Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Lohatla

9 SANDF soldiers were killed in a training exercise in Lohatla this week. They were part of a 35mm Oerlikon Gun battery. I was a gun commander of a 35mm gun crew in Rundu in 1987. In those days there were also many accidents. The story in that the only "hit" anti aircraft has in many years was a SAAF chopper that was shot down by SADF anti aircraft at Oshakati. I dont know if anybody knows the detail of this story. .. Anyway I feel sorry for those soldiers at Lohatla.
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3 comments:

  1. Ian3:30 AM

    It is a real shame that 9 people lost their lives at Lohatla, whatever the reasons behind it.

    You have an interesting BLOG going here.
    National service and deployment to the border is not a widely discussed topic.
    This applies to both the old or the new South Africa.
    It is still one of those areas which we prefer to shy away from.

    I was really captivated by one your posts in which you said "I dreamt of Rundu last night ..."
    For me this was quite surreal in that I had recently had that same experience (after not having thought or dreamt about this time of my life for ages).
    I find that something small in my current life will suddenly trigger a whole series of memories from my past.

    You were asking how many (if any) Angolan/Cuban planes may have been shot down by anti-aircraft fire.
    I personally do not know the answer to this question but the following links are interesting ...
    http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Country-By-Country/Cuba.htm
    http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Country-By-Country/South_Africa.htm

    Here is another interesting story about Arthur Piercy. He was involved in a dog fight with a Mig 23 over Angola in 1987.
    His Mirage F1 took a direct hit but he managed to get his plane back to Rundu AFB where he then crash landed.
    He fractured his neck during the crash landing and is now permanently confined to a wheelchair.
    http://www.piercy.co.za/accident2_details.htm
    http://www.piercy.co.za/accident2_photos.htm

    I was in the Marines ('86 - '87) and spent much of this time in SWA. Today there is very little information on the Marines as the unit was disbanded in the early 1990.

    Best regards, Ian Hurworth (classmate from Fairmont Matrics 1985)

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  2. Ian7:03 AM

    Hi Tim,

    There are a number of projects underway which try and cover war graves and those who died whilst in the SA defence force. Attached are a few links. As with all information on the net, I can not vouch for it's accuracy other than so say that this is what I have found whilst looking into this subject ...

    SA Roll of Honnour :
    http://justdone.co.za/ROH/index.htm

    Author acknowledges data is not 100% accurate.
    Use the search option and fill in a year (for example 1987, which lists 138).

    Sean Biet's grave :
    http://mibisa.fotopic.net/p12568413.html

    You may remember Sean (aka Dr Beat) from our 1985 Fairmont High School Matric year. I see that Sean was listed as a Gunner with the 4th Artillery Regiment.

    South African War Graves Project :
    http://www.southafricawargraves.org/lists/SAborderwar.htm

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