I wear a Poppy To Remember….
my Father: a signalman; who was captured in North Africa during World War 2
my Grandfather, a rifleman, who was wounded in Delville Wood
I remember the soldiers that I served with and who never completed their national service in South Africa.
Lionel Van Rooyen, Johann Potgieter, Peter Hall, Hennie Van Der Colf
I remember those men of the South African Native Labour Corps who lost their lives in the sinking of the Mendi
I remember the dedicated nurses, VAD’s and other women who served in medical disciplines during and after the wars, many never returned and were victims of the conflict.
I remember those who have no grave, and who are just names on a memorial
I remember the soldiers, sailors, airmen, civilians, children and animals who lost their lives in the folly we call total war
and those who will die tomorrow, or next week, or next year, defending their country, their comrades, and their families; often for a cause they do not understand.
Postscript.
Words do not adequately describe the feelings that I have around about this time of the year, I served as a national serviceman in 1980/81, and when I first went in I did not think that at the end of 1981 I would have 4 names in my memory that would be with me until I die. My grandfather was a soldier, my father was a soldier, as was my brother, and so was I, my father and grandfather were volunteers, my brother and I were conscripts.