PAST EVENTS
Fellow-member Brian Thomas covered a subject at our June get-together about which we have not heard much in the past.
"Military men and their medals" was his theme which proved an eye-opener for those who are not medal collectors and therefore know very little about this glamorous side of military matters - glamorous, not in a modish sense, but with regard to the glamour created by deeds of service and devotion, of courage, bravery and heroism. Medals and decorations are visible proof that wars not only and always debase, but that they can and very often do bring out the best in men. The earlier practice of inscribing campaign medals with the name, rank or number and regiment of the recipients is of particular value to the collector who is also a researcher and wishes to trace the military career of a recipient and give meaning to the grouping of his medals.
During WWII Britain and all commonwealth countries, except South African and Australia, dispensed with these details and all their awards are "unnamed", but the two exceptions always engrave their medals with the recipient's name, number, etc. along the rim. The field of medal collecting is so wide, that collectors usually confine themselves to specific subjects or a,spects, e.g. medals by specific regiments, or in specific battles; medals according to the rank of recipients, even if the rank is sometimes unusual, e.g. boys, cooks, drivers, scouts, etc.; or medals earned by soldiers with the same surname, etc.
As a collector, our speaker confines himself basically to British medals and decorations awarded to the twenty-three South African citizen force regiments and their predecessors, which were often known by different names, as also British awards made to South Africans in other parts of the world. With the aid of an overhead projector and a coloured slide projector our speaker proceeded to present a cross-section of some 24 recipients from the army, navy and airforce, and from some specific territories e.g. Natal and Rhodesia. Accompanying the portraits' of the recipients were brief accounts of their military careers and, in colour, their respective medal groups from Brian's collection. Among these were some very interesting and unusual ones, such as John Clisdale who earned medals from the infantry, artillery and airforce; J. McDonald who joined the City Imperial Volunteers and was granted the freedom of the City of London, together with the other 1259 men who enlisted in that unit; he eventually became a town clerk of Bulawayo. There was V.J.C. Cardinal who joined as a trumpeter at the age of ten, won medals in four Wars and completed 59 years of military service. J.W. Field, who lies buried in the Wyatt Road Cemetery in Durban was only 5'3" high when he joined at a faked age which made him a couple of years older. By the time the war was over he had grown to reach an imposing 6'1".
Mention was also made of the first South African to have won the Victoria cross but Brian admitted, no doubt with some regret, that this decoration was not in his collectionl). Joseph Crowe, born near Uitenhage in 1826 won the VC on 12 August 1857, while serving as a lieutenant with the Seaforth Highlanders, in a fierce action outside Cawnpore during the Indian Mutiny. He died as a lieutenant-colonel in 1876 and was buried in West Norwood cemetery near London. In 1977 his remains were exhumed, and returned for reburial at Uitenhage.
Fellow-member Ken Gillings moved a vote of thanks for a well researched, long, but exciting lecture.
FUTURE EVENTS
A REPEAT PERFORMANCE
The highly successful one-day outing to COLENSO which took place in May is to be repeated on 31st August 1986. The rendezvous and itinerary remain the same. (See news sheet No. 147, May 1986 for details).
MONTHLY GET-TOGETHERS
JULY 17TH MAJOR DARRELL HALL will follow-up a previous talk he gave us entitled "At the Call of King and Country" which was about his uncle Wilfred Hall who was killed at Bullecourt, France, in 1917. "ABOVE THE TRENCHES" is the story of Wilfred Hall's friend NORMAN LOVEMORE who served in the Royal Flying Corps and relates his WWI experiences and those of a German counterpart. THIS MEETING WILL BE HELD ON THE THIRD THURSDAY IN JULY.
August 14th Fellow-member Midge Carter will present a slide talk entitiled "The Battle of Tarawa: Birth of a Legend". (Pacific WWII)
September 11th Fellow-member Ian Sutherland will show slides of military history interest taken on his overseas holidays. (incl. the Battle of Flodden).
October 16th Fellow-member Steve Watt will give a talk entitled "Exploring Military Cemeteries in Natal" (Third Thursday).
The venue for all meetings will be the Lecture Room, lower ground floor, 'SB' Bourquin Building, on the corner of Jan Smuts Highway and Buro Crescent, Mayville, on second Thursday in the month (unless otherwise advised) commencing at 8 p.m. Glasses and ice will be supplied so please bring your own refreshments. There is ample parking, under guard, in the grounds. Friends and interested persons are welcome to come along.
REMINDER
A number of 1986 subscriptions are still outstanding. The rates are R12,50 Single and R15,00 Family per annum and should be sent to the Hon Secretary/Treasurer, Box 52..., Saxonwold 2132.
(Mrs) Tania van der Watt,
Secretary, Durban Branch,
S.A. Military History Society,
Box 870, HILLCREST, 3650.
Tel. (031) vvvvvv