15 February, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
15 Feb 1970: 66269531PE Corporal Stephanus Abraham Johannes Latsky from 1 Maintenance Unit was killed in a military vehicle accident on the Old Pretoria / Johannesburg Road near Valhalla when his VW Kombi skidded on the wet road and overturned. He was 19.
15 Feb 1979: 65851354PE Major Frederick Wilhelm Christiaan Brits from 3 Squadron was killed when his Mirage F1CZ Serial No.200 flew into the ground near Cullinan while he was inspecting the wreckage of Mirage F1CZ 246. He was 32.
15 Feb 1981: 77897114SD Lance Corporal Gabriel Nawatiseb from 911 Battalion SWATF was killed in a private motor vehicle accident 10 km South of Windhoek. He was 19.
15 Feb 1981: Four members from 86 Technical Stores Depot were killed in a private motor vehicle accident on the Potchefstroom to Fochville road. The casualties were:
66088295PC Corporal Christoffel Andries Davids. He was 33.
68091198PC Lance Corporal Jonnie Harry May. He was 31.
76696558PC Lance Corporal Andries Taute. He was 24.
76696178PC Rifleman Leon Anthony Rademeyer. He was 22.
15 Feb 1984: 2/Lieutenant Kenneth Kaiser from 1 Special Service Battalion suffered a Cerebral Haemorrhage coupled with swelling on the brain and collapsed while on parade during late 1983. He never satisfactorily recovered and sadly succumbed to his illness in Johannesburg on 15 February 1984. He was 20.
15 Feb 1990: 76463298PS Captain Cecil de Jong from 17 Squadron was killed when his Alouette III, Serial 637 crashed at Murrayhill near Hammanskraal during a confined space landing/take-off. The helicopter engine failed while in the deadman's curve with tragic results. He was 29. The Flight Engineer survived the crash. The subsequent Board of Enquiry attributed the cause of the engine failure to poor maintenance on the part of Denel Aviation when certain mandatory maintenance checks were found to have been omitted. A Denel civilian employee was subsequently charged with gross dereliction of duty.
15 Feb 1992: One member from the School of Armour and two members from the School of Engineers were killed when the military vehicle in which they were traveling as passengers, burst a rear tyre near Verkeerdevlei and overturned. They were:
89542813BG Trooper Grant James Koekemoer. He was 18.
89447544BG Sapper Jacques Andre Pretorius. He was 18. (School of Engineers)
89227912BG Sapper Gert Johannes Grobler. He was 18. (School of Engineers)
15 Feb 1998: 96663786 Rifleman M H Mndaba from 121 Battalion was killed after he was run over by a civilian motor vehicle while walking in Empangeni. He was 23.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.