Today, 28 September, we salute and honour the following men & woman who sacrificed their lives whilst standing in the defence of what they held dear at the time and against evil and tyranny.
SOUTH AFRICAN BORDER WAR
28 Sep 1984: 78444866PE Corporal Petrus Johannes Du Plessis from 1 Special Service Battalion died after being grievously burned in an accidental petrol stove explosion at Oshakati while the armoured vehicles were in a laager. . He was 22.
28 Sep 1988: 87066502CK Rifleman Rionell Prins from 53 Battalion was accidentally killed after being struck by a bullet resulting from an accidental discharge of a fellow soldiers rifle during operations in Southern Angola. He was 20.
RHODESIAN BUSH WAR
1977 – Lt Jeremy Lionel FISHER, A Coy, 1st Bn RAR, was killed in action. Jeremy's patrol was with another Security Force unit when they discovered CTs holed up in a cave. After efforts to flush them out had failed, Jeremy went in but was shot and killed. He was 22 years old.
1978 – Aux Cst Patrick MACHONA, BSAP, was killed by terrorists, at the age of 27. He was a member of a police vehicle patrol in the Chilimanzi TTL, which was ambushed by CTs at about 1530 hrs. The vehicle caught fire and Machona was wounded in the leg. The other members of the patrol fled and made their way back to Mvuma police station, leaving Machona to seek help in a nearby kraal. His badly mutilated body was found the following day. Two men were convicted of his murder.
1979 – Sgt Patrick GOVERE, B Tp, SU, BSAP, was killed in a vehicle accident, aged 29 years.\
† Their names and sacrifices have not been forgotten †
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