03 December, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
03 Dec 1980: Two members from 3 SAI were Killed in Action on 03 December 1980 and one was critically wounded (he later Died of Wounds on 20 January 1981) while their Company was based at Ondangwa Town. With only a few days left to serve, two sections were ordered to escort one of two school buses from AFB Ondangwa to Oshakati with the Permanent Force and Contractor's children who had arrived from the RSA for the school holidays. The trip to Oshakati was uneventful but on the return trip later that evening, both Buffel Troop Carriers were ambushed by a large group of SWAPO/PLAN insurgents. A Soviet RPG-7 Anti-Tank Rocket hit the roll bar of one of the Buffel Troop carriers and exploded, critically wounding Cpl Donald Brooks and slightly wounding all the other men seated in the rear of the vehicle. The 2nd Buffel Troop Carrier took a RPG-7 Anti-Tank Rocket through the side of the vehicle. The rocket projectile passed right through the bodies of two of the men inside, killing them instantly before exiting the Buffel armour plate on the opposite side. The drivers, who were never decorated for their bravery, managed to extricate both Buffel Troop Carriers, full of wounded troops out the kill zone with their tyres blown out. Corporal Brooks Buffel managed to safely reach Air Force Base Ondangwa while the 2nd Buffel arrived safely at the Army base in Ondangwa town. A full-scale follow-up operation was launched at first light and a number of the SWAPO/PLAN insurgents involved in this incident were captured. The two casualties in this incident were:
76547991BG Rifleman Johannes Erasmus van der Merwe. He was 19.
77323103BG Rifleman Christo van Zyl. He was 18.
03 Dec 1983: Private Denzil John Ernest Keeley from the SADF Film Bureau was killed after falling from a 2nd floor window of his Flat in Arcadia. The possibility that he took his own life was not ruled out. He was 27.
03 Dec 1986: 84917814SWK Rifleman J.H. Nanyemba from 202 Battalion SWATF was Killed in Action during a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents in Northern Owamboland. He was 23.
Their names and sacrifice have not been forgotten.