On 05 July, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
05 Jul 1977: Sergeant Peter Noel Wiggell HC from the Technical Services Corps was Killed in Action during a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents while attached to Bravo Company Regiment Algoabaai. He was 25.
(Only the previous year on 15 December 1976, he had been awarded the Honoris Crux when SWAPO/PLAN insurgents had opened fire on his TB near the Cut-Line using heavy calibre machine guns together with a Soviet 82 mm mortar mounted on the back of a truck. He had observed truck lights approaching and had climbed down from the Observation Post (OP), situated in a large tree to inform the mortar section of the truck's position. He was on his way back to his post when at approximately 22h00, the SWAPO/PLAN insurgents opened fire with the 82mm mortar. Sergeant Wiggell, now back in the tree OP, opened fire on the trucks position with his MAG light machine gun while directing counter mortar fire onto the SWAPO/PLAN position. The insurgents then opened fire with a 12,7mm heavy machine gun. The platoon launched 36 x 60mm High Explosive bombs onto the insurgent position and the truck received a direct hit. Sergeant Wiggell had no protection whatsoever from incoming enemy fire and despite the fact that the tree he was in had been virtually ripped apart by the enemy machine-gun, he came away without a scratch. For his courageous action in the face of devastating enemy fire where he unflinchingly brought effective and accurate mortar counter-fire onto the enemy position thereby saving not only the TB from the possibility of being overrun, but also saving the lives of the soldiers in the TB, including his own, he was awarded the Honoris Crux).
05 Jul 1977: 75524363BG Sapper William Thomas Wiggell from 2 Field Engineer Regiment was killed in a Military Vehicle Accident at Bethlehem. He was 20. (As far as I can ascertain, he was not directly related to Sgt Peter Noel Wiggell HC).
05 Jul 1980: 78900255SP Rifleman J. Dingombo from 31 Battalion (Later 201 Battalion SWATF) was accidentally killed when he fell from a horse and broke his neck. He was 23.
05 Jul 1981: 78506755BG Rifleman Aubrey Leonard Neveling from 6 SAI was Killed in Action during a contact with enemy forces in Southern Angola. He was 18.
05 Jul 1982: 76380161BG Corporal Andre van der Walt from 4 Vehicle Reserve Park was killed in a private motor vehicle accident approximately 20 km from Bloemfontein on the Winburg to Bloemfontein road. He was 21.
05 Jul 1985: 83215194BG Airman Benjamin Arthur Nell from Western Air Command was accidentally shot dead in his Guard Post at Eros Airport outside Windhoek as a result of an accidental discharge of a fellow soldier’s rifle. He was 18.
05 Jul 1999: 92665124PF Rifleman Mokgotsane Peter Dolamo from 116 Battalion was critically injured after being accidentally struck by a military vehicle while he was doing a fitness test. He succumbed to his injuries in 1 Military Hospital later the same day. He was 28.
Their names and sacrifice have not been forgotten.