Veterans hold remembrance service in Kloof

A REMEMBRANCE service was held by the MOTHs of Highway Shellhole on Sunday, October 30.

The MOTHs of the Highway Shellhole, SA Legion, learner representatives from Kloof High School, and family and friends attended the service on Sunday afternoon, in Kloof Memorial Park. A short ceremony was held, which included a member of the Caledonian Society playing the bagpipes, prayers and a speech by historian Norman Bellows, which highlighted the challenges of the famous North African conflict that played out in the desert at El Alamein, in World War II. Floral wreaths and tributes were laid at the site to remember the fallen soldiers. Gordon Harrowgate, the Sergeant Major of Highway Shellhole oversaw the proceedings.

During his speech, Bellows, a Highway Shellhole member, touched on the challenges and high stakes that were endured at the Battle of El Alamein, after reminding the audience that a nearby road was named after the conflict. He said that if the Germans had powered their way through the Allied forces, they would have gone on to capture Alexandria, Cairo and the Persian oilfields, meaning that the world’s oil supply would have fallen under German control, and the outcome of the war may have been different.

ALSO READ: Aweh! Find out what’s popping in Durban this weekend

Bellows said, “War casts a long shadow on the world, leaving a scar on the Earth in the form of cemeteries.”

Bellows’ father had the priviledge of ‘visiting’ the battlefield of El Alamein in 1994. On his return to South Africa, he stated, “One does not visit a war cemetery but rather one goes on a pilgrimage to pay homage because every one of those graves contains a father, son, brother, or husband. That was the price of victory.”

Bellows said we would do well to remember the phrase etched into Durban’s Cenotaph: ‘Tell it to the generations that follow’.

ALSO READ: Historic engine is moved to Baynesfield Estate museum

Kloof Memorial Park was aptly named as the land for the park was donated by two grieving families in honour of their sons who lost their lives in World War II.

John Reginald Hickman was killed in action in modern-day Libya, in 1942, and Ronald Douglas Johnson died as a prisoner of war in Italy, in 1943. The families asked for the land to be proclaimed the ‘War Memorial Park’ in 1945, and the new park was dedicated to all the Kloof men who fell in World War II.

The Highway Shellhole holds meetings on the first Saturday of the month from 09:30, at 2 Montrose Avenue, Hillcrest.

For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also follow us on Instagram.