On 17 July, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
17 Jul 1950: Lieutenant Jacob Jeremias Vosloo from 12 Squadron was killed when his Harvard Aircraft 7391, crashed while he was carrying out low flying near Umfolozi. He was 31.
17 Jul 1962: Air Mechanic Henry de Villiers Collins from the Air Force Gymnasium died in Pretoria as a result of oedema of the glottis and status lymphatics. He was 18.
17 Jul 1975: 5506258 Captain Geoffrey Dennis Law from 40 Squadron was killed instantly in Harvard 7053 during a weapons demonstration exercise at the De Wet Bombing Range near Bloemfontein when the complete aircraft main plane separated in flight while the aircraft was rolling in onto the target. He was 29.
17 Jul 1976: 70495775BA Rifleman Andries Johannes Blaauw from 2 Parachute Battalion was Killed in Action after he and his twin brother Pieter were involved in a brief contact with a group of SWAPO/PLAN insurgents while on patrol 20km North of Beacon 26 near Melunga. On approaching a kraal where they believed some of the insurgents may be hiding, the section dumped their excess kit and fanned out to search the kraal and surrounding area, leaving Andries and Pieter Blaauw to guard the kit. Apparently, while so deployed, a group of insurgents who were following the patrol’s tracks to the kraal, came upon the two brothers. Andries and Pieter spotted them when they were quite close and taking cover as best they could either side of a tree, they opened fire on the insurgents. The fire fight lasted only five minutes before the insurgents broke contact and fled. Unfortunately, Andries was killed during the exchange of gunfire. He was 21.
17 Jul 1978: 68548433BG Rifleman Jacobus Johannes Vermeulen from 8 SAI died in the Bloemfontein National Hospital as a result of multiple injuries sustained in a private motor vehicle accident at Olifantshoek, He was 26.
17 Jul 1981: 79580288BG Private David Gordon Munro from Sector 70 Headquarters died in 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria from Malaria contracted while serving in the Operational Area. He was 18.
17 Jul 1986: 79328761BG Trooper Willem Jan Pienaar from the School of Armour died in the Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein after being critically injured in a military vehicle accident in Bloemfontein. He was 18.
17 Jul 1998: 91953083PE Corporal Quinton Henry Joostenberg from Air Force Base Ysterplaat was killed in a military motor vehicle accident on the M22 near Cape Town. He was 27.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten