollybrook, Southampton………………………………………………………………………………..34 SS Mendi Noordwijk Netherlands……………………………………………………………………………………34 Sinking of the SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER Memorial Service……………………………………………….34

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Gunners Memorial Service Cape Town…………………………………………….………………………….39 Commonwealth Day Parade United Kingdom……………………………………..……………………….39 Koevoet Memorial Service……………………………………………………………………………………………39 National Gunners Memorial Service Potchefstroom……………………………………………………42 ANZAC Day Memorial Service Pretoria………………………………………………………………………..42 Smuts Memorial Service Irene………………………………………………………………………….…………42 Council of Military Veterans Organisation Memorial Service ……………………………………..42 Comrades Marathon 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………….…..……44 Silver War Badge Certificate……………………………………………………………………………….………44 Founders Day Parade Royal Hospital…………………………………………………………………….…….45 Armed Forces Day United Kingdom……………………………………………………………………….……47 Centenary Commemoration of World War One…………………………………………………..….47 Battle of Jutland………………………………………………………………………………………………………...47 Battle of Salaita Hill…………………………………………………………………………………………………….51 Battle of Lake Tanganyika…………………………………………………………………………………………..55 Battle of Latema Nek………………………………………………………………………………………………….56 Battle of Verdun…………………………………………………………………………………………………………56 Other Stories………………………………………………………………………………………………………….59 Sinking of the SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER………………………………………………………………………59 Royal Artillery 300………………………………………………………………………………………………………63 Story of Harry Greenberg……………………………………………………………………………………………64 SA Agency of Commonwealth War Graves Commission Report…………………………………..65 Cape Corps Gun Memorial…….…………………………………………………………………………………….67 Albie Gotz……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………69 Welfare of Ian Yule………………………………………………………………………………………………………72 Welfare Story of Peter and Renier……………………………………………………………………………….73 75th Commemoration of the Battle of Crete…………………………………………………………………74 Royal Show Pietermaritzburg……………………………………………………………………………………….75 Air Vice Marshal Brand………………………………………………………………………………………….………77 German Graves in South Africa……………………………………………………………………………….…….77 Obituaries…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..79 Peter van Blerk………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….79 Esmond Jacobson…………………………………………………………………………………………………………82 Joy Sargent……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………82 Daughter of Past President for Life……………………………………………………………………………….82

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 PHOTO PAGES Medal Presentation Ceremony at National Headquarters………………………………………………………..18 Durban & District Battlefield Tour…………………………………………………………………………………………….20 Soweto Branch………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….24 Rugby Kuier………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………26 SS Mendi Memorial Service Atteridgeville………………………………………………………………………….29 – 30 Three Ships………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..33 SS Mendi Memorial Service Hollybrook………………………………………………………………………………35 – 36 SS Mendi Noordwijk Netherlands……………………………………………………………………………………….37 – 38 Commonwealth Day Parade………………………………………………………………………………………………………40 ANZAC Day Service Pretoria……………………………………………………………………………………………………….43 Founders Day Parade………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...46 Armed Forces Day Parade………………………………………………………………………………………………………….48 Battle of Jutland………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..50 German East Africa……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..52 – 53 Battle of Verdun…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………58 SAS PESIDENT KRUGER……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….62 Commonwealth Cemeteries……………………………………………………………………………………………………….66 Cape Corps Gun Memorial..............................................................................................................68 Albie Gotze…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………71 German Graves…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..78 Peter van Blerk…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..81

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 NATIONAL PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

This bumper Springbok once again just shows what the branches have achieved in the last six months.

Congratulations to all Legionnaires and their families!

A big welcome to Lgr Riana Venter Van Zyl as the Assistant National Secretary to assist Marietta which will ensure a smooth hand over when Marietta decides to retire, she has not set a date yet. We thank the RCEL for their financial assistance in this regard.

The NE April Workshop was very successful allowing us to find a single focus “Remember and Recognise Service” after going through a brand essence exercise. Some main issues were raised and committees set up to deal with them. Some have been very successful and finished their tasks while others are still busy. These will be discussed at this year’s October Cape Town Congress.

Congress will recognise the 95th anniversary of the Legion and the use of the new South African Legion Poppy which has been well accepted.

On the marketing awareness front been made Zulu Natal region. has been directly Comrades Legion leant the first race. Firstly involved in the the Sandton CBD.

and creating huge strides have especially in the KwaOnce again the Legion involved in the Marathon, which the first Pound for the the Legion was pre-Comrades run in

Then every 22,000 of them, in their goodies attractive stand exhibition hall for made to feel very welcome and invited to work with the committee in the future.

Comrades runner, got a Poppy and flyer bag and a really was manned at the a few days. We were

At the same time the Legion had a stand at the Royal Show, Pietermaritzburg. As the show is over a long period this put a strain on the branches, but they did exceptionally well by winning a Silver award and welcomed back for next year.

There are so many plans for the future that at last the Legion and the Poppy will be taking their rightful places in our communities. This 95th year will be a turning point in our history. The Legion is alive!

I am delighted that the Legion was heavily in-volved with the Centenary of the Battle of Delville Wood to such an extent that a special Delville Wood Springbok edition will be produced shortly.

The National Secretary and I attended the RCEL Conference in Malaysia at which all countries pre-sent are looking forward to attending the RCEL 100th anniversary in Cape Town 2021.

It is still hoped that the turnaround committee at the Department of Military Veterans will make a difference so that veterans in need will be assisted.

Thanks to you all for keeping our motto alive “Not for ourselves, but for others.” Lgr Godfrey Giles

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 FROM THE EDITORS DESK Since assuming the role of Editor of the South African Legion of Military Veteran’s six monthly magazine, SPRINGBOK, I have experienced the tremendous growth in support from all members of the Legion. In particular the support from the various branches who sends newsletters, reports on events and the most important photos of events.

The support from the members and the branches allowed the SPRINGBOK to grow from the 20 A5 page magazine in 2013 to the 64 A4 page magazine for the December 2015 edition. Apart from still distributing the SPRINGBOK in hard copies in the A5 format it is also now distributed electronically.

The electronic copy differs slightly from the hard copy in that it contains more photos. The electronic copy is also posted on the ISSUU website which makes it easy to share the magazine to the various Facebook Pages as well as to members that have access to the internet.

The advantage of the ISSUU website is the international people outside of the become aware of the does. Some of the and December 2015 have read the have seen the have shared either of magazines have four (these are people that a new magazine is

posting the magazine on that is then available to community and many Legion can read it and work that the Legion statistics of the June 2015 editions are: 340 people magazines, 2 024 people magazines, 13 readers the magazines, the permanent followers receives a message when published and one like.

As you noticed this edition is one again a Lgr Charles Ross, editor of the SPRINGBOK bumper edition of more than 70 A4 pages.

Having put together this edition there is still sufficient material available for another edition.

As mentioned this edition once again is filled with interesting and inspiring stories. A highlight is certainly the participation by the Pietermaritzburg branch in the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg for the first time and winning a Silver Medal for their stand. Great work and well done. Then there is the Churchill Award to the Royal British Legion South African branch that comprise member of the South African Legion United Kingdom and Europe branch. Last but not least is the inspiring welfare stories of the Soweto and the United Kingdom and Europe branches. Well done fellows. There must be many more such stories out there. Bottom line is that if you do not submit them I cannot publish them.

With the approval of the National President a special SPRINGBOK –DELVILLE WOOD EDITION will be compiled during July and August 2016 and hopefully ready for electronic distribution by the end of August 2016. Once again the response for stories and photos of Delville Wood centenary commemoration services held across South Africa was tremendous. It promises to be another bumper edition. Unfortunately due to additional costs it will not be mailed.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE WORKSHOP 01 TO 03 APRIL 2016 National Executive Committee Workshop held in Midrand over the period 01 to 03 April 2016.

Members of the National Executive Committee of the South African Legion of Military Legion held a very successful workshop in Midrand over the period 01 to 03 April 2016.

Discussion on Friday evening 01 April 2016 centred on the constitution of the Legion a possible amendments to the constitution.

Saturday morning, 02 April 2016, saw one of the most productive sessions when the the brand essence was discussed in depth. This session was led by Jess Giles assisted by Lgr Peter Dickens. Everyone in attendance had to participate in the questionnaire and provide their responses. A follow up questionnaire will now be distributed with further questions.

Following a light lunch the workshop continued with discussions initially centred on Kwazulu-Natal with upcoming events where the Legion will be involved. These included the Royal Show at the end of May 2016, Comrades Marathon end of May 2016 and the Midmar Mile.

This was followed by discussions on the virtual branch, Blue Beret branches, motor cycle clubs, membership of SANMVA/CMVO/WOMVASA. The session was concluded with discussions on the SPRINGBOK and e-SPRINGBOK and the social media, ie new website, Facebook Members of the National Executive busy with discussions. and Twitter.

Sunday morning saw the discussion of finances which included the budget, marketing and recruitment.

A number of workgroups were agreed upon and I wish to list them with a short description and timelines so that there are no misunderstanding. Thanks for the enthusiasm and wiliness to get involved. Now the work really begins.

Constitution (Lgr Dave Francis) o It was agreed that finance, Region, Branch and NHQ would be represented on this workgroup. o Peter would provide UK inputs and we can look at other constitution as well. o The constitution is an enabler and should not be too prescriptive o The bye laws will also be handled. o As any amendments need to be done by Congress in October and there is a 60 day notice period to allow branch consideration it is important that this workgroup has finalised it work. o Consultation can then be done during July so that final amendments can be circulated in time for October Congress.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Finance (Lgr Hilton Kaplan) o

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This workgroup, which includes Steve Hieberg, needs to handle all financial aspects and suggest changes and controls going forward. This needs to look at our NPO, PBO status etc. as well. This is input to the constitution workgroup.

A comprehensive plan needs to be done wrt the consolidation of the accounts going forward which needs to include the control of all funds. This is input to the constitution workgroup.

A full understanding of which branches, entities and other accounts are to be included in the Legion.

This might mean that some entities are no longer part of the Legion and separate affiliations need to be considered. This is input to the constitution workgroup.

A burning issue is the audit for 2014 and 2015 – the books have been audited but the auditors have not come back to us.

Everything they have requested has been forwarded to them. I requested an update

by Friday 8 April (I am aware that Hilton has already written to them) and then that the financial statements are signed Following a hard day’s work members of the National executive enjoying dinner. by end of April. I take note of Steve saying the onus is on us but everything is out of our hands at the moment and we need to make the auditors aware of this.

This workgroup needs to consider the future appointment of auditors to ensure we are not landed in this position again. The books for this year’s audit, 2016, are already ready for the auditors to come in. Thus NHQ is right up to date. These have to be ready to be sent out before October congress.

Need a comprehensive list of which branches have submitted their financials (SA Legion Constitution clause 9.4.4) and what years they are for consideration at October congress.

A detailed budget needs to be done and agreed for October congress..

Marketing (Lgr Peter Dickens) o This workgroup to include Jess and Johan Kruger from Durban. o Finalise the Brand essence and positioning plan for the Legion. o Finalise the Marketing plan for the Legion. o Need the SA Legion Poppy to be finalised, distributed to all branches for inputs. o Need artwork for Comrades Marathon A5 leaflet. o Need final positioning of Blue Berets. o Peter and Jess will be given 20% of the net brought in by fund raising that they do directly as there is no cost to the Legion for these professionals. (This include the golf day and other sponsors) o This is our 95th year and need to celebrate it in full. o Need a big Poppy that can float, go on cars, walls, lawns etc.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 SANMVA/CMVO Position paper (Lgr Kevin Bolton) o o o o o o o

This workgroup to include Lgr Charles, Marietta, Shadrack and others.

Need to establish what SANMVA/CMVO are bringing to the Legion currently.

Need to establish what they could, should and will bring to the Legion in future.

Establish what it will mean if the Legion suspends, stays or cancels its membership to either or both SANMVA and CMVO What other options are there for the Legion and it’s new role An initial paper is required before the CMVO AGM. A full proposal is required to be circulated to all branches so that it can be discussed at October Congress.

Membership/Branch Dynamics (Lgr Mark Louw) o

This workgroup to include Lgr Brian Smith, and many others at Regional and branch levels including Motorcycle Chapter and Social club. o This needs to propose levels of membership and their roles and responsibilities. This needs to be input to the constitution workgroup. So require a plan of action. o This workgroup needs to get an understanding of the branch dynamics so that there is an understanding wrt to branches their roles and responsibilities. o This should also include how members are inducted into the Legion, their dress, Once again hard at work are members of the National Executive. type of activities and number of events each year. o An initial plan of action needs to be drawn up.

Internal Liaison (Lgr Steve Heiberg) o Lgr Steve and others to establish all the issues that have broken down the trust between branches, regions and NHQ. o Then to propose plan of action how this can be overcome.

ASSISTANT NATIONAL SECRETARY We welcome the newly appointed Assistant National Secretary, Riana Venter van Zyl to the Legion.

Born 12 Aug 1960 in Potchefstroom, 2nd child and only daughter to a Gunner, belated Toutjies Venter and his wife Rina Venter. Started school in 1967 at Bethlehem, Free State, moved to old South West Africa and finished primary school in Walvis Bay. High School – 1974 - Potchefstroom Gymnasium and later Hoërskool Voortrekkerhoogte. Matriculated 1978.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 1979 - Joined SA Airforce, Orientation at STT, Basic training Air Force Gym, worked at Air Force Headquarters, Officers Section, P1. 1981 – Got married to a SA Air Force pilot, belated Chris Esterhuyse. 1982 - Left Air Force end 1982.

Moved to Venda, Sibasa, Oct 1983 when belated husband left SA Air Force and joined Venda Defence Force.

Got married again in 2006 to an old flame, did not work out- divorced.

Children: Daughter, Nemesia Jooste, born Apr 1983 and currently staying in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with husband and my 2 grandchildren, Alex (5) and Jané(4). Son, JC Esterhuyse, born 25 Dec 1985 and currently staying in Gordonsbay, Cape Province – not married yet. Interests: Music, reading, computers (programming), outdoors.

Career: 1979 to 1982 SA Air Force: –- Personnel – SA Air Force Head Office, P1 Officer Section, Nedbank Building, Pretoria.

1983 to 1994 Database Computer Academy: Manager: Computer training of Vha Venda people Venda Defence Force: Computer System Consultant / Lecturer Venda Dept of Justice: Helped with transcribing typing for Lower & High Court after hours.

1994 to 1997 Co-Owner of : Barcelos Flamed Chicken – Ceres, Cape Province Vredendal Waste Control – Vredendal, Cape Province.

1997 to 2002 Shell SA (Pty) Ltd: Admin Manager - Riana Venter Van Zyl, new Deputy National Secretary.

Kimberley Mobil SA (Pty) Ltd: Depot Manager – Kimberley + Northern Cape.

2003 to 2008 BindCo (Pty) Ltd: Executive Sales & Government Tender Representative – Pretoria.

Jan 2009 to Jan 2015 LexisNexis (Pty) Ltd Jhb: Project Manager: Dept. of Justice Project South Africa Cum Books Pta: Kollonade Branch.

26 Jan 2015 to 30 April 2016 CMVO: HR. 9 May 2016 to current: SA Legion NHQ Assistant National Secretary

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 SA LEGION – NEW B2C POPPY LOGO A new B2C – Business to Consumer – Poppy logo has been developed to create an iconic and memorable symbol that can be applied across multiple executions and formats. The objective is to create a symbol that the public will remember and support in purchasing attractive merchandising thus raising funds for the Poppy Appeal.

Using realistic red poppies in nature as reference to develop the symbol, certain elements have been simplified whilst retaining enough detail to maintain personality and appeal.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016

Some of the most popular and noted poppy designs were also referenced in the development, with 3 elements in common; Round shape, Red petals and black centre.

And as much as the SA Legion Poppy needed to be recognisable and associated with the existing dominant poppy brands, it also needed to hold it’s own identity, being clearly definable from the other poppy logos around the world. Representing not only remembrance and hope, but forward thinking, positive action and awareness.

Some of the symbolism represented by the new SA Legion Poppy brand is as follows: 1. The Four Red Petals Similar to the Scottish and Canadian four petal leafless poppy, our design bears a similar resemblance. The colour is significant to the bright red Flanders poppies and the red poppies of Monte Cassino, which refer to blood of the soldiers that soaked the land where the poppies grew and are a symbol of remembrance and hope. “Lest we forget” 2. Asymmetric tilt forwards The poppy itself is tilted forwards to give a sense of motion and thus positive action. The poppy appeal itself is grounded on positive action and forward thinking. This is the first design to embrace these values.

3. The White Cross In the Poem, In Flanders Fields, it is written: 'between the crosses, row on row'. This imagery can be interpreted as the poppies in Flanders Fields, but bears actual reference to the white crosses that mark out the millions of graves for our fallen soldiers.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016

In our design we have subtlety brought in the white cross on the petals, which is a further connection to remembrance iconography and the Flanders Field poem.

4. The Eleven Seeds

Eleven seeds positioned in the centre of the poppy represent the ending of the war, on the 11th day of the 11th Month. Like hands on a clock face, the position of eleven is twice the size of the others, signifying that it represents 11/11. There is no twelfth seed, signifying that it ended at eleven. This inclusion of information through design is very useful for educating children and helping them remember the date.

Recent Poppy Appeal Awareness Campaigns: To introduce the new SA Legion logo we used the old WW1 helmet, with the logo decal on the metal in a similar way to what soldiers did during more recent and modern wars such as Vietnam and The Gulf War. This 'Brodie' Helmet was also worn by our SA troops in the Bush War and Apartheid War, further strengthening the connection we as South Africans have to remembering our fallen soldiers. The thought behind this idea was to bridge the gap between so many generations past. A young generation today finds it hard to relate to an analogue mechanical era such as WW1 & WW2, and this 'modern' helmet treatment attempts bridge the decades. Depending on the target audience and event to be commemorated the helmet will be replaced with a more relevant helmet or head gear to that event, for example a more modern helmet, like the Blue UN Peacekeeping helmet will be used for the International Peacekeeping Day.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016

The new brand roll out is commencing shortly, with brand usage guidelines and marketing assets to be released to the SA Legion branches for the Poppy Appeal awareness Campaign.

Various merchandising items are in development and production to will be released thereafter.

DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY VETERANS DATA BASE The SA Legion assists their members with the registration process as Military Veterans at Department Military Veterans. Should you be a member of the SA Legion and would like to register as a Military Veteran, send the following information to PSendedza@salegion.org, or fax it to (011) 486 2855 for attention Peggy Sendedza: SA Legion membership branch and number, ID number, Full Names and Surname, Force Number if you remember it, Contact Number and e-mail address. Should you not be a member of the SA Legion, you are welcome to contact Peggy and request a membership application form.

On receipt of your information and confirming that you are a current SA Legion member, an application form will be send to you. The application form must be completed and the following certified documentation must be attached before sending it back to your SA Legion branch: RSA Identity Document, Affidavit stating changes to ID number or copy of blue ID book, Veteran’s Marriage Certificate, Spouse’s ID and dependant Children’s Birth Certificates/ID Documents, Highest Educational Qualification, Driver’s License, Deed of Trust of your home should you be a homeowner, Proof of Residence, Proof of Registration and Tax Clearance Certificate should you have your own business. Your SA Legion branch will check that all applicable information and documentation were received and then forward it to SA Legion NHQ. The next step is verification on the SANDF’s Persol system iro basics done, units served, any criminal records according to the Military Veteran Act 2011 (No 18 of 2011), due to a lot of fraud in the past. This can take up to 2 months.

After SA Legion NHQ received your confirming Persol printouts from the SANDF, your application will be

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 submitted to DMV. Please note this is not an overnight registration process, it takes time and patience as DMV receives numerous application they have to work through.

Should you wish to, after registration has been confirmed by DMV, make use of the benefits, the relevant documentation will be supplied by the appropriate Department of DMV. Benefits registered Military Veterans may apply for are: Compensation for Injury, Trauma & Disease, Counselling & Treatment for Mental Illness / PostTraumatic Stress, Access to Health Care, Housing, Subsidised Public Transport, Burial Support (Direct) at Veteran's Death, Reimbursement of Burial Cost (Indirect) after Veteran's Death paid by Family, Education Support (Bursaries), Facilitation of Employment / Placement, Facilitation of Business Opportunities.

NEW VETERANS BADGE During November 2015 the United Kingdom and Europe branch launched the new “VETERANS” badge for all members of the South African Legion of Military Veterans. Each badge comes in a presentation box, is engraved with a number on the rear and includes a certificate of ownership. The badge costs R350 plus a courier charge of R100, thus the total cost is R450.

ESTABLISHING THE WOMEN MILITARY VETERAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH AFRICA – DEFENCE WEB. New Veterans Badge.

The Women Military Veterans Association of South Africa (WOMVASA) was officially launched, at the two day conference of the women military veterans at Mount Grace Gauteng Province at the end of March 2016. The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula, delivered the key note address at the conference wherein she enjoined the 105 women military veterans delegates, to unite, be organized in order to ensure economic empowerment and advance women emancipation.

On her part, the Minister of Small Business Development Ms Lindiwe Zulu, committed to assist women military veterans’ with business opportunities, as well as facilitate their empowerment in establishing companies and cooperatives, so that they can enter the mainstream of the economy. Meanwhile the Deputy Minister of Energy Ms Thembi Majola, committed to assist women military veterans’ with opportunities in the energy.

The two day conference concluded with the election of the following executive, of the newly established Women Military Veterans Association of South Africa (WOMVASA, National Chairperson: Sally Dlamini (MKMVA), 1st Deputy Chairperson Kutie Thondlana (APLAMVA), 2nd Deputy Chairperson Joy Frankenburg (CMVO), Secretary Thandi Lieta (MKMVA), Deputy Secretary Mammy Nyathela (AZANLAMVA) and Treasurer - Maggie Thandi Mashoala (MKMVA). Additional members: Yvonne Modiakgotla, Nombeko Pamela Daniels, Wendy Malunga, Nomvuyo Mafu, Mpho Kgoabane, Tamara Moti, Salome Mawela, Zukizwa Ngxowa, Maria Brand.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 ROYAL COMMONWEALTH EX-SERVICE LEAGUE MEETING – Rakyat Post 26 June 2016 The Duke of York Prince Andrew from the UK attended a Remembrance Service at Tugu Negara in Kuala Lumpur this morning. The service was organised by the Royal Commonwealth ExServices League (RCEL) and the British High Commission.

The Duke is the grand president of RCEL which is a Commonwealth charity with 57 member organisations in 50 Commonwealth countries including Malaysia. The charity provides welfare Members attending the Royal Commonwealth Ex-service League meeting. for 40,000 Commonwealth ex-servicemen in these member countries.

Also present at the Remembrance Service today were General The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, deputy grand president of RCEL; Che Onn Neamat, president of Malaysian Ex-British Army Association; 115 RCEL delegates, as well as diplomats and defense attachés. - Images courtesy of British High Commission in Malaysia.

The South African Legion was represented by the National President, Lgr Godfrey Giles, and the National Secretary, Lgr Marietta Venter.

PORTFOLIO COMMITTEES THE RELIEF & WELFARE PORTFOLIO OF THE SA LEGION Lgr Dave Francis has compiled a Relief and Welfare document for the South African Legion of Military Veterans which is available on the new web site www.salegion.org.za of from Headquarters. The new document deals with the aims and objectives, Poppy Day, National War Fund, Royal Commonwealth Exservice League assistance, Old Age Pension applications with SASSA, registration on the Department of Military Veterans Data Base and some General assistance and information.

PROJECTS: 2016 DELVILLE WOOD TOUR The Legion Centenary Battle of Delville Wood Tour is in its final stage. Some 24 pilgrims would made the pilgrimage to France and Belgium over the period 06 to 15 July 2016. Unfortunately the tour organisers received some bad news at the end of June 2016 in that due to the South African President’s state visit to France the official Battle of Delville Wood centenary commemoration service will now take place on Tuesday 12 July 2016. At the same ceremony the President will unveil a Wall of Memorial at the Delville Wood Museum that contains the names of all South Africans that died during World War One.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 The change in date had some serious implications for many pilgrims travelling to France to attend the centenary commemoration of the epic battle as originally planned on Sunday 10 July 2016. Fortunately the Legion tour operator was able to juggle the programme to fit in with the new dates as well as an invitation from the Royal British Legion to attend a service at the Thiepval Memorial on Sunday 10 July 2016.

PUBLIC RELATIONS The three Facebook Pages of the Legion remains a primary vehicle for marketing the work of the Legion. Articles that vary from branch activities to stories of either of the World Wars, the Border War or any other conflict are posted by members of the Facebook Group. Some of these stories leads to interesting debates which have to be monitored to ensure that it stays within the guidelines of the page. Unfortunately in the period under review we have had to remove one or two postings that were outside the guidelines.

Branch activities remains the focus of the page and I am indeed in debt to all the branches that regularly send stories and photos to be placed on the page.

Thank you very much for this. Branches that are not yet sending stories, please send them and market your branch.

Events like the Medal Presentation Ceremony at National Headquarters attracted many positive comments on the Facebook page.

Since the beginning of the year we have included a series on South African Commonwealth war casualties that are buried in very small numbers in far off cemeteries across the world. This refers to single South African graves to small groups of 2 to 5.

At the same time the daily summary of events of the day during the First World War is shared from the Great War 1914 – 1918.

The South African Facebook Page recently passed the 4 000 member mark and continuous to grow.

New members are welcomed and directed to the guidelines of the page to ensure that they are aware of the guidelines. Some positive comments are posted on the page by new members like this one “Thank you, Charles. I've just read it. Sounds like I will be at home here. Thanks for adding me again.”

BRANCH NEWS BRAKPAN BRANCH APEX Base Breakfast: The Double Barrel Vol. 6 Issue: 1 March 2016

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 In what has become an institution, was once again hosted by Apex Military Base under the watchful eye of the RSM of Regiment Oos Transvaal, MWO Errol Brits. The Brakpan Branch of the SA Legion, in keeping with their high standards, provided a magnificent breakfast for their members and invited guests.

The highlight of the breakfast is the presentation of medals to those who served their country, but who were never awarded the medals due to them. This is a fantastic initiative, that the SA Legion has embarked upon, and is a very rewarding tribute to those members of the armed forces who in some cases have waited over forty years to receive their decorations.

In a poignant moment, Guests enjoying breakfast at the Apex Base presented by the Brakpan Branch. medals were awarded posthumously, to one of the recipients.

The breakfast is a fund raiser for the Brakpan Branch, and guests are requested to make a donation for attending. As usual the Legion ladies did a fantastic job of decorating the tables.

CAPE TOWN BRANCH During December 2015 the branch once again handed out parcels to the patients that were in 2 Military Hospital on Christmas Day 2015. The branch received the following from one of the patients that received a parcel on that day: “Dear SA Legion. I was one of the lucky ones that was in 2 Military Hospital when you delivered your packages. I just wish to thank you for the lovely, thoughtful packages that was put together with so much care. They contained both practical, useful items and treats and is much appreciated. Thank you once again, Kind regards. Wife of Lieutenant (SAN) Janse van Rensburg and mother of baby boy”

DURBAN BRANCH The Branch is functioning satisfactorily. The office is very busy and covers a wide range of activities under the auspices of our Branch Secretary, Lgr Johann Kruger.

We have recently established a vegetable garden at BESL Court, our block of 42 flats in Umbilo Road, as well as a “Poppy Pantry” with a view to assisting residents who are feeling the pinch. We’re also holding jumble sales to raise money for the Poppy Pantry. Another new initiative is the recycling of the residents’ waste.

We’re still awaiting our audit report, but have now set our AGM for 16 April.

Arrangements for the provision of a headstone on the grave of Seaman Maphumulo (age 22), who died whilst on a Naval training exercise at Midmar Dam in 1992 and was buried without a headstone, are at an advanced stage. We hope to get his family members (parents) from Gauteng to attend the ceremony.

The SA Legion Durban & Districts Social Club is active and has planned events like a tour of the battlefields (29 April to 1 May) and a weekend away (27-29 May) at Charles Hoffe Park in Scottburgh.

As hosts this year, we’re also planning and finalizing arrangements for our Provincial Conference over the weekend 20-22 May at the Banana Beach Holiday Resort on the South Coast.

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Photos from the Medal Presentation Ceremony held at National Headquarters.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Planning (together with the Pietermaritzburg Branch) is underway for our exhibition and awareness/recruiting station at the Royal Show 28 May to 5 June.

We will again be involved in the Comrades Marathon on 29 June and will attend the prize-giving to award trophies to the 1st male and female Veterans to finish.

Together with the Pietermaritzburg Branch, we’re meeting soon with the Natal Rugby Union about a special Battle of Delville Wood Centenary Remembrance Parade at King’s Park stadium before the Sharks match on Saturday, 16 July. Of course, we’ll still arrange the annual civic Delville Wood Service of Remembrance for the eThekwini Municipality on Sunday, July 10th.

Because there’s so much happening at present, we postponed our main fundraiser, the charity night horse race that should have been held at Greyville this month, until February next year.

During the period the branch welcomed a number of new members.

SA LEGION DURBAN & DISTRICT CLUB BATTLEFIELDS TOUR 8 Club Members departed from Durban on Friday, 29 April around noon, collecting Lgr Nigel Baker in Tweedie on the way up to Dundee. The first rondevous was Colenso Club. After a few refreshments and relief break, we headed to Dundee for our accommodation at the Battlefields Country Lodge. We arrived at around 17:30 and were met by Dave O’Halloran, the Manager there. Already there was Lgr Steve Hornby who had been contracted to do business earlier in Secunda. Dave had organised our own entertainment room/bar facility for the 2-nights' stay. We were treated to some first class hospitality and 5 star menu. We were also visited by Pieter Bruyns (ex-OC of the DLI, who Members of the Durban branch on the Battlefield Tour. lives on a farm outside Dundee), that evening. Lights out for some was around 01:30 next morning.

After breakfast we were shown a 30-min video of Isandlwana and then headed out in 3 vehicles to where we covered the entire battleground and surrounding areas which played an important role in the events leading up to the battle. Lgr Craig Nicholson and his wife joined us at the site, having travelled up from Durban early that morning. This tour took the best part of the day. Our fellow-Legionnaire and esteemed tour guide Paul Naish explained the events which unfolded on the 21st and 22nd January 1879 in excellent detail and set the picture for the battle. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse later in the afternoon and we decided to call it a day. Again, that evening a great time was had by all. Steve Hornby was as usual in fine form. We had a braai for supper, watched rugby on a big screen and socialised in good harmony until late in the evening.

On the Sunday morning, 1 May after breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we travelled in convoy to Rorke’s Drift. Paul Naish took us around the site and gave a very interesting account of the events which took place leading up to and including the stand made by a few British soldiers in the old hospital area. After covering everything at Rorke’s Drift, we then headed in the direction of Wagons Drift and Colenso where we stopped for lunch. Steve Hornby, who was heading back towards Dundee on business, then said his goodbyes and the rest of the party headed back towards Durban where we arrived safely around 17:00.

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Photos from the Battlefield tour by the members of the Durban branch.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 KAGISO BRANCH The South African Legion of Military Veterans has a new branch! May we extend a warm welcome to our new Legionnaires from the Kagiso branch. Here is their report.

On Saturday 05 March 2016 members of the Kagiso Branch held a meeting specifically for the launching of Kagiso branch. S.A Legion National President Lgr Godfrey J Giles and National Secretary Lgr Marietta Venter attended the launch and therefore we like to thank them for their presence.

The launch started at 11am by program director and newly elected PRO Lgr Tshego Malete . Lgr Godfrey was asked to open the meeting as per required S.A Legion rituals and procedures, the meeting was thereafter declared open.

Lgr Jacob Masoba, newly elected Secretary read the agenda for the day. The main focus on the agenda was that of the official announcement of Executive Committee elected Thursday (3 March 2016) by members.

Chairman : Lgr Jairus Pule, Deputy Chairman: Lgr Thami Manzie, Secretary : Lgr Jacob Masoba , Deputy Secretary : Lgr Tshepo Lebethe, Treasure : Lgr David Motale, Pro : Lgr Tshego Malete and Organizer : Lgr George Mendi Magobotlhe It was then time for Lgr Godfrey's Members of the newest branch, Kagiso, proudly displaying their presentation. He explained the history of the certificate.

S.A Legion and Legionnaire conduct. He mentioned the Legion is not a racist organisation and accepts everyone to its ranks, monthly meetings (conference call) can be used to share ideas with other members and give suggestions were necessary.

The. S.A. Legion uniform was also discussed, red socks (Fridays), white shirt, green jacket, grey pants, legion pin and medals. The wearing of a special Blue beret was mentioned in recognition of members served in the Peace keeping Operations.

Lgr Marietta Venter also added to Lgr Godfrey Giles presentation and thanked Lgr Thami Manzie, Lgr Tshego Malete, Lgr Sabelo Masondo and Lgr Mendi Magobotlhe for attending the S.S Mendi Memorial in Soweto.

Lgr Thami Manzie introduced Lgr Mendi Magobotlhe whose grandfather survived the sinking of the S.S Mendi during WW1 and his grandfather named him Mendi.

Lg. Marietta Venter also thanked Lgr David Motale for opening his house for veterans to hold meetings there every Thursday.

Lgr Tshego Malete also explained his story about Lgr Thami Manzie and how he made him and other members feel part of the veteran’s community and his tired less efforts to help veterans, here is Lgr Tshego Malete's story:

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 "I have been involved with the military veterans since inception. In all the years I have never met with or associated with any honest representative. Every representative I knew before was either very dishonest or was only interested in serving their own interests at the expense of all other members who were wholly dependent on these representatives. I then decided to stop depending on these individuals for assistance and started doing things on my own. On one of my trips to Hatfield I met Thami Manzie

Chairman if the new Kagiso Branch receive the branch registration certificate.

Thami Manzie explained to me that he and some other veterans had established a new group of veterans with the sole purpose of assisting each other. He was responsible for taking other veterans' forms through to Hatfield for processing. He even went further by ensuring that these applications were processed by building a rapport with the directors and constantly checking up to monitor the progress of these applications.

Needless to say that my trust in members of this organization was restored.

I had never come across someone as dedicated and willing to go the extra mile to help a fellow human being. Thami Manzie's selfless helping of other people really touched me and made me realize that there's still hope for humanity after all. He is our pillar of strength.”

Chairman Jairus Pule gave a vote of thanks to all in attendance and for the smooth running and successful launch.

National President Godfrey presented the S.A. Legion charter to Lgr J Pule (newly elected chairperson). Lgr Godfrey thereafter read the closing ritual and the meeting was officially closed followed by refreshments.

PIETERMARITZBURG During November 2015 the branch welcomed a number of new members. Members attended the Legion’s Provincial meeting on 08 February while the branch Annual General Meeting took place on 19 may 2016.

Given the drought and implementation of stringer water restrictions the branch had to impose water restrictions on the various residences.

On Saturday, 18th June, the Pietermaritzburg Branch Members, assisted by the Moth Motorcycle Club and other Moths did the catering for the St Charles School Old Boys Reunion, as a fund raising event. Set up was an early 6 am and it went through till around 9 pm. Chips (Slap), Bacon and Egg Rolls, Boerewors Rolls, Prego (steak) Rolls, Curry and Rice, Coffee (plus Cappuccino – both normal and decaf) & Tea and finally Pancakes.

A ticket system (different colours for different things) so those serving the food did not handle money.

Later in the afternoon a depressing 40 minutes was experienced when they installed a large screen on the other side of the Marquee and showed the match at Ellis Park (Paddy must have been in the audience, as there were a few cheers, however with some liquid refreshment and motivated team the second half brought relief and improved sales.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Clearing up carried on into Sunday morning and it is hoped that last year’s R 9 000.00 will be well exceeded this year!

PORT ELIZABETH BRANCH On Sunday 05 March 2016 the induction of our Chaplain, Reverend Mark Barth, as the Rector of St Paul’s Church, Parson’s Hill took place. The induction service was attended by members of the branch and the local Sea Cadets. The Annual General Meeting of the branch took place at the Aloe White Ensign MOTH Dugout on Sunday 01 May 2016.

PRETORIA BRANCH During the period the Pretoria Branch was actively involved in organising the SS Mendi Memorial Service at the memorial in Atteridgeville as well as representing the Legion at the Koevoet Memorial Service.

The Chairman was in charge of the sentries at the Annual CMVO Memorial Service at the Voortrekker Monument. The branch also welcomed a number of new members during the period.

SOWETO BRANCH Myself and Mary Ann contributed to buy Christmas Gifts for the veterans. Firstly asked for donation for the veterans wish was in vain then the committee communicated with HQ to us money from Members of the Pietermaritzburg branch hard at work. the rental to buy Christmas for veterans. It happened that 15 veterans from other areas didn't get l took R1 300.00 from my pocket to be refunded and also Mary Ann and I made voluntarily contribution of R400.00. To add on the gifts. The veterans for the first time got food parcels from the Chapel This is also helping to boost our membership drive campaign as our membership is gradually dropping. 2016 will be a year of caring for the veterans. We also need support from HQ. For starters 5 Wheel Chairs, walkers', Adult Nappies. For our veterans.

LEGION MOTORCYCLE CLUB Over the period the club remained very active in providing assistance to less fortunate veterans and nonveterans in the form of food parcels, clothes and medical assistance. It is anticipated that medical assistance will increase during the winter. The gift ride to frail care people was once again huge success and so was the Easter ride. Numerous other riders in support of a number of charities were done with great success The monthly “Brick and Brack” sale started to raise funds have taken off very well. The club is also working a Poppy awareness programme. Closer to home the Log cabin and museum is growing in stature and have received many visitors.

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Soweto Branch activities.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 The club have also provided support to Griffiths Court in respect of security and general maintenance.

LEGION RIDERS

Enjoying a refreshment after the Dickie Fritz Memorial Walk.

The Legion riders won the trophy at the Dickie Fritz Memorial walk on Saturday the 28th May. We won it for the best attendance, having won the trophy last year as well. As you will see on one of the photos we had screen printed on the back of the T shirt ‘We lead others follow. Receiving the trophy in one of the photos is Kenny Godfrey the Chairman of the SA Legion housing company in Benoni.

UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE BRANCH Once again the branch had a very active period. Apart from the various parades that members attended as well as the assistance rendered to fellow veterans there were various social events that, as always were very well attended.

On 29 April 2016 the branch hosted the launch of the book “Iron Fist from the Sea” by the co-author Douw Steyn.

This is a fascinating work and one that will enthrall anyone with an interest in Special Forces operations. Profusely illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs, it stands as a testament to the author’s endeavors as, respectively, the former Operations Commander of 4 Recce and; the former Commander Task Group of the SA Navy, as well as the incredible operators of 4 Recce. Explosive and compulsive, Iron Fist from the Sea takes you right to the raging surf; to the adrenalin and fear that is seaborne raiding.

Onn 22 May 2016 Lgr Peter Dickens received the Churchill Shield on behalf of the Royal British Legion South African Branch. The award was made to the branch during the 2015/2016 Royal British Legion’s National Awards Competition. It is awarded to the national branch which has the most improved membership over three years.

Well done fellows.

On 26 May 2016 members of the branch participated in the Royal British Legion Riders event at the Ace Café. At the event some memorabilia of the Legion were on display.

Legion United Kingdom Rugby “Kuier” at GJ’s, Wandsworth in England over the weekend of 11 June 1916.

England won - yay!, Bok result v Ireland (cough cough) but the boerie rolls were great, the sun was hot, the beers were cold and the kuier was lekker....te lekker.

Over the last quarter, the South African Legion branch in the United Kingdom has been making leaps and bounds forward in terms of welfare matters. At the end of last year it was asked of the branch “what are you doing for veterans”, what real and tangible benefit is given to veterans in need?

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The United Kingdom branch’s rugby “kuier”.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 A number of welfare aspects were considered including: “outreach” programs to our ageing WW2 veterans, bringing the issue of commonwealth veterans who have served crown front and forward to the Royal British Legion, lending our skills to assisting veterans and bringing focus onto the Poppy Appeal.

To date we have carried out four key initiatives this year, all of them carrying with them their own learnings. See some of the stories under “Other Stories”: 

The outreach to ageing WW2 veterans not in the Legion fold Lt. Steve Steven DFC.

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The arranging and sourcing of sponsorship from Fedex to ship prosthetic limbs to two blind SADF veterans in South Africa via a request from St. Dunstan’s

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Obtaining funds from the RAFBF Members and guest enjoying the “rugby kuier” on behalf of Gen. Albi Gotze, who is a D Day, Operation Market Garden, Berlin Air Lift, Korean War and Bush War hero, to part finance his mobility chair in South Africa, as well as outreach to him in South Africa.

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Working with the RAR Rhodesian veterans associations to bring Ian Yule into full time care and housing in the UK.

Attending to all the above was gratifying and living up to our motto of “Not for Ourselves but for Others”.

Handling these cases, however, also came with very steep learning curves. Happily, we have these learnings going forward, however, critical to maintaining a welfare portfolio is people committed to it.

Happy to also report that we, as a RBL branch, stood by a motion put forward at the Royal British Legion’s 2016 Congress for the recognition by The Royal British Legion’s Board of Trustees of the massive disparity between benefits afforded commonwealth veterans who have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces and remained in the United Kingdom and those who returned to their commonwealth country of origin. The motion was passed with universal approval (over 95% of the vote in favour), so watch this space.

One key learning is that it cannot be done by one or two people and we urge branch members to get involved. Start by simply giving some outreach to the local WW2 veterans in your community or area, visit the chap - take him for a beer. Another is to get involved with Poppy Appeal, bring a South African presence and flavour to your local RBL branch or to a national branch initiative.

Lets keep growing our hard earned reputation both in the United Kingdom and in South Africa as one of the best Legion branches, if not THE best branch, centre to this is welfare and the more involvement across the branch the better.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 COMMEMORATIONS SS MENDI MEMORIAL SERVICE ATTERIDGEVILLE – by Lgr Chris Szabo Memorial services were held throughout South Africa and overseas on Sunday to remember the loss of the troopship SS Mendi on February 21, 1917.

Services at the weekend all over South Africa, including Cape Town, Kimberly, Durban and smaller places commemorated the loss of the troopship. On Saturday, the traditional service in Avalon Cemetery, Soweto, was held, where some survivors are buried as well as at Southampton in the UK, where some servicemen are also buried.

On Sunday, the tragedy was remembered at New Brighton in Port Elizabeth, where President Jacob Zuma laid a wreath. The South African High Commissioner to Learners from the Eduplex High School preparing to lay their wreath at the SS the United Kingdom, Obed Mlaba, Mendi Memorial in Atteridgeville. attended the service at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton, where 13 of the dead are buried, and a service was also held in Noordwijk in the Netherlands, last resting place of another five.

In Atteridgeville, Pretoria, the memorial was held in the shadow of the striking statue of a member of the Native Labour Corps (NLC) member going down on the Mendi, by Phil Minnaar.

Chairman of the host Atteridgeville Branch of the SA Legion, Reverend Abel Sefolosha, called on South Africans to unite. He said: “There is no colour here, we see people united and that is a good example for the future of South Africa”. He called on those at the service to “don’t feel at home, be at home”.

Chaplain Marius van Rooyen gave the sermon, which featured the heroism of the men who faced certain death.

He described the situation after the troopship SS Mendi, of about 4000 tons, was hit on the starboard quarter in foggy conditions not far from the English coast by the cargo ship Darro, which weighed about 11,000 tons.

Tragically, the Darro’s skipper, fearing U-boat attack, left the scene leaving Mendi with a gaping hole in its right front. With the sea pouring in, the Mendi’s chaplain, the Reverend Isaac Williams Wauchope, the son of Dyobha, was remembered by the survivors as saying: “Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa say you are my brothers – Swazis, Pondos, Basuthos – so let us die as brothers. We are the sons of Africa.”

As the waves poured over the doomed men, survivors recalled Wauchope calling for the hymn, “Lizalis'idinga lakho” (“Fulfil Your Promise, Faithful God”) which the men sang while linking arms. The hymn is sung in the Methodist Church and was composed by the Reverend Tiyo Soga. A report says this song was sung by Black people before the hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika”, by Enoch Sontonga, replaced it in popularity.

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SS Mendi Memorial Service held at the SS Mendi Memorial in Atteridgeville.

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SS Mendi Memorial Service held at the SS Mendi Memorial in Atteridgeville.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 The tragedy cost the lives of more than 600 South Africans (607 of them members of the NLC) and 30 crew.

Commenting on the event, Chaplain Van Rooyen said: “What a show of commitment. That is what soldiering is all about. It is this absolute dedication. This is what they taught us in those moments of crisis. And it is upon this show of dedication and duty that we can build a future. I firmly believe we not only came here this morning to commemorate; to honour. Events like this also inspire! For us seated here, it says we are going to show the same dedication”.

The sermon was followed by the stirring relevant hymn, often called the Naval Hymn, Eternal Father, Strong to Save, which has the refrain: “To those in peril on the sea.”

The traditional wreath-laying ceremony followed, with military attaches from Angola, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey represented as well as numerous military veterans’ organisations including the SA Legion, the MOTH, the SA Native Military Corps Association and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The SS Mendi Memorial at Atteridgeville with sentries from the South African Navy.

Legionnaire Johannes Chaba of the SA Native Military Corps, which replaced the earlier NLC, is a veteran of WWII and was assisted in laying a wreath by one of the organisers of the event, Legionnaire Charles Ross, Chairman of the Pretoria Branch.

For the first time, schools were invited to participate. Learners from Eduplex School in Pretoria laid a wreath at the Atteridgeville ceremony to mark the 99th commemoration.

Ross explained why they decided to invite school children to participate. “It is important the next generations understands this incident. It is for them in ten, twenty, even fifty years’ time to still commemorate this when the current generation that is looking after it is no longer there.” More schools will be invited next year.

THREE SHIPS – PORT ELIZABETH The Branch held its annual 3 Ships Commemorative Service on Sunday the 21st February. This Service commemorates the sinking of the HMSAS Southern Floe on the 11th December 1941 – the first South African warship to be sunk in any war, the SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER on the 18th February 1982 and the SS Mendi on the 21st February 1917.

The SANDF also had plans for that Sunday – the President laid a wreath at the Mendi Memorial early in the morning and then there was the huge combined parade at the beach front to celebrate Armed Forces Day! We tried for some 5 months to negotiate some form of integration between the SANDF and ourselves but to no avail.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 The attendance at the Three Ships Service was notably down this year because of the SANDF parade. Some of our members were required to be at the parade, whilst a number of those who regularly attend were trapped in Summerstrand where the military had sealed off all the roads so that those in Summerstrand could not exit the suburb.

Lgr Brennan, who gave the address, was required to detour via Schoenmakerskop to get to St Paul's! The service was conducted by our Chaplain, the Reverend Mark Barth, with the Procession led by the Legion Banner accompanied by the MOTH banner.

Members of the Training Ship Lanherne lighting candles during the Three Ships Memorial Service.

So some 50 people and 25 Sea Cadets were present, including probably the only man in Port Elizabeth to have served in 3 arms of the Services, Lgr John Yates, Navy, Air Force and Army! Various other legionnaires being called upon to perform other functions such as the Memorium read by Lgr Klopper. The address was given by Lgr Declan Brennan.

An informative historical content which touched upon other South African warships which were sunk during WW2 and Royal Naval vessels with a contingent of South African Sailors which were sunk during the same war. Indeed the address was measured dignity as befits the occasion.

The local Sea Cadet Unit, Training Ship Lanherne, donated a new stand for the candles for the Service, and this was used for the first time on the 21st .Each candle has a name placement on the stand and in the front of the stand is the legendary statement by the Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyoba "Be quiet and calm, my countrymen. What is happening now is what you came to do...you are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers...Swazis, Pondos, Basotho...so let us die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war-cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies."

The three candles representing the Southern Floe, SS Mendi and SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER were ceremonially lit by Sea Cadets from TS Lanherne based in Port Elizabeth. Thank you TS Lanherne for the stand which will be used annually on this special day.

At the conclusion of the service the congregation enjoyed some pleasant refreshments courtesy of the Church Ladies.

Next year will be the centenary of the sinking of the SS Mendi and the Branch is already working on the service plan.

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Three Ships Memorial Service held in Port Elizabeth.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 SS MENDI MEMORIAL SERVICE – HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL SOUTHAMPTON The annual SS Mendi Memorial Service at the Hollybrook Memorial, where 717 South Africans are commemorated, was once again very well attended on Saturday 20 February 2016.

Included in the attendees were His Excellency Obed Mlaba, South African High Commissioner, Mayor of Southampton, South African Defence Adviser Brigadier General Sithabiso Mahlobo, Reverend Dr Jangikaya Zihle from the South African High Commission, Mr Richard Hills from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and South African Air and Deputy Defence Adviser Colonel N. Tshiloane.

Also present were Military Attaches from Angola, Canada, France, and the Netherlands.

Also in attendance were the Royal Navy Association, Royal British Legion, Royal British Legion Youth Branch and Black Poppy Rose. Other dignitaries included Graham Scott from the Banners on parade during the SS Mendi Memorial Service at the Hollybrook Memorial Wessex Archaeology, Barry in Southampton.

Steward from Black Heritage and Culture, Rose Barry (McTavish) granddaughter of SS Mendi casualty, Colour Sergeant McTavish, John McCabe from the Friends of Delville Wood, members of the Sea Cadets who formed a Guard of Honour and the Jubilee Brass band.

The event was covered by British Broadcasting Corporation – South Television.

SS MENDI MEMORIAL SERVICE NOORDWIJK THE NETHERLANDS The second SS Mendi Memorial Service was held in Noordwijk in the Netrherlands on Sunday 21 February 2016. The Noordwijk Municipality has embraced the service and lent its support to the service which was also attended the South African representation in the Hague, South African Military Attaché in Brussels and various locals.

SINKING OF SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER MEMORIAL SERVICE Lgr Kevin Bolton represented the South African Legion of Military Veterans at the Field Marshal Shellhole’s sinking of the SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER memorial service on Sunday 06 March 2016. See story on the sinking of the SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER elsewhere in the magazine.

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SS Mendi Memorial Service held at the Holybrook Memorial in Southampton.

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SS Mendi Memorial Service held at the Holybrook Memorial in Southampton.

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SS Mendi Memorial Service held Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

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SS Mendi Memorial Service held Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

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GUNNERS’ MEMORIAL SERVICE CAPE TOWN Members of the Cape Town branch attended The Gunners’ Memorial Service at “The Gun” in the Cape Town Gardens on Sunday 13 March 2016.

COMMONWEALTH DAY PARADE – UNITED KINGDOM Every year on the second Monday in March 14 March 2016,, 53 countries join together in celebration of the links they share as members of one diverse and dynamic global family - the modern British Commonwealth.

Commonwealth Day in the United Kingdom begins with a service of remembrance and the laying of wreaths at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill in London.

The South African Legion was once again honoured to attend this parade in London, and we were even more honoured to be able lay a wreath alongside all the dignitaries in honour of the South African lives given to the British Crown under the Commonwealth agreement. From WW1 and WW2 and even to the present day.

Members of the Cape Town Branch at the Gunner’s Memorial Service in Cape Town.

Thanks to Lgr Andrew Bergman, Chair of our European Outpost for laying the wreath on behalf of the South African Legion and to Lgr Theo Fernandes for the photos. The ceremony was also attended by Lgr Russel Muttusheck.

KOEVOET MEMORIAL SERVICE 02 APRIL 2016 by Lgr Chris

Szabo Members of the former South African Police “Operation-K” Unit, Koevoet (Crowbar) and the Police COIN Unit veterans have held their memorial at their Wall of Remembrance at the Voortrekker Monument in a service attended by former members from as far away as Namibia.

Master of Ceremonies, JJ “Dicks” Dietrichsen, following the lighting of a Candle of Remembrance for the fallen, spoke of those members who had died in the Border Conflict. Dietrichsen said: “On the Wall of Remembrance appear the names of 165 who were members of the Koevoet Unit from 11 January 1979, to the end of April 1990, for more than ten years, who paid the highest price, in fighting against a Communist takeover of South West Africa. These were men who fulfilled their duties in extreme temperatures, both high and low. These men were familiar with the clatter of machine guns, landmine and mortar bomb explosions and the whoosh of RPG missiles. These were men who were familiar with death, whether those of their comrades-in-arms or the enemy.”

He went on to explain that the Wall of Remembrance was at the Voortrekker Monument because the Koevoet members who had died were buried all over South Africa as well as Namibia. The surviving members would not forget those whose names were on the wall, he added.

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Commonwealth Day Parade.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Dominee Jan du Preez, himself a retired police major general, is a former member of the South African Police AntiTerrorist Unit 4 (PATU) in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later earned a doctorate in theology. Known simply as “Oom Jan”, he was called on do the Scripture reading. Oom Jan is currently working on another doctorate, this time on the impact of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on war veterans.

He spoke of all South African servicemen who died during the Border War, and, referring to the Wall, he said: “Behind every name is a mother or father, a wife or children or other relatives who paid the price of war in a different way. This is the pain inside, which must be wrestled with in another way.

War leaves scars on people. And these wounds are not always visible. These are scars within.” He challenged those present to stand by those who had suffered and who still suffer from the effects of the war.

The traditional Two Minutes’ Silence was preceded by the Last Post and ended by Reveille. This was followed by the wreath-laying ceremony. Wreaths were laid by former Koevoet and SAP COIN Unit (TIN in Afrikaans) members, the SA Legion, a former member of 37/102 Battalion South West Lgr Chris Szabo about to lay a wreath on behalf of Africa Territorial Force (SWATF), 61 Mechanised Battalion the South African Legion.

Group Association and a former member of the Police Special Task Force.

There were no SANDF sentries or band, nor a member of the Chaplain Corps, because the government does not accept former Koevoet members as legitimate military veterans.

Former Black members of the unit sang their traditional songs, led by Jonas Kampuru. Kampuru and other Black veterans strongly criticised the government for cutting them off from access to pensions and medical assistance, available to other military veterans.

Koevoet is both famous and notorious, accused of having committed atrocities during the Border War. Mike Visagie of the Koevoet League, who served for over three years in the unit, among others as the 2iC of the Zulu Alpha Team (Koeovoet combat teams were all given the callsign ”Zulu”) who had been in 54 contacts and survived two land mine explosions, then qualified for the Police Special Task Force and served eight years there. He strongly rejected the oft-repeated allegations that Koevoet had committed atrocities. ”There was a war on; it was a legally constituted war. What we did was, as policemen, we enforced the law.

That is it. We didn’t break laws, we didn’t commit atrocities, we didn’t commit murder at all. Several members, I think about three or four members, had committed murders. They were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. One of them actually hanged for committing murder in his private capacity. On an organised scale, nothing at all. We fought a war and we were superbly effective.

“Professionals throughout the world do study Koevoet operations and tactics. The core principle of relentless pursuit and absolute tactical freedom allowed to combatants gave rise to superbly effective counterinsurgency operations. More importantly, the rendition of memoirs, good and bad, are proving to be very effectively countering an absolute deluge of the negative publicity dreamed up by people who were nowhere near any aspect of the war.”

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 ANNUAL GUNNERS MEMORIAL SERVICE – POTCHEFSTROOM National President, Lgr Godfrey Giles, National Secretary, Lgr Marietta Venter, Lgr’s Kevin Bolton and Charles Ross represented the South African Legion of Military Veterans at the Annual Gunners Memorial Service at the Gunners memorial in Potchefstroom on Sunday 12 April 2016. Lgr Giles laid a wreath on behalf of the World Veterans Federation, Lgr Venter laid a wreath on behalf of the South African Legion of Military Veterans while Lgr Bolton laid a wreath on behalf of the Sappers.

ANZAC DAY PRETORIA – 25 APRIL 2016 The annual ANZAC Day dawn service was held on a crisp autumn Monday morning at Freedom Park in Pretoria. Once again the service was very well attended. Amongst the guests were the South African Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation.

The service started with the Invocation by Reverend Alan Dyssel followed by the Requiem by His Excellency Mr Adam McCarthy, Australian High Commissioner. Led by the band from the South African Military Health Service the hymn “Abide with Me” was sung.

National Secretary, Lgr Marietta Venter, laying a wreath on behalf of the South African Legion at the ANZAC Day Service in Pretoria.

This was followed by the address by his Excellency Mr Richard Mann, New Zealand High Commissioner. His Excellency Mr Kaan Esener, Ambassador of Turkey then read the word of Mustafa Kemel Atatürk, founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. Mr Craig Pontifex then red the well-known poem by Lieutenant John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”.

A total of 19 wreaths were then laid followed by the Call to Remembrance, Last Post, One Minute Silence, and reveille. After the benediction the National Anthems of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia were sung.

After the service all gathered at the residence of the New Zealand High Commissioner for breakfast and some rum.

SMUTS MEMORIAL SERVICE Lgr’s Demetri Friend and Charles Ross represented the South African Legion of Military Veterans at the Annual memorial Service in memory of Jan Christian Smuts at the Smuts “Big House” in Doornkloof, Irene on Sunday 22 May 2016. Lgr Friend laid a wreath on behalf of the Legion.

COUNCIL OF MILITARY VETERANS ORGANISATIONS The annual Council of Military Veterans Organisations Memorial Service took place at the Wall of Remembrance at the Voortrekker Monument on Sunday 29 May 2016. The South African Legion of Military

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ANZAC Day Commemoration Service held in Pretoria.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Veterans was represented by Lgr’s Demetri Friend and Charles Ross. Lgr Friend carried the Legion banner and a laid a wreath while Lgr Ross was in charge of the sentries.

COMRADES MARATHON 2016 This year the Durban branch had a stall at the Comrades Hall where participants of the 2016 Comrades Marathon had to register and get their numbers. Inside the “goody bag” the branch placed a Poppy complete with a safety pin and the following message: The shared spirit and history between the SA Legion and the Comrades Marathon.

In 1921, the Comrades of the Great War, after which the Comrades Marathon is also named, amalgamated with other veteran organisations to form the British Empire Services League (BESL) South Africa, which is now the South African Legion of Military Veterans.

In that same year, Vic Clapham, a WW1 veteran approached the Comrades of the Great War with a vision The South African Legion stand at the Comrades that would result in the world’s greatest ultra- Marathon hall. marathon. His idea was that if infantrymen, drafted into the armed forces from sedentary jobs could endure forced marches over great distances, trained athletes could cover the distance between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban without much difficulty. Clapham, like the Legion, also wanted to remember those who had fallen in the war, and he felt the best way to honour this was by the ultimate testing of body and mind - and triumphing.

On this International Peacekeeping Day (May 29th), wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance and recognition of service. So when watching the Comrades on Sunday, look out for the runners that are actually wearing their Poppy.

Well done to Rick Andries and the members of the Durban branch.

SILVER WAR BADGE CERTIFICATE BY WILLIAM ENDLEY The Silver War Badge certificate that was awarded to No 487 Private Victor Clapham of the 8th South African Infantry Battalion is shown below. This was the certificate for badge SA 2088 and it was issued to him on the 9th of January 1918. Clapham had enlisted on the 26th of November 1917 at Potchefstroom and was an engine driver for the South African Railways. He had The South African Legion stand at the Comrades prior military service in the Cradock Town Guard and Cape Marathon hall.

Peninsular Rifles. A Londoner by birth, he was 29 when he enlisted for war service. On enlistment, he has been serving with the Railways and Harbours Rifles. His wife, Mrs Nellie Clapham was listed as his next-of-kin and she resided in Pietermaritzburg in Natal.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 In the operations against General Von-Lettow Vorbeck, he and his comrades marched more than 2700 kilometers. After the war had ended, Clapham wanted to establish a memorial to the suffering and deaths of his comrades during the war and their camaraderie in together overcoming those hardships, privations and challenges. He conceived an extremely demanding race where the physical endurance of entrants could be put to the test. On the 24th of May 1921, the first Comrades Marathon took place from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

Unfortunately, Clapham became a victim to the trials and tribulations of the very severe and unhealthy conditions in the German East African campaign. His medical issues came to a point at Irangi in November, 1917. “When marching from Dodona to Irangi his boots were new and hurt him so he had to take off his boots and march barefooted. His feet became so sore that he was left 16 miles from Irangi. On regiment returning, he was picked up. Had 10 attacks of malaria in East Africa.” Clapham was discharged on the 3rd of July 1917 at Roberts Heights where he had been found permanently unfit for military service. He had been sent back to South Africa and had landed at Durban on the 22nd of February 1917. Clapham was awarded both the Silver War Badge and the King’s Certificate.

FOUNDERS DAY PARADE ROYAL HOSPITAL 29 MAY 2016.

Members of the United Kingdom Branch attending the Founders Day Parade.

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne reviewed the parading Chelsea Pensioners with music from The Royal Artillery Band as part of this 300 year old tradition. We were also treated to the famous Chelsea Pensioners 'left hand' salute.

Founders day is also known as Oak Apple Day, and is always held on a date close to 29 May – the birthday of Charles II and the date of his restoration as King in 1660. The Oak reference commemorates the escape of the future King Charles II after the Battle of Worcester (1651) when he hid in an oak tree to avoid capture by the Parliamentary forces, and is expressed through all Chelsea Pensioners and visitors wearing oak leaves.

The gold statue of Charles II that stands in the centre of figure court is also adorned in oak leaves for the occasion.

The ceremony was attended by Royalty, dignitaries and many including the Pearly King and Pearly Queens (see photos) who wear mother of pearl buttons on their suits and dresses (many are handed down from generation to generation) and today raise money for many charities and helping others. Their tradition, that of the Costermongers, are a tough resilient and colourful breed and had a language of their own, hence the cockney rhyming slang. They were also a caring bunch and if a fellow coster was down on his luck they would organise a” whip round” to help him get back on his feet. The Original Pearly Kings & Queens Association is a registered trademark.

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Founders Day Parade.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 After the formalities the Pensioners and other attendees were entertained in the wonderful hospital gardens by various bands, belly dancers (always a big hit:-) whilst perfecting the English summer tradition of drinking Pimm's and G&T in the summer sun!

Now, the belly dancers are also an institution at founders day, a number of years ago a troop of belly dancers were off to a gig, having got lost the old pensioners enticed them over to their parity, and the tradition has remained ever since.

A privilege for the Royal British Legion South African Branch to attend this prestigious day, courtesy John Rochester, Heritage Manager at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and friend of the Legion.

Legionnaires in attendance included Stuart Robertson, Theo Fernandes, Simon McIlwaine and Peter Dickens.

Accompanying us for the day where Tigers from two different arms of service Princess Of Wales’s Royal Regiment Association (the Tigers) - Major Kevin Hibbert and Captain Adrian de Villiers and a Tiger Squadron icon Squadron Leader Warrick Hugh Creighton MBE and his wife Pat (both retired Royal Air Force officers), Dave Pincott from The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and Victor Ho.

ARMED FORCES DAY UNITED KINGDOM Once again the South African Legion - England branch was proud to participate in the Armed Forces Day parade, hosted by the Royal Naval Association in Woking England on 25 June 2016.

Our deep thanks to Rod Fraser from the Royal Naval Association for his kind invitation and for an excellent parade in support of the men and women serving in Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

Many thanks also to the South African Legionnaires in attendance, Theo Fernandes, Members of the United Kingdom branch attending the Armed Forces Day Peter Gilliatt (who proudly did the parade.

Standard Bearing for the SA Legion), Lesley Fernandes, Peter Dickens, Justin Bosanquet, Graeme Scott and Sean Daye.

Peter Dickens, Chairman of the South African Legion UK and EU Region placed a wreath at the Cenotaph in Woking in honour of all South Africans who have served the British crown - past and present. Thank you to Shauna Fernandes for the photos.

CENTENARY COMMEMORATION OF WORLD WAR ONE BATTLE OF JUTLAND The Battle of Jutland (known as the Battle of Skagerrak in Germany), fought between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet in 1916, was the largest surface naval battle of the metal ship era, the only major fleet action of World War 1, and the last major fleet action that the participants will ever fight. It also

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Armed Forces Day Parade.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 played a key role in the demise of the reputation of battlecruiser, saw the first use of a carrier based aircraft in battle and is one of the most controversial naval actions in the Royal Navy's long history.

The Royal Navy started the war with a numerical advantage in capital ships over the Germans. The Germans realised that they were likely to lose a full fleet battle and so determined to even the odds by luring smaller parts of the Grand Fleet into traps to eventually bring about equality with the British, at which point they felt confident they would defeat them.

In the spring of 1916 the U-Boat offensive against merchant shipping was restricted to prize rules, giving Scheer, the German C-in-C, more submarines than usual to use against warships. He decided to station them off the major British naval basses and then entice the Grand Fleet out of harbour and over the waiting UBoats.

Initially Scheer planned to raid Sunderland to draw out the Grand Fleet, but this relied on Zeppelin scouting and the weather ruled this out, so an alternative plan was used. He planned to send the battlecruisers, under by Hipper, to the Skagerrak (the sea between southern Norway and Denmark), threatening British patrols and merchant ships in the area. On the morning of 31 May the High Seas Fleet made for sea.

A broadside from a British Battleship during the Battle of Jutland.

The British had by the morning of 30 May received indications that the Germans were assembling, this along with increased U-Boat activity and a decoded (but not interpreted) operational signal led the British to suppose that the High Seas Fleet was going to put to sea. By 10.30 PM on 30 May the Grand Fleet was at sea, two and a half hours before the Germans.

Of the ten U-Boats off British bases only U66 and U32 sighted British ships, U32 reporting two battleships, two cruisers and several destroyers and U66 reporting eight battleships, light cruisers and destroyers. Only U32 launches an attack with no success. The Germans did not interpret this as the whole Grand Fleet being at sea.

On the morning of 31 May Jellicoe, the British C-in-C, received incorrect intelligence from the Admiralty that the German Flagship was still in port, resulting in him to deduce that the German operation would be a cruiser sweep with the High Seas Fleet only providing distant cover. When he found this later to be incorrect it shook his confidence in the intelligence provided, with important consequences for the outcome of the battle.

On the afternoon of 31 May the British battlecruisers, under Beatty, were on a course that at 4.30 PM would take them 20 miles ahead of the German Battle fleet and 40 miles astern of their battlecruisers. Fortunately, for Beatty, the Danish steamer N.J.Fjord was steaming between the cruiser screens of both battlecruiser fleets. At 2.00 PM the Elbing sighted her and sent B109 and B110 to investigate. Galatea and Phaeton also

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Ships that participated in the Battle of Jutland.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 went to investigate. At 3.20 PM Galatea signaled "Enemy in sight" and eight minutes later the British light cruisers opened fire.

Beatty turned his battlecruisers south-south-east to engage the enemy. Unfortunately for the British, owing to a mixture of bad initial positioning, sloppy signaling, lack of initiative and bad luck the powerful 5th Battle Squadron turned in the other direction and carried on for nearly ten minutes increasing the range from the enemy and depriving Beatty of the most powerful squadron in the world during the early part of the Battle of Jutland.

BATTLE OF SALAITA HILL BY LGR ALLAN SINCLAIR Friday 12 February is the commemoration of the centenary of the Battle of Salaita Hill. the battle was the first major action involving South African forces in East Africa during the First World War (1914 – 1916).

The battle was a disaster for South Africa.

The 2nd South African Infantry Brigade suffered a major reverse and received a sharp lesson in the intricacies of bush warfare by an experienced and determined enemy. To South Africans of the First World War generation, the word Salaita is as ominous as the word Tobruk is for the Second World War generation.

Salaita Hill, referred to by the Germans as Oldorobo and located along the southern border of Kenya, was a principle centre for railway communications near Taveta and occupied by the Germans since August 1914. Maj Gen M Tighe, who was acting as the British Commander-in-Chief in East Africa prior to the imminent arrival of Gen J C Smuts, proposed a plan to deploy the 2nd SA Brigade in a frontal attack on the position from the north east through the dense bush while the 1st East African Brigade would take up positions in reserve German Commander in German East Africa. immediately west of the Njoro Drift. No coordination of the movements between the two brigades was planned and, as a result, each brigade was to operate independently of each other.

The British High Command greatly underestimated the strength of the German forces in possession of the Hill, which was believed to be around 300 men, even after several forays to the position and aerial reconnaissance sorties suggested otherwise. In actual fact, the German and Askari forces, under the command of the now legendary Col (later Maj Gen) Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck, amounted to between 1 300 and 1 400 men with a further six companies, amounting to 1 000 men, distributed in the area between Salaita and Taveta. This force also had an ample supply of artillery to call upon.

Beves was not at all happy with the plan. He pointed out the following to the GOC 2nd East African Division, Brig Gen W Malleson;

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Salaita Hill

German East Africa

Portuguese Machine Gunners

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 There would be no element of surprise during the attack; A possible German counter-attack from Taveta was not taken into account; He was a battalion short as the 8th SAI had not arrived yet; Artillery co-operation in dense bush was almost impossible.

His appeals, however, were met with a supercilious response from Malleson and he was forced to inform his battalion commanders that the attack would proceed as scheduled.

The 2nd SA Brigade moved from Mbuyani to Serengeti on 11 February. The next morning the Brigade marched out at 02:00 on route to a position situated 200m north east of Salaita. Shortly after 07:00 the South Africans swung around and advanced south west on the hill in a loose formation with the 7th South African Infantry Regt in the centre, the 5th South African Infantry on the left and the 6th South African Infantry on the right. As they entered the open grassland, the German forces on Salaita, under the command of Maj Kraut, opened fire with both artillery and machine guns. They had prepared fields of fire from specially selected entrenched positions and had also placed snipers in denser areas to fire into the backs of the attacking force. These positions were so camouflaged that a platoon commander of the 7th SAI thought that they were being fired upon by members of the 6th SAI who were advancing behind them.

South Africans during the battle of Salaita Hill.

The casualties among the South African ranks began to mount up and, as the fighting continued, it became obvious that the strength of the German position had been seriously underestimated. It was also evident from the volume of fire that enemy reinforcements were being brought up. This was Capt Schultz’s detachment from Taveta which, as Beves had feared, was moving toward the South Africans under cover of the hill in preparation for an attack against the South African right flank.

At 11:00 Beves, in the knowledge that attack on Salaita had failed, took the decision to withdraw the 5th and 7th SAI in a north-easterly direction with the 6th SAI covering the retreat. The subsequent attack by Schultz’s detachment, coupled with the fact that Askari snipers had been hiding in the baobab trees, caught the South Africans in the bush at a disadvantage and led to a considerable amount of confusion. Although there seemed to be very little panic, the South Africans fell back in scattered formations leaving their dead and wounded behind. Several platoons of the 7th SAI which were located on the left of the Brigade lost touch and withdrew in disorder towards the 1st East African Brigade. The German charge was eventually stemmed by the determined defence of the 130th Baluchi Regiment which formed part of the East African Brigade.

The dead and wounded lay dotted on the slopes of Salaita and the bush all around its foot. The South African losses were listed as 138. The 7th SAI regimental diary records their casualties as 86 which included six killed, a further two dead as a result of wounds, 51 wounded and 27 missing. It is generally accepted in most accounts since published that the 2nd SA Brigade had been subjected to an experience for which they had

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 not been prepared. Lettow Vorbeck himself commented that the conduct of the South Africans proved that they had not had any experience in such serious action. He went on to add that their later observations of the South African forces showed that they had gone to great lengths to make good their deficiencies in training.

BATTLE FOR LAKE TANGANYIKA: THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1918 FEBRUARY 9, 1916 It had been over a month since the dramatic first round of the Battle for Lake Tanganyika between Geoffrey Spicer-Simson’s Anglo-Belgian flotilla and the Germans in December 1915. Round one went to SpicerSimson’s weird little force, spearheaded by his two armed motorboats, Mimi and Toutou, the ships which had been enterprisingly dragged to Lake Tanganyika overland from South Africa in a months-long expedition.

In December, when the two little boats were launched, they had managed to capture the 45-ton German ship Kingani, which had since been commissioned into the British force and renamed the Fifi, after the French onomatopoeia for a bird’s chirps, Tweet-tweet (the name had been suggested by the wife of a Belgian officer who owned pet bird; it went along with the theme of Spicer-Simson’s other two boats, Mimi and Toutou, which meant “Meow-meow” and “Bow-wow”, respectively. The Royal Navy was not amused.)

The capture of Kingani left two German ships on the lake: the 60-ton Hedwig von Wissman, which like Kingani was a fishing steamer turned into a warship by the addition of some six and twelve-pounder guns, and the looming Graf von Goetzen, a repurposed cargo ship which dominated Lake Tanganyika with two huge guns taken from the sunken cruiser Konigsberg, and a battery of pom-pom guns. These ships had been able to blow any Belgian ship out of the water before the arrival of Mimi and Toutou in December. The two British motor launches, though dwarfed by their enemies, were faster, and fairly heavily-armed themselves, mounting 3-pounder cannons and Maxim guns. The Fifi had been repaired too, meaning Germans manning the guns of the Graf Von Goetzen. it could take part in the fight. The Germans, however, did not know about the appearance of these ships, and figured the disappearance of Kingani had been due to Belgian shore guns.

January storm season kept the ships off the lake for a month after the Kingani’s capture, but when they lifted in February, the Germans deployed Hedwig von Wissman to investigate the Belgian side of the lake for the traces of its missing sister-ship. The Allies spotted her early in the morning on February 9 and set out to intercept. Toutou was grounded for repairs, but Spicer-Simson set off with his other ships - Mimi, the captured Fifi, and the Belgian boat Dix-Tonne.

The German captain, Odebrecht, spotted the approaching force, and was surprised to see the white naval jack of the Royal Navy flying above it. He turned hard to port and the shore, hoping reach the safety provided

by Graf von Gotzen. Mimi and Fifi (Meow-meow and Tweet-tweet) were hot in pursuit. Fifi fired her twelvepounder gun, the recoil of which completely halted her in the water. The shot missed, but Mimi sped past and outran Hedwig von Wissman, firing on its stern with her 3-pounder. Hedwig von Wissman’s stern guns

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 did not have the range to return fire, so the two ships began to circle one another, trying to get their guns into range.

Spicer-Simson, his skirt blowing in the wind (for he always wore a skirt, one of his many eccentricities), was captaining Fifi, but he was running out of ammo, just three shots left, and one of them jammed in the twelvepounder gun, requiring twenty minutes to clear. Hedwig was pulling away to safety on the other shore. The jam cleared, Spicer-Simson fired his second to last shot - a hit! The shell slammed into Hedwig’s engine room, killing two German officers and five African sailors, and bursting the boiler. Fire spread throughout the stricken ship, and Odebrecht gave the order to scuttle it. Spicer took twenty Germans and native sailors prisoner, as well as the first captured German naval ensign of World War One. For Spicer-Simson, the Royal Navy’s oldest Lieutenant-Commander and a consummate career failure, it was a well-deserved triumph.

BATTLE OF LATEMA NEK - MARCH 13, 1916 BY 1914 – 18 GREAT WAR. Though vehicles were undoubtable useful, World War I was far less mechanized than World War II, and armies relied primarily on their feet and horses, and in Africa, on tens of thousands of indigenous porters.

In East Africa the outnumbered army of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck withdraw north in the spring of 1916 in the face of large Entente enemy forces. Heading towards Kahe, in Tanzania, Lettow-Vorbeck placed 2,000 German colonial troops to bar the route, at a ridge known as Latema Nek. Five battalions of South African, Rhodesian, and Indian troops in pursuit clashed with them on March 12-13.

The Germans dug in on high ground surrounded by a swamp on both sides, forcing the British commander, Malleson, to launch a frontal assault. Two attacks were held off during the day of the 12th by German fire.

Malleson, badly ill, asked to be relieved. His replacement, Brigadier-General Tighe, continued the battle. In a confusing, bloody fight, South African soldiers finally managed to drive off the Germans, who retreated from the field, leaving 70 dead behind compared to 270 dead Imperial troops.

BATTLE OF VERDUN, FEBRUARY 21, 1916 - GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918 Deep in a wood near the village of Loisin, near Verdun, the sleepy crew of a massive German Krupp naval gun rolled out their weapon for another morning of practice. For days now they and the other crews had been woken up in the pre-dawn dark to load and reload their guns and practice ranging. As they set to work again, the battery commander’s telephone rang. The answering officer listened intently: the order had finally arrived. The huge shell, as big as a man, was hoisted into the gun, and the crews turned their backs and covered the ears. “FEUER!” The first shells landed in the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace in Verdun, twenty miles away (it was actually supposed to hit one of the vital Meuse bridges, so much for all the days of practice). The shot woke up French soldiers all along the Verdun line. Sentries peered over their trenches, the weather was pleasant. All of a sudden, the world disintegrated.

210-mm shells rained down on the French trenches on a 3 mile front. It was “a storm, a hurricane, a tempest growing ever stronger, where it was raining nothing but paving stones Tree branches disappeared, and the trunks themselves were uprooted into the air, then blown sky-high again after they has crashed down. The bombardment progressed methodically, sweeping slowly over each trench line. Colonel Émile Driant‘s two battalions of chasseurs endured two hours of hell on earth, before the barrage mercifully moved on.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Around midday, the German artillery suddenly stopped, leaving nothing but a slightly disturbing silence in the air. French soldiers warily left their shelters, taking up firing positions for the expected infantry attack. It was exactly what the Germans had anticipated. Just as suddenly as it stopped, the artillery barrage fell down again with equal ferocity. Entire French companies vanished in an instant, vaporized or buried alive in their trenches. German artillery observers watched for strong points that still contained living men, directing mortar fire against the survivors.

Behind the lines, gas shells fell on French artillery batteries. Some gunners dutifully tried to respond, their gas masks making the task that much more difficult, but most of them looked on helplessly.

There was little they could do; French spotter planes that took to the air reported so many guns firing that the woods containing German guns looked like one endless streak of fire.

On the other side, German soldiers emerged from their damp Map of the Battle of Verdun. concrete bunkers to watch the show. The misery of the past weeks of waiting disappeared as they watched the obliteration of their enemy. Men prayed, or scribbled out last notes to parents, wives, and girlfriends. “There’s going to be a battle here, the likes of which the world has not yet seen,” wrote a young Hessian home to his mother. On landing, a German pilot met his commanding officer with a grin. “It’s done, we can pass, there’s nothing living there any more.”

At 4:00 P.M., the German infantry went over the top, the spikes unscrewed from their pickelhaubes to avoid getting tangled in brush. Squads of German troops dashed in packets across the now-devastated landscape, taking advantage of cover, save for one regiment of Brandenburgers which advanced in lines, bellowing the battle-song Preussens Gloria. The task of the initial waves was merely to find the points of least resistance in the decimated French line; the main attack was to go forward on the 22nd. General von Zwehel’s VII Reserve Corps, however, sent the storm troopers in on the heels of the first wave.

In the Bois des Caures, some of the survivors of Driant’s regiments had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion.

Suddenly there was a shout from the edge of the woods, a man spotted the approaching lines of field grey infantry. Resistance was mixed. The French 165th Regiment was overrun in seconds, most of its men and rifles already buried in their trenches. German troops took their machine guns and turned them around, while pioneers used blow-torches to cut through the barbed wire.

Other French units managed to fight back. “We shall hold against the Boche although their bombardment is infernal,” reported one commander from the front lines. Of its 1,300 men, however, more than half were dead or wounded. A corporal reported that out of every five men, “two have been buried alive under their shelter, two are wounded to some extent or other, and the fifth is waiting.”

Driant’s regiments had fared better, due to the colonel’s savvy defensive layout, positioning his defenses in several scattered outposts rather than one trench line, saving much of it from the worst of the bombardment.

“Voila les Boches!” went up the cry. Driant grabbed a rifle and rushed out with the rest of his troops. “We are here!” he shouted, “This is our place, they shall not move us from it!”

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Battle of Verdun.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Requests for artillery support went unanswered. The first German waves charged in with bayonets, over 150 enemy soldiers who had crept in unseen from a communications trench. One of Driant’s officers, Lieutenant Robin, held them in a fierce hand-to-hand fight with bayonets, revolvers, and grenades. Gradually, by weight of numbers, the Germans pushed the French platoons back. Driant did not give up any ground without a fight though; counter-attacked every fallen spot, and his men fighting to the death to hold on to them, smashing their machine guns once they ran out of ammunition.

When the Germans ran into one intact French machine gun post, they broke out one of their new weapons.

A searing streak of flame shot through the air, burning out the French defenders. The Battle of Verdun was to be one of the first large-scale uses of the flamethrower.

Night brought an end to the fighting, as well as unexpected snowy weather. For the most part, the French had held on better than anticipated, though at terrible cost. Most of the advancing Germans had been surprised by the amount of resistance encountered, the first of many disappointments to be had for them at Verdun. Only the VII Reserve Corps had taken considerable ground by breaking orders to send forward the main attack on the 21st.

OTHER STORIES SINKING OF THE SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER BY CHIEF PETTY OFFICER DERRICK ERNEST “STOMPIE” WILLIAMS AS TOLD TO SPECIAL EDITION OF THE BULLYTIN, OFFICIAL NEWS LETTER OF FIELD MARSHAL SHELLHOLE Chief Petty Officer (Retd) Derrick Ernest “Stompie” Williams who had to endure that horrific ordeal on his 21st Birthday” this is his story………

“The morning of the 18th February 1982 was nothing special, except that we had been at sea for almost 4 days, with a further week of submarine exercises in the Southern Atlantic still planned.

As per usual I took over the Tactical Communications voice circuit and settled down for what should have been a quiet and uneventful early morning watch.

Just before approximately 04h00, I was tasked with sending out the signal to re-orientate the screen which lead to the formation of ships, consisting of the two anti-submarine frigates SAS President Kruger (PK) and SAS President Pretorius (PP), the auxiliary tanker the SAS Tafelberg, changing direction by 154 degrees, a virtual reversal in direction. As per tactical prescripts, the two frigates which Ships crest of the Frigate SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER. sailed ahead of the Tafelberg, had to change direction first to maintain their protective positions, against the submarine SAS Emily Hobhouse, ahead of Tafelberg on the new heading.

The PK located ahead on the port side of the Tafelberg, turned to starboard in an inward direction towards the Tafelberg. Partway through the turn, the operations room lost radar contact with the Tafelberg in the ocean clutter and high seas. After numerous commands and confusion the OOW (Officer of the Watch) was unable to recover the situation, and the bows of the much bulkier Tafelberg impacted the SAS President Kruger on her port side.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 The scraping noise was extremely loud and then after seeing the Captain run through the operations room half dressed shouting something to the effect of “wat die v...k gaan aan” I knew this was not manoeuvre listed in the manuals.

I then went to the bridge to see whether I could resume my duties there but to my astonishment, I saw the two ships scraping past each other, and immediately returned to the operations room awaiting further instructions.

The order from the Captain to abandon ship followed, I then knew I was not in a good place, as swimming was definitely not one of my strong points, especially in the dark and in heavy seas. It should be noted that in those days it was not mandatory to wear your lifejacket all the times whilst at sea, so many of the crew had to first go and find their life jackets in their lockers, which in the majority of cases was well below decks.

Making my way down from the operations room to retrieve my lifejacket in mess nine which housed all the junior rate Communication ratings, also dubbed by the other crew members as the “Comms Girls” and the junior rate Radar ratings, I immediately saw that this was not just the touching of two ships, but something rather catastrophic, as water was flowing up the main alleyway, which is a passage that runs from the stern to bow of the ship.

Eventually I managed to find my lifejacket and together with my crew mates we made our way to our respective “life raft stations”. Mine was located on the port flight deck. With the ship now listing slightly to port and the stern taking on water, I met the SAAF Captain of the WASP helicopter who was trying see whether he could maybe fly the helicopter. However, the port side of the hangar and hangar door were damaged, thus no fly operations were possible. After a few minutes, I noticed that all the crew were making their way to the forecastle (the front of the ship) so I followed suit. I remember the wind was howling the sea was rough and it was dark.

Wasp helicopter manoeuvers.

On arriving at the forecastle we were instructed to jump into the water and find a life raft into which we would get into and then be rescued by the either the Tafelberg or the PP, in theory this was easy, no sweat, I said to myself I can do this.

By this time the PK had broadsided into the wind,

with the wind blowing from the port side to the starboard side.

I summed the situation up and had a quick look over the side, saw how high it was as the bow was getting higher as the water entered the ship, and thought to myself, I better take my non- skid shoes off and place them somewhere safe, not knowing the severity of the collision, as should we get back onboard I will at least have dry shoes and would not have to pay for a new pair. And not get into trouble from the Coxswain for not having shoes.

After watching numerous fellow shipmates jump off the bow I eventually stepped forward and plunged into the stormy, dark, noisy sea below. With life jacket inflated and full of thick Furnace Fuel Oil (FFO) that leaked from the ruptured fuel tanks I made my way to the first life raft. As I clung to the entrance someone shouted

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 “life raft full”. Okay I said to myself, plan B find another life raft, it should be remembered that I would rather do sky diving than doing survival swimming or any swimming for that matter. Now very tired and full of FFO and after attempting to enter 4 other life rafts I managed to find one and entered it and found approximately five shipmates inside. I remember thinking to myself I made it, the worst is over, now it’s just a matter of being rescued by one of the other two vessels.

Little did I know that the life raft I entered was still attached to the PK’s port side just below the “flag deck” by means of a nylon lanyard which failed to automatically release when activated. There was scurry amongst us to find some sort of cutting tool to cut the lanyard so as to free us from the ship, which we eventually was accomplished. Now it was just a matter of pushing ourselves down the port side and past the stern before the ship sinks. It should be remembered that the wind was pushing us up against the ship. Thoughts of a massive whirlpool like those portrayed in the movies immediately came to mind.

As we made our way down the port side towards the stern with great vigour, only then did the magnitude of the collision hit us, as there was a gaping hole in the port side that spread across both the engine and boiler rooms, the two biggest compartments in the ship, she had no chance of staying afloat. Our problem of course was navigating passed the sheared metal of the ship trying to avoid the life raft from being punctured, which we indeed did achieve by courageous team work.

Free at last we were in so called “open seas” and watched the PK take her last breath as one of her boilers blew. The last images I remember seeing was the Jupiter radar turning frantically and one or two lights shining through the portholes, I never witnessed the PK’s final sinking.

While waiting to be rescued it dawned on me that it was my 21st birthday and I shouted to the guys by the way it’s my birthday, to which the life raft broke out into song wishing Stompie a happy and wet SAS TAFEELBERG. 21st birthday.

After two or so hours we were rescued by the SAS President Pretorius and were provided with clean overalls and a traditional tot of rum to warm the inners. The PP continued the search for our missing shipmates until nightfall, with the PP finally making her way back to the naval port of Simonstown, to off load her survivors.

The PP subsequently returned to the area to continue the search for any possible survivors.

It should be noted that the force of the collision buckled the plates and crushed port Mess 12 on the SAS President Kruger, where the Petty Officers sleeping quarters were located, killing or trapping all those inside.

The President Kruger sank in 45 minutes approximately 78 nautical miles south west of Cape Point.

CPO Webb and Abe Benjamin were not trapped inside ship, as both were seen to abandon ship. The following morning, the body of CPO Webb was recovered from the sea by the SAS Protea. Abe Benjamin remains unaccounted for.

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Photos of the crew and the ship SAS PRESIDENT KRUGER.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 The story of the sinking and rescue of the crew of the SAS President Kruger, as well as the impact to families of both the survivors and the men lost, truly comes back to the PK’s motto “Out of the Storm came Courage” – Yours Aye Derrick “Stompie” Williams.

The images below were also provided by “Stompie”, taken by him during his days onboard the SAS President Kruger By the Editor. Having distributed the Special Edition of The Bullytin to the “Centurion Chapter of the Olds and Bold”, I received the following from one of the members of the chapter, Rear Admiral (JG) (Ret) Steve Stead: I was one of the students on the submarine command courses.

We had been conducting “Attacks on a Screened Target” throughout the day and the night and as fortune (good or bad?) would have it, I had the run in the middle watch. I made my appreciation, placed the submarine in the most likely intercept position (called the “grain”) snorted to charge the battery as best we could because of the rough weather and the Shackleton, then sat back and waited … and waited … and waited. Eventually Evert Groenewald (The Teacher and later Rear Admiral) asked whether I hadn’t missed the target. So we decided to go to periscope depth.

Every time we put up a mast to try and call the OTC the Shackleton flew overhead forcing us down again. This went on for around 2 hours until the end of exercise (FINEX). So we surfaced and then discovered that the Shack was trying to contact us to inform us of the collision.

By the time we got to the scene it was daybreak and all the survivors had been rescued.

ROYAL ARTILLERY CONCLUDES VISIT WITH HISTORICAL SIGNING – DOUBLE BARREL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 On the 26th May 2016 The Royal Regiment of Artillery in the United Kingdom will celebrate its 300th Emblem commemorating the tercentenary of the Royal Anniversary. As part of the celebration of this Artillery. significant milestone, the Regiment decided to conduct a west to east circumnavigation of the globe, commencing at Woolwich in London, the Regiments birth place in 1716, in mid-2015 and finishing at its new Regimental home in Larkhill 2016 A baton, designed to represent the 300 years, will be carried around the globe, before being resented to the Captain General (the Queen) when she reviews the Regiment at Larkhill on its foundation date.

The circumnavigation will provide an exciting and unrivalled opportunity for all corners of the Regimental family to play their part in an incredible journey. As part of this unique journey the Regiment will engage with other Commonwealth Artillery nations and close Allies, carrying the baton with them.

The baton has just completed its tour of South Africa, being carried by a number of Royal Artillery Regiments/Batteries starting at Cape Town with 14 Coles Kop Bty, and concluding its journey in Johannesburg. As part of this historic

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 occasion a senior Gunner of each Commonwealth Country that the baton passes through will sign a parchment housed inside the baton, which will be presented to the Queen in May next year.

This honour was afforded to Lt General (Ret) Philip du Preez SD SM MMM in his capacity as National President of the Gunners’ Association of South Africa. The signing ceremony took place at GEM Village in Irene, Pretoria on Sunday 4th October 2015, with the Queens Loyal Greetings being passed onto all South African Gunners

by Captain Conor Brady from 10 (Assaye) Battery, 47 Regiment Royal Artillery. The 10 (Assaye) Battery delegation were 13 strong, including one South African born Gunner.

Gunner Dominic Hoole, the National Chairman of the Gunners’ Association of South Africa handed over two Gunner Ties as well as the South Africa Gunner Book to each visiting Royal Artillery Gunner.

It was fitting that Lt General (Ret) Philip du Preez SD SM MMM was designated to sign the parchment as he was the General of the Gunners’ of South Africa when the South African Artillery and the Royal Artillery renewed their Alliance in June 1996.

THE STORY OF HARRY NOEL GREENBERG (TANNY) Harry Noel Greenberg, (Tanny) was born in Kuruman, South Africa on the 14th March 1916, the eldest of seven children.

On the 17th June 1941 Tanny who was in his 5th year of medical school at the University of Cape Town joined the SAAF to do his duty. A chronic shortage of doctors in South Africa meant he was not obliged to go to war. But he was determined to go.

Earning his wings on the 5 September 1942 he aced his assessments earning A and AA in all areas. Tanny desperately wanted to be a fighter pilot but as a result of an astigmatism in the eye these requests were repeatedly turned down. On the 12th December 1942 at the Union of South Africa's 2nd Airschool in Randfontein, Tanny became a flight instructor.

Tanny trained both South African, British and Allied Pupil Pilots in elementary flying. This training was done on the Tiger moth. One of Tanny's former students a Bill Tatham who was trained by him in 1943 describes him as having " a wonderfully pleasant, friendly, patient personality." Later in the war as the demand for training new pilots decreased he was posted to Mobile Air Force Depot ( MAFD) based in Pretoria. MAFD's role Tanny Greenberg. in WWII was posting aircrew onwards to active squadrons. He then spent time at 9AD and 3AD airforce depots based at Wingfield (Cape Town) and Brooklyn (Cape Town) respectively.

These depots were SAAF maintenance units that assembled, stored and delivered new and repaired aircraft.

Tanny's role was that of a War Aircraft Ferry Pilot. On the 4 Sept 1944 he returned to MAFD. On the 8th October 1944 Tanny was posted to Squadron 28. The unit was based in North Africa in Algiers.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Their squadron motto was "Portamus" - which means "We Carry". Sadly, nineteen days before the end of the war, on the 19th April 1945 Tanny was flying a Douglas Dakota C-47 Skytrain transport plane on a non combat transport mission from Algiers North Africa to Marignane Airport near Marseille France. In bad weather, his plane crashed into a small mountain in Vitrolles. All aboard perished.

Tanny, who had just turned 28, left behind a 22 year old wife Maureen and 20 month old son Edgar. .

SOUTH AFRICAN AGENCY OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION QUARTERLY REPORT: 01 JANUARY TO 31 MARCH 2016.

Once the staff of the South African Agency excelled in maintaining the Commonwealth war graves in South Arica and Namibia as well as the British graves from the South African War (Anglo Boer War 1899 – 1902).

During the period the Agency received a visit from the Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Mrs Victoria Wallace. Accompanied by the Director of the South African Agency Mrs Wallace visited a number of sites in South Africa and Namibia.

The period under review also the Agency finalising the recruitment of three additional staff members who should join the Agency early in April.

Maintenance were carried out on the sites in Gauteng, Free State, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. While routine inspections were carried out at sites in the Free State, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga Routine maintenance were carried out by the various appointed site contractors.

Potchefstroom Military Cemetery after renovations.

In North West the renovations of the Potchefstroom Military cemetery had been completed and included the erection of benches. In KwaZulu-Natal the work to repair the Cross of sacrifice in the Ladysmith Cemetery is ongoing. At the Palmietkuil South War Cemetery an underground tank and pressure pump have been procured and will be installed early in the new financial year while a concrete palisade fence will also be erected.

During March the Director attended the reinternment of Italian Prisoners of War at the Zonderwater Italian Prisoners of War cemetery. These Italian Prisoners of War were exhumed from the Worcester cemetery where their graves could no longer be maintained.

Certainly work well done by the team from the South African Agency. If there are Commonwealth of Anglo Boer War graves in a cemetery near you, it is certainly worth a visit.

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Cullinan Military Cemetery

Dido Valley Naval Cemetery, Simon’s Town

Grassy Park Cemetery

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 THE CAPE CORPS GUN MEMORIAL UNVEILED BY GENERAL JAN SMUTS, 1934 BY STEVE LUNDERSTEAD IN TODAY IN KIMBERLEY’S HISTORY 25 FEBRUARY 2016 In both World Wars, Kimberley was the depot for the Cape Corps battalions. Official recognition of the coloured soldiers had been subdued for decades during the apartheid era, but it was not always the case. Statesmen such as Cecil Rhodes, JX Merriman, and Jannie Smuts have lauded the Corps and the men themselves. Rhodes himself thought so highly of their fighting skills that in the 1890s he himself raised a corps that fought with distinction in the Matabeleland Uprising of 1896.

The official history of the Corps states that coloured soldiers were already in military service by 1776. By 1781 the Dutch had raised a corps of “Pandalours” which helped defend the Cape against attack and in 1795 the corps saw action for the first time when they fought against the English at Kalk Bay. Their pay was two shillings a month at the time.

The Cape Corps history of World War I 1914-1918 is arguably the most famous of all its campaigns as it was during this war that they fought as combatants in East Africa, North Africa and in Palestine, and they fought exceptionally well particularly at the battle of Square hill.

The Depot in Kimberley for the training of the two battalions was at the Bultfontein and Dutoitspan Mine areas adjacent to Beaconsfield, and in fact, on one occasion the local inhabitants of Beaconsfield harassed the camp so much that the military authorities had no choice but to send the entire corps on leave. The discipline and restraint of the Cape Corps under severe provocation from the locals was beyond praise. The soldiers on active service in east Africa arrived back in Kimberley on 29 December 1917 and were sent on leave as well, returning to Kimberley in February 1918.

The 1st battalion was sent to Egypt in March 1918 and the reserve half battalion on 22 June. Recruiting and training of men in Kimberley continued unabated as it was expected The Gun Memorial in Kimberley. that large drafts would be required in Egypt. Thus it was that the men left Kimberley for Square hill.

Disaster befell the depot, as it did the rest of Kimberley, during the Spanish Flu epidemic of October 1918 when 169 men of the Cape Corps died and the Depot was temporarily closed.

The Cape Corps Association was formed shortly after the war, with the strongest association being in Kimberley. Their first objective was to raise funds for their memorial, this being finally unveiled

by General Jannie Smuts on 25 February 1934. Smuts had this to say of the Cape Corps: “It is a privilege to be here today and to take part in this great ceremony…. I am here, as a representative of the Government of this country to honour the memory of the gallant men to 67

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South African Cape Corps

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 whom this memorial has been erected…..the great and gallant services which they rendered to South Africa….I shall never forget the hardships they suffered with me….”

In east Africa the Corps had the distinction of capturing both forces of Germans that broke through the British lines.

In Palestine “they had the privilege to take part in one of the most brilliant feat of arms in the whole of the Great War. The Cape Corps was selected to take one particular section of this apparently impregnable front… they covered themselves in glory…” That was the battle of Square hill of 19 September 1918, a well-recorded action both locally and internationally and available in various forms both book and magazine.

At least 10 000 men had been recruited for the Cape Corps during the war, many from Kimberley, and in fact, at least 25 000 coloured men fought in the South African army during the war.

Smuts continued: “They took their place as brave men by the other brave men in the Great War. More no man could do. The Cape Corps raised by their sacrifice and service and gallantry the selfrespect of the whole coloured community in South Africa. The outstanding fact in those years of suffering was that there was no colour distinction. All in suffering, loss and sorrow were knit closely together and my wish and prayer is what was then won will not be lost.

“This monument, established in Kimberley, is a tribute to the part Kimberley played. Many of our best men, not only white but coloured and native as well, came from Kimberley…”

Pictured is the Gun Memorial, the memorial plaque and the Cape Corps marching in Palestine.

ALBIE GOTZE In the beginning of the year The South African Legion UK branch Chairman Peter Dickens received a call from Tinus Le Roux, requesting a subsidy for a Lgr Peter Dickens with Albie Gotze and his motorised chair. motorised chair for Albie Götze. Through the SA Legion offices in South Africa we were able to request the funds from The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund via the Royal Commonwealth Ex Services League (RCEL).

Happily, we secured the subsidy and Albie is now the proud owner of a sparkling red motorised chair. Lgr Peter Dickens took some time out of his trip to South Africa and pay him a visit at his home in Hermanus.

So who is Albie Götze and why the fuss?

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Simply put Albie is the last surviving South African D Day veteran, he's also the only surviving South African Operation Market Garden veteran, one of two surviving South African veterans who took part in the Berlin Air Lift and a veteran of the Korean War. Simply put he is a national treasure.

He is currently writing his memoirs, living in Hermanus and very welcoming to all who want to meet him.

Peter took Albie out for a well-earned beer and a cheers to a remarkable life, if you wish to know more on this remarkable man read on.

Albert Richard GĂśtze joined the South African Air Force in mid-1942 and was selected for fighter pilot training.

After he finished flying training he was sent to the Middle East where he joined up with RAF No. 127 Spitfire squadron in April 1944.

127 Squadron moved to England and from there they operated as a UK defence unit. They flew patrols and bomber escorts to mainland Europe but also did some fighter-bomber work. During this time Albie was involved with shooting down German V-1 flying bombs and also did cover flying on D-day.

In August 1944 Albie was transferred to RAF No.137 squadron flying Hawker Typhoon ground attack aircraft.

He participated in the Market Garden- and the Rhine crossing operations.

137 Squadron always operated at low altitude ("on the deck") and was mainly employed to attack targets such as armour, anti-aircraft installations, specific buildings, transports and enemy personnel.

Flying in the Typhoon squadron was dangerous and high risk. The losses were extreme and hence replacement pilots were usually filled with volunteers. Albie's aircraft was hit on occasions and he made a few crash landings with damaged aircraft.

After the war Albie participated as a navigator in the Berlin Airlift of 1949 where they flew around the clock supply flights from West Germany.

In 1951 Albie completed a combat tour with SAAF No. 2 squadron to Korea as part of a US Air Force formation where he flew P-51 Mustangs.

Albie had a long and successful career in the SAAF and ended with the rank of Brigadier General. He was responsible for the introduction and implementation of the South African air defence system with the underground head station at Devon. He was also responsible for the system to be fully computerised.

Albie was also the personal secretary of the State President of South Africa for 4 years President Diederichs.

He retired from the Air Force in 1978 Pictures and references courtesy Tinus Le Roux. Also, our deepest gratitude to Tinus for all the assistance he has given Albie and securing his mobi-chair for him as well as Ian Yule. part subsidising it. Tinus, the Legion thanks you.

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Albie Gotze

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 WELFARE STORY OF IAN YULE Some welfare news from the South African Legion’s branch in the United Kingdom on Ian Yule (the chap seen here playing the tough cockney sergeant Tosh Donaldson in “The Wild Geese”). Social services in the UK have finally taken him in, he is now in full time care in permanent accommodation. He now also has the support of military charities in the United Kingdom.

Many of us may remember Ian Yule. He acted in many movies , The Wild Geese being the one he is most remembered for, as well as Zulu Dawn and Shamwari. He starred in numerous SABC series in the 80’s as well.

On The Wild Geese he also doubled up as an on set expert weapons advisor and on set military tactics advisor.

Ian Yule arrived from South Africa as a destitute veteran to the United Kingdom in mid December last year and called for assistance - the Rhodesian veteran community responded arranging for him to immediately be taken him into temporary care.

The case was brought to the attention of the South African Legion in the United Kingdom and the SSAFA..

The SA Legion in turn engaged the Royal British Legion to ensure full case worker support was given to him and that priority accommodation and care be made available. SSAFA case workers took control as did pressure on the local council to stop pushing the issue around - and engage a veteran in need (access to these types of “full” benefits in the UK are very difficult if you have not been resident in the country for some time of which Mr Yule was not).

My Yule is a British citizen and was born an orphan before World War 2. He was adopted by a couple who were killed in the London Blitz during WW2, he was then taken in by Americans stationed in the UK. He joined the military as a boy soldier and remained in the military for a significant part of his life - the military has been the only family he knew.

His complete service is rather varied, he is British Armed Forces veteran, who subsequently joined the Rhodesian Armed Forces, became a mercenary in the Congo and then he joined the South African Defence Force.

He joined the British Armed Forces about 1948 - Boys Service, and was mustered as a trumpeter for the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery at St. John’s Wood Barracks. He then posted to the School of Artillery at Larkhill.

He became jump qualified at the Jump School at Netheravon. Subsequently he was sent for Infantry Heavy Weapons training and was stationed at Hythe - Kent.

He received further training at 42 Royal Marine Commando (Kayak and off/onshore submarine loading), and was posted to Malaya, then was seconded to 41 Royal Marine Commando, which was based at American airbase - Toyoko.

Ian was then posted to Korea and took part in the Inchon attack during the Koeran War, on the West coast of Korea. From there he was redeployed and fought at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir with the American 6th Marines. This is where Ian Yule was captured and taken prisoner, he was a POW of the North Koreans for two and half years.

Upon cessation of the UN War in Korea, he was released, he was redeployed to Egypt, then the Yemen, subsequently redeployed back to Egypt for the Suez Crisis.

This soldier, has seen action. He subsequently joined “Mad" Mike Hoare’s 5th Commando in the Congo as a mercenary. He also joined the Rhodesian Armed Forces and after that the SADF. Ian is now incapacitated, with numerous ‘war wounds’, very bad rheumatoid arthritis, walks with sticks, (but we now have him in a wheel chair), is very hard of hearing (cannot operate a telephone) and has degenerative

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 eyesight. He is also thought to be suffering from on-set dementia. He carries a very bad gun shot wound to the abdomen.

He had moved in a small apartment in Hillbrow and fell into financial despair. Whilst in Hillbrow he was been threatened with his life with little means for proper medical care. Ian Yule arrived in the UK carrying a small carry-on bag with one set of PJ’s and walking sticks - nothing else, apparantly he sold his medals for the flight tickets.

Graham and Debbie Goodwin, two “good Samaritans” picked him up at the airport and put him up in their flat in West Sussex. Both Peter Dickens from the South African Legion and Jennie Upton from the RAR Rhodesian veterans association worked to get him into proper care at the same time as advising the Goodwin’s on courses of action to take as this or that door closed to them.

At the end of the day it was a job well done and he is now - against all the odds and with a steep uphill fight - finally in full time and permanent care.

Well done especially to the Graham Goodwin and Jennie Upton, Bravo Zulu to both of you.

WELFARE STORY OF PETER AND RENIER. DHL and The South African Legion UK branch step up to the mark to deliver prosthetic limbs to veterans in need.

In 2015, as part of the Project Gemini exchange programme blind veterans from South Africa and the USA joined their peers in the United Kingdom for a week of socialising, learning and camaraderie. Little did they know that a real opportunity to dramatically improve the lives of two military veterans would arise from it.

Colin Williamson, a blind veteran himself from Blind Veterans UK said, "This year, at our Brighton centre we had two South African blinded veterans who were both right leg below knee amputees as well as having sight loss. Their prosthetics were World War 2 era and literally dropping to bits."

Peter and Renier, the two South Africans in question, are members of St Dunstans Association for South African War Blinded Veterans, and they were both injured in the "South West African/Angolan Border War" as serving members of the South African military.

Following the event in Brighton, Mr Mark Cornell, Past President of the US based Blinded Veterans Association acquired two DHL collecting the box with the prosthetic limbs. sets of prosthetics donated to Peter and Renier by an American hospital. Problem was, the prosthetics were a long way away at Mark’s home in San Antonia, Texas, and they where needed by St Dunstans in South Africa.

To get these much needed prosthetics to South Africa; Colin Williamson sent an email to Cameron Kinnear of the South African Legion of Military Veterans (UK branch) looking for advice on how he could obtain some assistance in covering the rather significant cost of shipping prosthetics from the USA.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Cameron quickly kicked into action obtaining much needed shipping information and briefed his peers in South African Legion, some shipping quotes were obtained, but it was immediately apparent that this would be unaffordable to the charities and veteran associations concerned, and would take many months to raise the monies.

Peter Gillatt took the reigns as Project Coordinator on behalf of the South African Legion to make contact with the donor parties and act as liaison. Peter also put out a message to the members of the Legion calling for skills and assistance and Wayne Stockton, (a military veteran himself), quickly responded.

As it turns out Wayne works at East Midlands Airport, and made an appointment to see Peter Bardens, Operations Director of DHL. It became immediately clear that DHL were very capable and very enthusiastic to assist. DHL then very generously agreed to sponsor the delivery much to the appreciation of all concerned.

Scheduling and logistics planning kicked off immediately with Peter Gillatt and Wayne Stockton coordinating the activities between the various parties, ensuring the correct documentation was in place and keeping everyone appraised of the progress that was being made.

Due to the Christmas closure of the recipient organisation, St Dunstans in South Africa, it was decided to postpone the delivery until after the holidays. So, on the 4th of January the DHL collected the parcel of prosthetics from Mark Cornell in Texas, USA and delivered it safely to Andrea Burton at St Dunstans in South Africa on the 8th of January 2016.

A job very well done all round, now all that remains to be done is the process of modifying the prosthetic legs to fit two very appreciative veterans.

This very successful operation was a wonderful demonstration of the kindness of the human spirit and the will to overcome challenges for the greater good. Charity is not just about just donating money, it’s about engaging all sorts of resources and skill sets to actually deliver aid and support to people in need.

The South African Legion would like to extend a huge mention of appreciation to DHL for the Suda Bay Military Cemetery, Island of Crete. magnificent and generous assistance they provided in making the start of 2016 a very special occasion for two old Veterans.

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTEL OF CRETE

During February 2016 the Legion has received the following from Dee Smit, Secretary to the South African Ambassador in Greece: “I am the Secretary to the South African Ambassador to Greece. We have been approached by the British Embassy, which every year organises the commemoration ceremony of the Battle of Crete in Greece. As this year is the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Crete, they were wondering if we knew of any South Africans who may be attending this commemoration, as many South Africans are buried in Crete. I thought that if this is

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 the case, you would certainly know. Our Embassy participates every year in this commemoration, therefore I would very much appreciate it if you could put me in contact with anyone whom you may know will be coming to Crete in May”.

Although nine members of the South African Air Force are buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Suda Bay Military Cemetery on the island of Crete, they did not participate in the battle of Crete.

However thanks to the daily posting on the Legion’s Facebook Page by Captain (SAN) (RETD) Glen Knox, we were able to confirm that a South African did participate in the Battle of Crete. Here is the story of Lieutenant (RNVR (SA) V. P. de C de Kock MBE DSC Glen Knox: Day to Day SA Naval History: Chris Bennett. 3 March 1943 – Lt V P de C de Kock MBE DSC, was the SA Navy’s most decorated war hero in the Second World War. After doing his initial naval training at the RNVR(SA) Base in Cape Town he was seconded to HMS Shropshire in the South Atlantic until he was selected for officer training and sent to the United kingdom to do the necessary courses.

Sub Lieutenant de Kock then served in landing craft in the Mediterranean where he did excellent work in evacuating soldiers from Greece and Crete. Arising from his actions in this he was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross and later mentioned in dispatches for ‘outstanding gallantry, fortitude and resolution during the Battle of Crete’.

He then commanded a tank landing craft in the convoys to the besieged Tobruk and was made a Member the Order of the British Empire for his courage determination and fine seamanship in rescuing the survivors of a ship sunk by a submarine.

He ended his naval career serving in Combine Operations Pilotage Parties which necessitated being taken by submarine to a beach where a landing was to take place, assembling a collapsible canoe on its casing and paddling inshore to establish whether it would be safe to land troops there.

Preparing for the invasion of Sicily, Lt de Kock and another South African S Lt A H Crossley paddled inshore off the southernmost tip of Sicily on 7 March 1943 and were never heard of again. The proud record of these very gallant officers and, indeed, all our war dead, and the splendid fighting tradition which they established at great cost will always serve as an inspiration to the sailors of the South African Navy.

ROYAL SHOW PIETERMARITZBURG

Chairman of the Pietermaritzburg branch proudly displaying the Silver Medal awarded to the Legion stand.

Over the period 27 May to 05 June 2016 the Durban and Pietermaritzburg branches combined forces and under the auspices of the Pietermaritzburg branch had a Legion Stand at the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg for the first time. The stand was manned by members of both branches. Foe their efforts they were awarded a

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 Silver Medal. Well done to all involved. In the words of Provincial Chairman, Rick Andries, What an achievement on our first Royal Show exhibition - next year we look for Gold!

AIR VICE MARSHALL SIR CHRISTOPHER BRAND by Steve Lunderstedt in Kimberley Calls and Recalls Air Vice Marshal Sir Christopher Joseph Quentin “Flossie” Brand KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, (25 May 1893 – 7 March 1968) was a senior officer of the British Royal Air Force. Christopher was born in Beaconsfield, Kimberley, to South African policeman, Inspector and Mrs ECJ Brand, and educated at Christian Brother’s College, Kimberley, and then later at Cambridge University.

When World War I began in 1914, Brand was a citizen force member (territorial) of the Witwatersrand Rifles, serving in German SWA where he was commissioned. After returning to South Africa from that campaign in 1915 he resigned and travelled to England, where after gaining his flight certificate (Number 2685) he was accepted into the Royal Flying Corps.

He was commissioned on 15 March 1916 and posted to 1 Squadron RFC. After combat in France he was then posted to 112 Squadron as a Flight Commander, and by July 1918 was Squadron Leader of 151 Squadron RAF. When the war ended he was posted to 44 Squadron RAF as their commanding officer.

A fighter ace, Brand had shot down four enemy planes at night, becoming the highest scoring RAF night fighter pilot of the First World War. In total he claimed 12 victories in 1917 and 1918; seven of which were victories with No 1 Squadron, four with 151 Squadron and one with 112 Squadron. (Some sources state 13 victories). For gallantry he was awarded the Military Cross (26 April 1917), the Distinguished Service Order (31 May 1918) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (15/16 September 1918).

Air Vice Marshall Sir Christopher Brand

In 1920, The Times of London offered a prize of £10 000 for the first pilot to fly from London to Cape Town.

General Jan Smuts wanted South African aviators to blaze this trail, and subsequently authorised the purchase of a Vickers Vimy, G-UABA named Silver Queen at a cost of £4500. Pilots Lieutenant Colonel Pierre van Ryneveld (commander) and Captain Quintin Brand (co-pilot) formed the crew for the record-breaking flight. The crew left Brooklands England, on 4 February 1920, and landed safely at Heliopolis, but on the flight to Wadi Halfa, they were forced to land due to engine overheating with 80 miles still to go. A second Vimy was loaned to the pair by the RAF at Heliopolis. It was named Silver Queen II. In this second aircraft, the pair continued to Bulawayo in the then Southern Rhodesia where the aircraft was badly damaged when it crashed on takeoff. Van Rynevald and Brand then borrowed an Airco DH9 to continue the journey to Cape Town. They were disqualified as winners but nevertheless the South African government awarded them £5000 each.

Along with van Ryneveld, Brand was knighted in 1920

for his role in the record attempt.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 From 1925 to 1927, Sir Quentin became Senior Technical Officer, then Principal Technical Officer, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. In 1929, he was posted to Abu Qir (Aboukir) Egypt, and later appointed Director-General of Aviation in Egypt from 1932 to 1936.

In World War II 1939-1945 he was the Air Officer Commanding No. 10 (Fighter) Group during the Battle of Britain, the group responsible for the defence of southwest England and South Wales. Air Marshal Brand enjoyed a good relationship with Air Marshals’ Park and Dowding, and frequently deployed his squadrons effectively to back up the efforts of Park’s No. 11 (Fighter) Group. Brand also supported the tactic of using small and rapidly deployed groups of fighters rather than the “Big Wings” favoured by Leigh-Mallory and others.

After retiring from the regular forces, Brand married Mildred Vaughan in 1943. He had been married to her sister Marie in 1920, but Marie had died in 1941. The first marriage to Marie had produced four children, two girls, Mary and Veronica, and two boys, Tony and John.

After World War II Sir Christopher and Lady Brand farmed in Surrey, England until January 1951 when they moved to Rhodesia, having bought 400 acres of land in the Old Umtali region along the Odzani River. This farm they named “Quo Vadis”, the main crop being grapes for table consumption.

A devout Roman Catholic, Brand died on 7 March 1968 a few weeks before his 75th birthday.

He is buried in the Umtali cemetery, (now Mutare, Zimbabwe.)

(Condensed and compiled from a wide variety of sources).

GERMAN WAR GRAVES IN SOUTH AFRICA BY LGR CHARLES ROSS In contrast to a substantial number of Italian Prisoners of War that were brought to South Africa during the Second World War a small number of Germans were held in South Africa as Prisoners of War. During World War One a large Prisoner of war camp was established at Aus in Namibia.

In terms of an agreement between the German Government and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission the responsibility of certain German war graves would become the Commission’s responsibility. This agreement includes the German graves in South Africa. There are 110 (54 First World War 56 Second World War) German graves in South Africa. The Agency has managed to locate most of the German graves which are now receiving the same maintenance as the Commonwealth war graves.

Included in the 54 First World War graves are 6 German graves, possible the only German combat casualties on South African soil. These graves are the result of a clash between Union Defence Force troops and German troops on 04 January 1915 on the outskirts of the small Northern Cape Town, Kakamas. Seven German troops were killed and buried on the Battlefield while two members of the Union Defence Force died.

The seven German casualties were later exhumed and re-interred at a small memorial outside Kakamas. One of the seven, Otto Voigts, was later exhumed and re-interred in the Windhoek Old Cemetery. The site has been renovated by the South African Agency of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who also plan to erect a Visitors Information Panel in English, Afrikaans and German.

The largest number of First World War German graves, 37, are found in a small plot in the Commercial Road Cemetery in Pietermaritzburg. One of the casualties buried in Plumstead Cemetery, Paul Senf, was

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German graves in the Windhoek Old Cemetery

German graves in the Commercial Road Cemetery in Pietermaritzburg

A German Memorial in the Rebecca Street Cemetery in Pretoria.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 wounded at the Battle of Trekkopje on 25 April 1915. The two German graves in the Stellawood Cemetery are both members of the German Navy.

The largest concentration of German graves from the Second World War, 26, are found in the Rebecca Street Cemetery in Pretoria. These are all from the Baviaanspoort Prisoner of War camp outside Pretoria. There is also a small memorial in honour of the German casualties of both World Wars in the cemetery. Annual memorial services are held at the memorial. The second largest group of German graves, 17, are buried in the Andalusia Cemetery outside Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape.

The grave of the 5 Germans in the Maitland Cemetery in Cape Town is the venue of an annual Remembrance Day Service organised by the German community of the Western Cape and takes place on the third Sunday of November.

During my time with the South African Agency I was unable to locate the grave of Emanuel Brandstetter, other historians did locate the very interesting grave.

Story for the South African Legion of Military Veterans by Lgr Charles Ross.

OBITUARIES LGR PETER VAN BLERK - 27 OCTOBER 1919 – 9 JANUARY 2016 Peter Walter Van Blerk was born in Bloemfontein on 27 October 1919 which made him 96 when he died. His father was from the Cradock area and served in both the First and Second World Wars. His mother Daisy was a Hertfordshire lass from Bishop’s Stortford who met Peter’s father whilst the latter was stationed in England during WW1. From meeting to marrying took them exactly two weeks which was probably not uncommon in days of conflict! They eventually settled in Bloemfontein producing three children, Peter being the older brother to Ivan and Olive.

Peter attended school at Grey College and Brebner High after which he joined the Friend Newspaper, which was part of the Argus Group, as an apprentice stereotyper. Forty three years later he retired from the Argus Company having been employed on the Daily News and Pretoria News on the production side. In 1980 he moved to La Lucia, Durban where he spent many happy hours doing woodwork, fishing and playing bowls. Shortly after being demobbed he travelled down to Springfontein in the southern Free State with a friend who happened to be Betty White’s brother. The rest as they say is history. At the time of Betty’s death in 2013 they had been married for 68 years and produced two daughters, four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Something that is probably not known is that they also had a son Peter who died unexpectedly at the age of seven months following a negative reaction to a routine vaccination. Quite how one recovers from such a tragedy one does not know.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 When it comes to Peter’s war experiences one doesn’t quite know where to start. Before joining the air force, Peter served with the President Steyn regiment and was involved in the battle of Sidi Rezegh, the fall of Hellfire Pass and the retreat of Medals and photo of Peter van Blerk.

Gazala. He was also in the battle of El Alemein and passed through Tobruk a few days before it was taken by Rommel’s forces.

Following these harrowing times in the desert, Peter rightly or wrongly concluded that it would be safer fighting as far above the ground as possible and in 1943 joined the South African Air Force. Following training back in South Africa he joined 34 Squadron as part of a Liberator Bomber crew. His role was that of wireless operator/air gunner and flew on raids that dropped bombs on enemy oilfields, railway marshalling yards and dropped supplies to allies in Yugoslavia and northern Italy. His plane was also involved in dropping mines into the Danube.

Peter was thankfully spared involvement in the horrendously dangerous raids on Warsaw as he was visiting his father in Italy at the time his plane was due to fly to Poland. As it turns out his plane was turned back due to bad weather so the fates were looking after his entire crew at that time. Not for long, however.

On 22 November 1944, Peter’s squadron was instructed to bomb the Szambethely railway marshalling yards in western Hungary – the second time they had bombed this particular site. One crew member was on his first raid with another requiring one more to complete his tour. The rest, including Peter, were on their 27th raid with 13 more to go to complete their tours. All in all, seven crew members were on board.

At about 20:00, flying at 11 000 feet Peter’s Liberator was approaching its target when it was caught in a bright flare which exploded just above the aircraft and, in Peter’s words, made them “sitting ducks”. Two night fighters attacked the plane after which, and again in Peter’s words, “all hell broke loose”. In spite of evasive action the fighter planes duly found their mark causing the rear of the Liberator to burst into flames eventually putting the aircraft into a steep dive. Whether the plane blew up or whether he was thrown clear, Peter does not remember. Luckily he was wearing his parachute and the next thing he knew was landing in a muddy field with his flying boots torn free, shrapnel in his left arm and hearing the words “hande hoog – for you the war is over”. Of the seven crew members, he was the sole survivor.

Peter duly spent the rest of the war as a prisoner, first in a military hospital where his left arm barely escaped amputation and then in a German POW camp. There are two incidents that are noteworthy during this period: 



On the way to Frankfurt to be interrogated and accompanied by two German soldiers he was passing through a place called Damstadt when the air raid sirens started up. Caught in the open and with bombs clearly seen dropping from allied bombers, Peter and his guards sought shelter in a park. The next thing Peter knew were two terrified children of about five or six years old clutching his hand. In order to comfort them he pulled them under a tree and lay on top of them until the bombing came to an end – about an hour later. Peter’s attempt to protect the children did not go unnoticed and was commented on favourably by his interrogators in Frankfurt.

Giving aid and comfort to an American airman who had been shot down and in the process badly burnt. He was on the same hospital train as Peter who ignored the stench from the American’s burns and assisted him in whatever way he could. When they parted company, and at the airman’s request, Peter jotted down his name on a torn off flap of an envelope and handed it to him. Years later on a radio programme called “Where are they now” hosted by Shirley Veal, an appeal was made for a Peter van Blerk to contact someone in Port Elizabeth. This request was heard by one of Peter’s bowling acquaintances. Contact was duly made and it turned out to be the airman’s daughter whose father apparently had made it his business to contact the South African who had assisted him all

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Lgr Peter Van Blerk

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those years ago. The American, who by this time, had become an extremely successful businessman, duly visited South Africa in 2000 and at a ceremony attended by the American Consul, Peter was presented with an American Bronze Star in recognition of his deeds nearly 56 years before.

Peter’s passing from this world makes it a poorer place. He was such a caring and compassionate person and loved almost without exception by all those who came into contact with him. Peter will be sorely missed by all. A man who went through life not expecting any favours but who was always willing to dish them out.

One of the old school - and boy what a school that was.

As they say ‘They don’t make them like that anymore”.

Peter, a loyal member of the Durban Branch, had been a Legionnaire since in 1948.

WE WILL REMEMBER HIM. On Thursday, January 21st a memorial service for Lgr Peter Van Blerk was held at the Trinity Methodist Church in La Lucia. As a member (the oldest) of my MOTH Shellhole, Journey’s End, he had requested a MOTH service and, because he was also a member of the Durban Branch, we decided to conducted a joint MOTH and SA Legion service for him.

LEGIONNAIRE ESMOND JACOBSON. Legionnaire Esmond Jacobson, a World War Two veteran and member of the Durban branch of the South African Legion of Military Veterans passed to Higher Service on 07 February 2016 at age 95. ES, as he was generally known, was a past Chairman of the Durban Branch of the South African Jewish Ex-Service League and regularly laid a wreath on their behalf at the annual Remembrance Day Service in Durban.

LEGIONNAIRE (MS) JOY SARGENT. Legionnaire Ms Joy Sargent answered the Sunset Call on 21 March 2016. Joy was a member of the South African Legion Woman Auxiliary and the Brakpan Brach for the past 30 years. She served on the executive committee for many years. We will remember her.

DAUGHTER OF PAST PRESIDENT FOR LIFE It is with a very heavy heart that I have to report that Karen du Toit (48) daughter of Past President for Life, Jurie van der Merwe, passed away early this morning.

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SPRINGBOK – JUNE 2016 SA LEGION STRUCTURE Patron in Chief: President, Hon. Jacob C Zuma Past Presidents for Life: Lgr Tony C. Chemaly Lgr Rodney W. Monthe Lgr Lawrie F. Poorter Lgr Jurie Van der Merwe Lgr Chris P.C. de B Venter Honorary Life Vice Presidents: Lgr Arthur Blake Lgr Lourens Human Lgr C. J. J. Jooste Lgr Basil Kriel National Executive: National President: Lgr Godfrey J Giles National V/President: Lgr John Del Monte National Treasurer: Lgr Hilton Kaplan National Secretary: Lgr Marrietta Venter National Marketing: Lgr Shadrack Sealome National Transformation: Lgr S Nosenga National Gender: Ms M Manetjie National Welfare: Lgr Dave Francis National Public Relations: Lgr Charles Ross Regional Chairmen: Central: Lgr Deon Bester Eastern Cape: Lgr Brian Klopper Kwa-Zulu Natal: Lgr Rick Andries Branches Adelaide Alexandria Atteridgeville Brakpan Bedford Bloemfontein Kimberley Botshabelo Cape Town Central Wits Durban

East London Ennerdale-Orange Farm Graaff-Reinet Grahamstown Hermanus Kagiso Southern Cape King Williams Town Klerksdorp Kroonstad Lower South Coast

Pietermaritzburg Port Alfred Port Elizabeth Pretoria Sedibeng Soweto Strand Stuttereim UK & Europe Virtual

Springbok, the Journal of the South African Legion of Military Veterans, ISSN 2221-9854, is the responsibility of the Public Relations Portfolio. Edited by Lgr Charles Ross. Layout and typesetting by Lgr Godfrey Giles. Body text was set in Calibri 11 and headers in Calibri 12 bold. Printed using Nashua Printer, thanks to Nashua Central.

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