Moth reflects on Delville Wood battle during parade at sunset

Reflections on past wars of the world took flight in an inner city garden of remembrance that served as venue for Saturday’s commemoration of 1916’s battle of Delville Wood in France as members of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (Moth) in Polokwane met for a late afternoon Sunset Parade.
History books describe the battle of Delville Wood as a series of engagements in the bloody offensive of the Somme in the first World War between the forces of the German and British empires.
The short programme for Saturday’s ceremony, led by Moth Botha Shellhole Old Bill Anton le Roux, featured a brief history on the happenings of the period 14 to 20 July more than a century ago. It was rendered by historian and former teacher Louis Scott who, it was learnt, dedicated a chapter in his book titled Hel Toe en Terug: Die Eerste Wêreldoorlog – ‘n Honderd Jaar Later (translated into “To Hell and Back: The First World War – a Hundred Years Later”) to the particular battle.
Somehow time came to a brief standstill as the trumpet salute in honour of fallen soldiers resonated through the open-air space and erstwhile serving military officials paid tribute to scores of their own who died in the clash. There were tears in memory of friends and relatives who gave their lives in other wars too, of victories won and fights lost.
Elsewhere on the premises the recreational facility, of which the doors are apparently soon to be thrown open to the public to use as events venue, houses relics and remnants of world wars and serves as reminders of past battles that raged across continents. Defused artillery, firearms in glass cases, outdated uniforms, impressive medals, imposing flags, mounted flashes, frayed maps, radio equipment that found a home thousands of air miles away, a glass pane retrieved from an anti-personnel carrier struck at war, a moth-eaten parachute and part of an aircraft propeller vie for a place of honour among the donated pieces on display.

The shellhole that was named after Boer War general Louis Botha is one of four still existing in Limpopo, with Long Tom Shellhole situated in Tzaneen, Thurbi Hills Shellhole having its quarters in Louis Trichardt and Minefields Shellhole based in Phalaborwa.
Amid the antiquities of war the attention is directed to Moth founder Charles Alfred Evenden, a soldier among the Australian forces at Gallipoli during World War 1 who later became a cartoonist with a newspaper in Durban. Apparently scenes from a war movie sparked a chain of ideas and discussions that led to the establishment of Moth on 7 May 1927. It was learnt that the organisation operates independently of race, religion or political affiliation and caters for ex-servicemen of all cultural heritage.
Ex-US Air Force colonel among local members
Among the 14 of the estimated 25 Botha Shellhole Moth members in attendance at the event was 79-year-old ex-American Air Force Colonel David Nuss. He hails from Colorado Springs but has been part of the staff component of a hunting safari lodge in Sterkrivier in Limpopo since 2011 upon visiting for the first time in 2009. In the Seventies and Eighties he had guided fishing and duck and caribou hunting at King Salmon in Alaska, he explained in an interview.
Nuss, who was inducted into the Moth late last year, stepped back in time to take the visitor through recollections of the Vietnam war during which he had been deployed for a year. He referred to having been exposed to combat situations during that war when he pre-empted the fate of death on more than one such occasion. His time in the military had been positive, he did meaningful work and he worked with good people, he added. Among the estimated 20 medals bestowed on him for military service include a bronze star earned in Vietnam, Nuss mentioned in response.

He stressed the importance of the commemoration of occasions such as Saturday’s, saying that soldiers worldwide had a bond and that he felt honoured to have been asked to join the Moth, contributing to him being the only Vietnam veteran in the organisation.
With the conversation continuing while surrounded by merrymaking Moth members, it turned to the gift of poetry with which he leaves parting guests to the lodge. The subsequent unfaltering recital of poems he had written over the years took the visitor to distant shores and a world far removed.
Only female Botha Shellhole Moth member
Once Saturday’s formalities were over the only female member of the shellhole in Polokwane, Wessie la Grange told of her service as a captain in the position of paymaster at
1 Military Hospital in Pretoria that came to an end in 1984. She had served for a period of 12 years.
The socialising that went on long after the organisational flag was stowed away was evident of the true comradeship that serves as one of the Moth ideals.

Story & photos: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com