15 April, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
15 April 1959: P/18349 Air Mechanic William John Manders from 1 Air Depot was killed in a private motorcycle accident on the military main road in Lyttelton. He was 19.
15 April 1974: 72341753BC Rifleman Jan Chornelius van Wyk from 8 SAI was killed in a private motor vehicle accident at Olifantshoek, near Upington while en-route to assist in flood relief. He was 17.
15 April 1979: 75346189BG Private Jan Jacobus Lucas Martinus Janse van Rensburg De Beer who was stationed at the Messina Army Headquarters, Died of Wounds in the H.F. Verwoerd Hospital in Pretoria after being accidentally shot and critically wounded by a fellow soldier during a live-fire training exercise at Messina. He was 19.
15 April 1982: 80695547CK Rifleman Brian Richard Buttland from the South African Cape Corps, attached to the Army Catering Corps, died in Hospital after contracting malaria in the Operational Area. He was 25.
15 April 1982: Five SADF and three SWATF members attached to 61 Mechanised Battalion Group were Killed in Action during a fierce fire-fight with a group of heavily armed SWAPO/PLAN Typhoon Unit insurgents near Tsintsabis when their Ratel was ambushed and knocked out after being hit seven times by Soviet RPG-7 Anti-Tank rockets and Yugoslavian M60 High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) Rifle Grenades. A back-up force was immediately formed up and went to their rescue but by the time they had reached the scene of the ambush, eight members had already been killed, either in the initial attack or later by hostile small-arms fire. The casualties were:
74846544PE 2/Lieutenant Daniel Rudolf van der Westhuizen HC (Awarded 14 April 1981). He was 49. (Etosha Area Force SWATF)
77554202PF Corporal Maarten Jacobus van Jaarsveld. He was 20. (1 SAI)
78330479BG Lance Corporal Johannes Jacobus van den Berg. He was 20. (1 SAI)
77375863BG Rifleman Leonard Patrick Hough. He was 20. (3 SAI)
78491404BG Rifleman Marius Petersen. He was 19. (1 SAI)
67302257BG Rifleman Johan Hendrik Potgieter. He was 30. (Etosha Area Force SWATF)
78431104BG Rifleman Barend Jacobus Wolfaardt. He was 19. (1 SAI)
79648515SP Rifleman Jan Kouswab. He was 40. (Etosha Area Force SWATF)
15 April 1989: Trooper August George Stumpke from 61 Mechanised Battalion Group was the Gunner on Ratel 51 that was knocked out on 06 April 1989. After returning to the unit from leave, he was standing guard duty on 15 April 1989 with a fellow soldier when they decided to have a "competition" as to who could empty the R4 rifle magazine of 5 rounds the quickest by using the cocking lever. All went well for a while until the fellow soldier thought he had won the “competition” but had in fact only ejected four rounds from the magazine. When the soldier pulled the trigger, a shot went off and Stumpke was fatally wounded in the stomach, dying almost immediately. He was 19.
15 April 1990: 88064423BW Rifleman Stoney van Wyk from the Cape Regiment was Killed in Action after being shot dead by persons unknown while on foot patrol during anti-riot operations in a township in Mpumulanga. He was 24.
15 April 1997: 92097161PV Rifleman Martin Juan Klaaste from 8 SAI was killed in a military motor vehicle accident at Groblershoop. He was 26.
15 April 2001: 67143206KV Lieutenant Colonel T P Verhoef JCD, DTM from 111 Volunteer Air Squadron suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 64.
† Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.