14 January, let us pause to remember these young men and woman from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
14 Jan 1955: Air Mechanic James Annt Prinsloo from 1 Air Depot died from an epileptic seizure at the Unit in Voortrekkerhoogte. He was 21.
14 Jan 1964: P/50079 Air Mechanic Rodney Howard Jones from 1 Air Depot sustained critical head and brain injuries in a private motor vehicle accident on Frere Road in Durban on 13 December 1963. He was transferred from Durban to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on the 08 January 1964 where he sadly succumbed to his injuries on 14 January 1964. He was 20.
14 January 1972: 5477 Signaler Lionel Gericke, a South African National serving in the Rhodesian School of Signals and based at Brady Barracks, died after suffering severe head injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on the Bulawayo to Salisbury road. He was 25.
14 Jan 1974: W48815B Detective Sergeant Phillipus Johannes Cornelius Schutte from the South African Police, attached to the British South African Police in Rhodesia, accidentally drowned while swimming in the Musengezi River near Gutsa in the Zambesi Valley, Rhodesia. His body was successfully recovered and returned to South Africa for burial in his home town of Brakpan. He was 29.
14 Jan 1978: 72372683BG Corporal Alan Gordon-Bennet from Northern Transvaal Command was killed in a military vehicle accident at Nelspruit. He was 21.
14 Jan 1978: 71346720PR Gunner Hendrik Jacobus Maasberg from 14 Field Regiment was critically injured in a private motorcycle accident in Johannesburg on 11 January 1978 and was admitted to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria where he sadly succumbed to his injuries on 14 January 1978. He was 22.
14 Jan 1979: 01526052PE Major Bernardi Solomon du Preez from Chief of Staff Personnel Recruitment Section at Defence Headquarters was found dead in Voortrekkerhoogte with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 48.
14 Jan 1981: 81511891SP Rifleman C. Cabonga from 32 Battalion was Killed in Action during a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents in Southern Angola. He was 25.
14 Jan 1993: 92740729PE Airman (Miss) Elizma de Bruyn from the Air Force Gymnasium died of cardio-respiratory failure in 1 Military Hospital. She was 18.
14 Jan 1997: 94762234PE Rifleman Joseph Thapelo Mmokele from 2 SAI died in 1 Military Hospital as a result of grievous burns sustained at Eshowe when a mobile gas container exploded. He was 18.
14 Jan 2000: 93742918PF Signaller Mokhosi Petrus Kotsoane from Gauteng Command died from injuries sustained in a military motor vehicle accident when the vehicle he was in, swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle and collided with a concrete wall on De Deur to Meyerton Road. He was 27.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.