Volume 1, Issue 1
DECEMBER 2013
Remembrance News R
S P EC I AL P O IN T S O F IN T E RE S T :
South African Military History
Militaria
Remembrance
War Memorials
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O p e n i n g Wow this was a rollercoaster of a year for us. Firstly I would like to thank everyone, for showing interest in Remember us SA. Also I would like to thank everyone that gave advice and thanks to everyone already involved. I wish I could thank everyone by name but there are just too many. We have made some progress, but not as much as we hoped for. Due to circumstances we had to put much of our research and all other procedures on the side.
IN S I D E TH IS IS S U E:
Then and Now Project
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Then and Now #1 Krugersdorp War Memorial
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General Dan Pienaar
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2squadron in Korea
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Well we hope that 2014 may be an improvement, especially for RUSA and the fact that it’s the first year of the World War 1 Centenary. As part of the RUSA initiative our newsletters of witch this
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is the first will contain some informative pieces, public awareness projects and updates regarding events and more and will look more professional. I know this issue don't have much content but I promise the next issue will be jam packed. We will gladly accept your input. It may be photographs, articles or even advertising of a public event. You can send that straight to rememberussa@gmail.com . In the next issue we will make a separate email address for the newsletter available. There for we encourage everyone to be part of this initiative. All we as is a little bit of your time. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Face book.
Whist South Africa is celebrating 20years of democracy and another election please don’t forget our Fallen War Heroes. They should not be forgotten. I would like to close by wishing everyone a Blessed Christmas and a prosperous 2014. Regards Ryno
Remember us SA Founders Ryno and Bonita
T h e n a n d N o w # 2 S t o r m i l l R o b e r t v i l l e M e m o r i a l During our time researching war memorials we found a helpful website. Whilst looking at the various memorials listed I spotted the Stormill/Robertville war memorial. It was quite hidden from site next to Main Reef Road in Roodepoort. According to allatsea.co.za the memorial was photographed in
September 2011. On 11 November 2012 we set off to visit various war memorials on the West Rand. When arriving at this memorial we found that the memorial was gone. Little is known about the memorial and all our efforts finding information about this memorial went into dead ends. It is be-
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lieved that the memorial was erected by CMR Mines & Estates. Till mow all e-mails and faxes we sent out requesting information is unanswered If you have any information regarding this memorial please contact us. See next page for photographs
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T h e The Then and Now Project This great photographic project is the first of our public awareness projects. This is a easy project where people from all ages can take part. The initiative is based on the deteriorating conditions of South African war memorials. Many people have old pictures of what a war memorial looked like upon its unveiling or perhaps of the memorial before it was vandalized. There are some that
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As pictured on allatsea.co.za a beautiful and clean Krugersdorp war memorial
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was perhaps damaged but received maintenance. What we aim to do is create awareness in order to sustain the memorials. Al we request from the public is to send us a dated photograph of the memorial of how it looked like before it was vandalized, relocated or removed. Together with photograph of what the Memorial looks like today. Photographs can be sent to rememberussa@gmail.com
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A really beautiful, war memorial located in Luipaard Street at the old Market Square Krugersdorp. Looking down Market Street toward the City Hall. The Architecture was done by Solomon and Marshall and the memorial was designed
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please use the following as the subject: then now, memorial name. Thank you for your support.
The last known photographs of the Stormill Memorial Photo Courtesy allatsea.co.za story on page 1
Only the base of the Stormill memorial remains
n o w # 1 K r u g e r s d o r p M e m o r i a l
by Harold Wolseley. This Beautiful memorial was unveiled in 1922 by Sir Abe Bailey.
taken its toll on the memorial. In the corners it is difficult to tell whether the stains are that of Liquor, Soft Drinks or urine. GrafThrough the years this me- fiti is all over the Field Gun morial suffered the same and the memorial self has fate as many others. Negraffiti including a drawing glect and Vandalism has of male genitalia.
Another beautiful photograph as found on thewestrand.co.za
Photographs above and on the right shows the current condition of the Krugersdorp war memorial
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With each of my visits to the memorial its seems that the condition of the memorial keeps deteriorating. If you have any further information regarding this memorial or photographs taken since the unveiling please share with us.
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2 Squadron insignia
War broke out in Korea on 25 August 1950, in a Cabinet meeting, the announcement were made that owing to the distance, direct military involvement were impractical and unrealistic. At further negotiations the conclusion were made, direct military aid was the best. A Squadron was made available for the UN efforts. 2 Squadron saw action during WW2. Supporting 1 South African Brigade in East Africa. where the Squadron was nicknamed “The Flying Cheetahs” after their two cheetah cub mascots. On 26 September 1950, 2 Squadron, set sail from Durban to Yokohama Harbor. After their arrival 2 Squadron received conversion training on the American P-51D Mustang. On 16 November the Squadron arrived at Pusan East Air Base in Korea. Soon, two South African pilots set of on the first of the Squadrons sorties. 2 Squadron were placed under Operational command of the 18 th FighterBomber Wing of the US 5th Air Force. 26 November saw 2 Squadron thrown into a major air effort to prevent the Chinese from overrunning the now retreating UN forces. On 9 May Major Blaauw, was awarded the American Silver Cross Decoration for his actions in the rescue of a downed pilot, during a airstrike on, the Air Base at Sinuiju. The American DFC was awarded to a 2 Squadron pilot on the 24 June, when he led other Mustang’s in an attack on enemy forces threatening American positions. The first encounter with Mig-15 fight-
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ers was on 8 July but they managed to beat them off with inferior Mustang’s. Due to increasing encounters with MIG’s the Squadron were reequipped with the American F-86F Sabre , from November, 27 December saw the last mission in the Veteran Mustang, first sorties were flown again in the Sabre’s on 12 March. Armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. During the War a total 12067 sorties were flown by The Flying Cheetahs. 2 Squadron lost a total of 34 Pilots and 2 Ground Crew The Commanding officer of 18th Fighter-bomber Wing issued a directive to the Squadron: The Directive follows: ”In memory of our gallant South African comrades, it is hereby established, as a new policy that at all Retreat Ceremonies held by this Wing, the playing of our National Anthem shall be preceded by playing the introductory bars of the South African National Anthem, 'Die Stem van Suid-Afrika'. All personnel of this Wing will render the same honors to this Anthem as our own. Unit Decorations: United States Presidential Unit Citation Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
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FIND US ONLINE HTTP:// REMEMBERUSSA.WIX.COM / REMEMBERUSSA
Remember us SA was founded by Ryno and Bonita during 2013. At the time Ryno was 25 and Bonita 21. Ryno has a keen interest in military history and is also a militaria collec-
R E M E M B E R U S S O U T H A F R I C A
tor. They created the project after seeing the Contact us at: rememberussa@gmail.com rememberussa2@gmail.com Twitter: @rememberussa Facebook:facebook.com/pages/Remember-us-SA
damage to war memorials in South Africa as both believe that the, fallen war heroes of South Africa must be honored and respected. The aim of the project is to create public
Thier Sacrifice our Freedom
awareness, to hopefully create a project to maintain at least some of the memorials. Some of the other aims is to assist various veterans organizations, as well as the education of your about South Africa’s sacrifices during various war’s .
Y o u r Once again we would like to thank everyone for the good advice. Apart from the, then and now project we are also creating a memorial data base. That we regularly update. Unfortunately it is very difficult to personally visit all the War memorial’s around South Africa. Therefore we request your assistance in helping us with our project. Photographs can be sent directly to us. For the data base you can send your photos to rememberussa2@gmail.com please use the following as subject (DATA BASE “Memorial Name”) please see the Then and Now article for information about sending your photographs. Photographs that are sent to us for our data base have a few requirements. To obtain details regarding the requirements please send us a e-mail. PLEASE NOTE! PLEASE DO NOT ENTER RISTRICTED MILITARY AREAS OR PHOTOGRAPH MEMORIALS IN RESTRICTED MILITARY AREAS WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION FROM THE SECURITY OFFICER. REMEMBER US SA WILL NOT
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TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU ARE ARESSTED WITHOUT CLEARANCE WHEN PHOTOGRAPHING IN RESTRICTED AREAS AND WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISTANCE OUR SELVES. IF YOU TAKE PHOTOS IN RESTRICTED AREAS PROOF OF PERMISSION MUST ACOMPANY THE PHOTOS. You can also be part of our news letter. We will appreciate any feedback and letters. You can also write short articles or can send us photos to publish. Note any photograph or article that is copyrighted to another person will be ignored; we will automatically credit you with any articles or photographs published. For contributions to our news letter please email Ryno at rememberussa@gmail.com or Bonita at rememberussa2@gmail.com
We also do not condone any discrimination and request that any negative views of government another organization or person not to be published or requested to be published. Please se point of interest on the front page about what we want to achieve with this news letter