03 February, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
03 Feb 1950: Pioneer Gert Jacobus Lodewicus Coetzee from Army Headquarters collapsed and died after suffering a fatal heart attack. He was 64.
03 Feb 1975: Private Henry Peter Kinnear from 1 Maintenance Unit was killed instantly during Basic Training when he was struck by lightning while participating in a route march from Lawley Bush back to their camp at Lentz. He was 22.
03 Feb 1978: 76901230SP Rifleman Afonso Da Silva from 32 Battalion was Killed in Action during a contact with enemy forces at Mamuandi during Operation Seiljag. He was 22.
03 Feb 1978: Two members of 8 SAI were killed in a private motorcycle accident at Campbell, while on a weekend pass. The casualties were:
75372854BG Rifleman Nicholas Jacobus Bacon. He was 18.
75493080BG Rifleman Johannes Hendrik Pienaar Vienings. He was 18.
03 Feb 1980: 76439033BG Signaler Hendrik Petrus Johannes Fouché from 2 Signal Regiment was critically injured and 76293471BG Signaler Christiaan Lourens Oberholzer was killed in a private motor vehicle accident on 01 February 1980 while travelling home on a weekend pass after their vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry carrying cement pipes between Bloemfontein and Winburg. He was admitted to 3 Military Hospital in Bloemfontein where he sadly succumbed to his injuries on 03 February 1980. He was 19.
03 Feb 1983: 80536899BG Lance Corporal Carl Leopold Albert Craemer from 8 SAI was Killed in Action when the Buffel Troop Carrier he was driving, detonated three boosted Yugoslavian TMA-3 Anti-Tank cheese mines that were triggered by a Soviet PMN “Black Widow” Anti-Personnel Mine on the road between Oshigambo and Ondangwa. He was 20.
03 Feb 1988: 84592641BG Lance Corporal Marius John Lecuona from 2 Special Service Battalion, attached to 61 Mech Battalion, was accidentally killed during Operation Hooper in Southern Angola. As crew commander of a Ratel 90, the command came over the radio to take cover under trees as enemy MiG-23 aircraft were approaching overhead. A thick overhanging tree branch caught the browning machine-gun mounting on his Ratel and ripped it off the Ratel chassis. The complete system struck Marius on the head, killing him instantly. He was 19.
3 Feb 1992: 89710867HJ Rifleman Benjamin Modise Mapilane from 115 Battalion was killed in a military motor vehicle accident at Kameelrivier. He was 22.
03 Feb 1996: 88466230PE Sergeant Jan Gabriel Vermeulen from Air Force Station Swartkop was killed in a private motor vehicle accident near Bredasdorp. He was 24.
03 Feb 1999: 74426834PE Warrant Officer Class II Michael Frederick Kruger from 1 Engineer Regiment accidentally drowned when a boat rolled over during an exercise with the NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) on the Umkomaas River. He was 41.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.