12 August, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
12 Aug 1964: Major Okert Johannes Fourie from Air Force Base Waterkloof died as a result of Broncho Pneumonia and lung cancer in Pretoria. He was 50.
12 Aug 1970: 65490377BT Rifleman Christopher Coetzee from 2 Parachute Regiment was killed in a private motor vehicle accident. He was 21.
12 Aug 1970: 37851 Sergeant Johannes Petrus Bosch from the South African Police accidentally drowned while on service in Rhodesia. He was 27.
12 Aug 1975: 68366228PE Able Seaman Hugo Johan Jacobus Bus from SAS Kimberley accidentally drowned in East London when the boat in which he was a passenger, capsized near Stoney Point during a Naval beach landing exercise. He was 23.
12 Aug 1978: Three members from 1 Parachute Battalion were Killed in Action or Died of Wounds after running into an enemy ambush in Southern Angola while in hot pursuit of a SWAPO/PLAN insurgent group approximately 70 men strong. The Patrol was moving at pace when they approached a dip in the terrain where the insurgents were waiting. Lance Corporal Pierre Du Bois was hit in the neck by enemy gunfire and died instantly. Cornelis van der Nest was also fatally shot and killed by enemy gunfire in the initial exchange. Johannes Greyling, the Radio Operator was critically wounded by a piece of mortar bomb shrapnel when an enemy Mortar Bomb landed and exploded just in front of him while he was taking the radio off his back. He was evacuated by Casevac Helicopter to the Medical Trauma Facility at Grootfontein where he unfortunately Died of Wounds a few hours after being admitted. The three casualties were:
75398263BG Lance Corporal Pierre Johannes Du Bois. He was 19.
74440124BG Rifleman Johannes Barend Greyling. He was 20.
74445370BG Rifleman Cornelis Frederik van der Nest. He was 19.
12 Aug 1981: Two members from 6 SAI were Killed in Action when their TB came under hostile mortar fire during a contact with enemy forces in Southern Angola near the Cut-line. They were:
77301497PF Corporal Marthinus Johannes van Staden. He was 19
78352887BG Rifleman Jacob Jacobus Blom. He was 19.
12 Aug 1983: 75479055PE Sergeant Petrus Gerhardus Ettiene Cronje from Air Force Headquarters was found dead in Pretoria with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 24.
12 Aug 1986: 86720190 Pioneer Stefanus Jacobus Havenga from 1 Reconnaissance Regiment died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while he was on guard duty. He was 62.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.