St John’s College’s hosted its annual Remembrance Day service on 9 November. The service has been an institution at the college for the better part of a century, since shortly after WW1.
It commemorates the deaths of the sixty Old Johannians who sacrificed their lives in WWI as well as the 99 Old Johannians who died in WWII. In addition, the service honours all the countless people who have died in military conflicts around the world over the last century.
“The service was held in the college’s Memorial Chapel, which was built in the 1920s in honour of the Old Johannians who fell in WWI. The names of these OJs, as well as those who perished in WWII, are carved into the wood panels of the All Souls Chapel adjoining the Memorial Chapel,” said Daniel Pretorius, master of Latin and history at the school.
The service takes the form of an Anglican mass, during which the Act of Remembrance, common to Remembrance Day services held in most Commonwealth countries, is observed. This year the service was led by Father Ian Stevens, one of the college chaplains. It was attended not only by the college boys and staff but also by numerous Old Johannians and their families, as well as officers representing regiments in which OJs served, notably the Transvaal Horse Artillery.
“Wreaths were laid at the foot of the altar by Major General Lawrence Smith, the Deputy Chief of the South African Army, Roger Stacey, an Old Johannian, accompanied by the headmaster, Paul Edey and the newly-elected head of school for 2018, Raymond Barrow.”
Stacey is a WWII veteran who matriculated from St John’s College in 1939. After he matriculated, he enlisted in the South African Army and after he completed his basic training he was selected to attend an officers training course, was commissioned as an officer with the rank of lieutenant and then saw active service in Egypt and Italy, where he served with the Natal Mounted Rifles. He attended the service together with his wife, Rosa Stacey, and several members of their family.
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