06 June, let us pause to remember these young men from our Generation who answered the Sunset call.
06 Jun 1949: M/26109 Private Alex Kombella from the Indian and Malay Corps was accidentally killed in Pretoria when he was run over by a civilian motor vehicle. He was 43.
06 Jun 1964: 2/Lieutenant Peter Albert Selby-Tayler from Air Force Base Waterkloof was killed in a private motor vehicle accident. He was 21.
06 Jun 1977: 73429177BC Corporal Salmon Petrus Claasen from the Technical Service Corps Training Centre died in 1 Military Hospital after being critically injured in a military vehicle accident. He was 20.
06 Jun 1978: 74540378PE Sergeant Coenraad Jacobus Theron from 32 Battalion Died of Wounds in 1 Military Hospital after suffering multiple shrapnel wounds in a friendly fire incident on 6 May 1978 when 140mm high explosive artillery shells fell short of the target near Namuidi in Southern Angola during Operation Reindeer. He succumbed to his wounds on 06 June 1978. He was 24.
06 Jun 1979: 79396403PE Corporal Hendrik Swart from the South African Dog Training center attached to SWA SPES SWATF was Killed in Action during a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents in the Oshivello area. He was 24.
06 June 1980: 76305879BG Corporal Mario van Wyk from 32 Battalion was part of the same deployment as Joao, Braz and Van Der Walt who had all been killed on 4 June 1980 at Mutuanjamba. A group of SWAPO/PLAN insurgents that had clashed with SADF units at Mulemba were withdrawing northwards and a rough impromptu stopper group was set-up to ambush them. They were rewarded when the insurgents walked into their ambush and a number were killed. Mario van Wyk was Killed in Action moments later after suffering multiple shrapnel wounds when a Soviet high explosive mortar bomb landed and exploded near him. He was 20.
06 Jun 1981: 78559622BG Rifleman Robert Owen Brindle from SWA SPES SWATF died from a gunshot wound accidentally sustained as a result of an accidental discharge of a fellow soldiers rifle while he was at Etale Base. He was 18.
06 Jun 1983: 82708975HG Rifleman Vincent Mandla Mthembu from 121 Battalion was killed when his Buffel Troop Carrier overturned in Windhoek. He was 20.
06 June 1985: 71453674E Captain Curtis McLeod from 4 Squadron was killed when his Atlas MB326KM Impala Mk II Serial No. 1092 crashed at Sandfontein near Lanseria while he was practicing low level aerobatics for a display sequence at the 4 Squadron open day on 8 June 1985. The aircraft was seen to go into a vertical climb, stall and drop vertically into a dive from which the Pilot failed to recover. He was 29.
06 Jun 1985: 80286800BG 2/Lieutenant Markus Wynand Pearson from 7 SAI was Killed in Action after receiving multiple shrapnel wounds while on patrol when a Soviet POMZ-2 anti-personnel picket mine was triggered by the Patrol Tracker near the Cut-Line. He was 21.
06 Jun 1985: Rifleman Henk Koegelenberg from the SADF Equestrian Centre was accidentally killed when his private motor vehicle was struck by a train just outside Saldanha Bay. He was on a weekend pass at the time of the accident. He was 20.
06 Jun 1985: One member from the South West Africa Police Counter-Insurgency Wing: Ops-K Division (Koevoet) was Killed in Action and one Died of Wounds following a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents in Northern Owamboland. Their Zulu 5 Casspir vehicle was hit by three Soviet RPG-7 anti-tank rockets. The driver was struck in the neck, stomach and hip by shrapnel and was killed instantly while the Special Warrant Officer was seriously wounded in both legs and right hip and later succumbed to his Wounds. The casualties were:
Special Warrant Officer J.M. Tsitula. He was 34.
Special Sergeant Lindu Valentino (Driver). He was 26.
06 Jun 1988: 84339126BG Airman Ian-Roy Francois Erasmus from the Air Force Gymnasium was killed in a private motor vehicle accident while returning to Pretoria from a weekend pass. He was 19.
06 Jun 1991: 87469698BG Rifleman Johannes Frederick Lombaard Nel from 8 SAI was killed when a Ratel accidentally drove over him in very dusty conditions during field manoeuvres at the Army Battle School in Lohatla. He was 20.
06 Jun 1992: 86502655BG Lance Corporal Dion Severio Selli from 5 Signal Regiment was killed in a private motor vehicle accident in Benoni while on a weekend pass. He was 22.
06 Jun 1998: 95080297 Rifleman Thomas Green from the Cape Regiment was killed in Nyanga after suffering fatal gunshot wounds inflicted by persons unknown while off duty. He was 27.
Their names and sacrifices will not be forgotten.