ANZAC Day - 25 April 2005 - Australia
A Message from the National Chairman of SAMVOA on the occasion of the ANZAC Day celebrations to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Gallipoli: 25th April 2005.
South African Military Veterans Organisation of Australasia has its Headquarters in Melbourne with Regional executives in each of the major states of Australia, as well as the South and North Islands of New Zealand.
Some 40,000 South Africans live in this part of the world and a large percentage of these saw military service through conscription. Members on parade today served in regiments, many of which were formed in the 1800s and still serve South Africa to this day.
SAMVOA is particularly proud to have two of our WW2 veterans on parade today. Veteran Tom Robinson MC served in the South African Engineers Corps from 1941 to 1945 where he spent most of his time at the front and involved in all the 8th Army's major battles from El Alamein to Tunis. In Italy he saw action in the 4th battle of Cassino and was with the Polish Brigade that captured Bologna on 21.4.1945 (just over 60 years ago) . Tom was awarded the Military Cross. As a young telegraph e ngineer, Tom’s father served on the staff of Lord Roberts in the Boer War when the T elegraph was new technology!
Veteran Cliff Everton served with one of South Africa’s oldest regiments, The (Royal) Natal Carbineers founded in 1855. The Natal Carbineers were brigaded with the 1 st Battalion Transvaal Scottish and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Own as the 1 st South African Brigade and they were the first of six brigades to move to North Africa in 1939. He too saw service in Italy over the same period as Tom.
Unlike our World War colleagues, most members on parade were conscripted and served for extended periods, on a “Part Time” basis, to such good effect as to have been a major factor in the smooth transition to democracy. This was no easy task, and the continued existence of the regiments in a “post apartheid” South Africa is testimony to the standing of the South African soldier, sailor and airman in the hearts of the greater South African community.
Before southern Africa’s peace there came the War for Africa. Between August 1987 and July 1988 many of our members fought in Angola, in a conflict which was said to be larger than the battles fought in North Africa during WW2. This saw the employment of the most advanced and sophisticated weaponry available today. As in the Boer War, the South African soldier proved to be too much for a numerically superior force of Cubans, Russians and Angolans and this culminated in a peace agreement, the New York Accords, signed on 22 nd December 1988, and the departure of the Communists from African soil.
As Gallipoli is to the Australian and New Zealander, so is Delville Wood to the South African, as this was the bloodiest battle ever fought by South Africans. In July 1916, erstwhile foes, Boer and Briton, fought shoulder to shoulder in France against the pride of the German army with orders to hold the wood at all costs. This they did over 5 days and six nights of intense artillery bombardment and infantry attack, which left over 600 young South African men dead. This action left not a tree standing in a wood, which has today redeveloped itself around the magnificent Delville Wood Memorial, dedicated to all South Africans who gave their lives in all theatres of war.
Through this action and many others, other nations have learnt to respect the fighting qualities of the men from South Africa. Australian and New Zealand Diggers of WW2, in particular, would have been familiar with the capability of the South Africans who fought alongside them in many battles in the North African campaigns.
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