18 April, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
18 April 1938: P1/7285 2/Lieutenant Richard Laurence Stanley Powell-Jones of the South African Air Force was killed when his Tiger Moth, Registration ZS-AIP crashed one mile South East of the Randfontein Airfield when attempting to recover after the engine stalled while the aircraft was in an inverted position while carrying out low level aerobatics. He was 23.
18 April 1983: Three members from the SWA Police Counter-Insurgency Wing: Ops-K Division (Koevoet) were Killed in action during a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents in Northern Owamboland. They were:
W65960M Sergeant Johannes Hendrik Meissenheimer. He was 28.
Special Sergeant Jacob Saulo. He was 30.
Special Constable Thimotheus Maritina. He was 25
18 April 1988: An Ops Medic from the South African Medical Corps, attached to 201 Battalion SWATF was Reported Missing and one member of 201 Battalion SWATF was Killed in Action when their Buffel Troop carrier was hit by a Soviet RPG-7 Anti-Tank Rocket. The projectile penetrated the armour precisely at the gun position, critically wounding the Ops Medic in the chest during a fierce fire-fight that developed when a combined Cuban/FAPLA Force numbering approximately 200 men, intervened while they were following SWAPO/PLAN insurgent spoor. After the action, a number of other 201 Battalion members also remained unaccounted for but fortunately, they successfully evaded capture and safely crossed the border into South West Africa three days later. The casualties in this action were:
84379122BG Lance Corporal Pieter Gerhardus Viljoen Du Toit (SAMC Attached). He was 19.
Rifleman Petrus Wama (201 Battalion SWATF). He was 24.
It appears that Du Toit was captured by SWAPO/PLAN insurgents, removed from the Battlefield and taken to a nearby Kraal. Because of the seriousness of his wounds, the SWAPO/PLAN insurgents were unable to transfer him further North to their rear area so he was executed. Approximately one month later, after an intensive search by a Special Forces Recovery Team that was inserted into the area, his shallow grave was eventually located and his body successfully recovered. On 8 June 1988, he was laid to rest in the Heroes Acre at Centurion Cemetery, Grave HA2. He was 19.
18 April 1988: 74304841PE Major Lucas Frederick Lötter, the 53 Battalion Intelligence Officer, was Killed in Action in Southern Angola when his Casspir vehicle came under direct hostile small arms fire just north of Alpha Tower while following SWAPO/PLAN spoor. A single enemy bullet ricocheted off the hatch cover and struck him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The Casspir immediately returned to Etale Base where he was officially declared dead on arrival. He was 29.
18 April 1988: 87782496SP Rifleman Alberto Nunes Dinu from 32 Battalion was Killed in Action during a contact with enemy forces in Southern Angola. He was 29.
18 April 1989: Two members from 110 Air Commando Squadron were killed while participating in a 2-day Air Commando Training Camp when their aircraft, a Cessna 182, Registration ZS-FUB, flew into high ground in the Montague Mountains east of Robertson while carrying out an officially authorised low level tactical navigation exercise. The casualties were:
75603571KV Warrant Officer Class II Oliver John Norris Morton. He was 43.
86020047KV Lance Corporal Bernardus Lambertus Saayman . He was 39.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.