Researched and written by André van Ellinckhuyzen
Tommie Ferreira was born in 1921 in Vryheid as the son of Petrus Gerhardus “Oupa Piet” Ferreira (born 1890) and Martina Jacoba “Ouma Lientjies” Le Grange (born 1895) of the farm Brakspruit, about 33 kilometres from Vryheid on the gravel road towards Babanango. When they were married on June 25, 1918, in Vryheid, Petrus was a farmer at Vaalkrans near Vryheid and Martina a school teacher in Standerton. Years later, the Ferreiras lived and farmed on the farms Welverdiend near Barklieside and Sunrise on the Dundee to Nqutu road.
Tommie had only one sibling, a sister named Aletta Alberta “Lettie” Fuchs (nee Wentworth), who was born Ferreira in 1929.
Lettie died in 2012 at the Golden Harvest Retirement Village in Sandbaai. Her only child, Martina Letitia Ferreira (born Wentworth), lives in Durban North.
Tommie grew up on the farm. Life was tough, but he enjoyed the freedom, helping in the kitchen and inspecting the farm on horseback with his father. When his baby sister Lettie arrived, he helped feed her with a bottle, as he was already a “pro” at bottle-feeding lambs and calves. When he was old enough, Tommie was sent to school at NRS in Vryheid. He was only 16 years old when he matriculated from Vryheid High School at the end of 1937.
Tommie proceeded to the Military College in Pretoria to fulfil his dream of flying aeroplanes. Cadet Ferreira joined the SAAF and during flight training, Tommie flew various aircraft, including the Avro Tutor, Hawker Hart, Jungmann Bucker, Miles Magister, Hawker Audax and the Tiger Moth. His first solo flight was on November 1, 1939, in an Avro Tutor. He qualified for his “Wings” on July 1, 1940, and was sent Up North.
Lieutenant Marthinus Gert Thomas Ferreira of the 11th Squadron SAAF was killed on April 10, 1941, during the Abyssinian campaign. He was only 19 years old. His Fairy Battle crashed into a mountain in bad weather. Ferreira was reported missing together with his air gunner, Flight Sergeant Ronald Grant, when their aircraft disappeared while on a return flight after bombing Italian positions in Abyssinia. The aircraft formation encountered heavy cloud and inclement weather over Deder and split up. Once clear of cloud, Tommie’s aircraft failed to re-join the formation. The wreck and the remains of the airmen were discovered a month later.
Vryheid Gazette, February 6, 1942: “Lieut. Marthinus G.T. Ferreira, of the S.A.A.F., AGED 19½ years, son of Mr. and Mrs. P.G. Ferreira of Brakspruit, Vryheid; killed in action on the 10th April 1941 during the Abyssinian Campaign. He was educated at the Vryheid High School, where he matriculated at the age of 16. He then proceeded to the Military College at Pretoria and at the outbreak of War he was one of the first to go up North.”
Frans Moolman, who has been living and farming on Klipfontein Farm near Vryheid for more than 90 years, says he knew the Ferreiras well. Back then, the Moolmans owned a house on the corner of Church and Deputasie Street, which is today known as “Oxford Lodge”.
Moolman recalls that Martina had moved to town from Brakspruit after she had received the devastating news of Tommie’s death, and for many months she had lived there with the Moolmans.
F/Sergeant Ronald Grant was the son of Ian Alister Grant and Annie Laurie Grant (neé Dobson) from the farms Weltevreden and Nagude near Modjadjiskloof, and Tzaneen in the Letaba district of Limpopo. Ronald had a brother, Douglas Haig Grant, and a sister, Gladys Ino Dovey (neé Grant). Ronald was educated at the King George VII School (better known as KES) in Johannnesburg and his name is inscribed on that school’s roll of honour.
Chris and Raymond Dando, the owners of the farm Rothayes in the Mojajiskloof, report that they purchased it from Douglas Haig Grant in 2006 and on this farm is a 100-hectare indigenous forest named the “Ronald Grant Nature Reserve”. The Dandos say that this Grant family from Duiwelskloof was directly linked to the famous Grant’s Whisky brand and that Ian Alister was disinherited by the Grants because he had refused to take up arms against his Afrikaner friends. During the Anglo-Boer War, in the British army, he only served as an unarmed stretcher bearer. The Boers also accused him of selling them out to the British. The Grants from Mojajiskloof were all buried on Weltevreden Farm.
In January 2018, Chris Dando sent a photograph of a signboard to the writer. The board clearly read “Ronald Grant Nature Reserve” and it was badly rusted. Fearing that the rust would obliterate the sign writing on the board, I asked and Chris Dando obliged. In April 2018, the “Ronald Grant Nature Reserve” in Mojajiskloof had a brand new signboard.
After Lieutenant Ferreira’s death, Captain Kelly of 11 Squadron wrote an emotional letter to Tommie’s father, explaining how he had the honour to perform the last rights for Tommie, and how the news of Tommie and Ronald’s death arrived per the son of an Abyssinian Headman, reporting that the wreck of an SAAF aircraft was found near a village named Deder and that the bodies of the airmen were carried into the village. Kelly described the beautiful countryside they drove through to get to Deder and how they were led into the house of a former Italian commissioner of that area, and found the bodies of Tommie and Ronald in neatly handmade Red Mountain wood coffins, with burning candles, flowers and Abyssinian soldiers guarding them. Kelly described the funeral that was held for Tommie and Ronald, and how they were “buried side by side high up on the mountain”.
On April 22, 1941, Major C Gay van Pittius wrote to Mr Ferreira that Tommie was a popular and loyal officer of the Squadron, and fondly known to the men as “Frikkie”.
Ferreira and Grant’s remains were later exhumed and moved to the Addis Ababa War Cemetery in Ethiopia, where they again rest “side by side”. The inscription on Tommie’s grave reads “HY HET GELEWE EN GESTERWE HY VIR JOU SUID-AFRIKA” and Ronald’s gravestone reads “IN THE SHADOW OF THY WINGS WILL I MAKE MY REFUGE… MY HEART IS FIXED”.
The name of Lieutenant MGT Ferreira is inscribed on the War Memorial in Vryheid.
Lest we Forget.
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