Brother remember me – Piet Nortje

153 x 235, 170p. including some colour photos.

The Portuguese men who paid the highest price for their adopted country and the South African enlisted soldiers who died during the Border War and in South Africa fighting for a cause they believed in, are still remembered and honoured to this day. The 32 Battalion Buffalo base cemetery where the fallen Portuguese soldiers and their families rest is not classified as a war grave cemetery and became a political issue for the Namibian government.

Social media and official documents have featured posts about the 32 Battalion soldiers’ deaths. Most of what is posted is based on information from the official South African Defence Force (SADF) casualties, 1946 to 1994, register. This document listed the SADF casualties over that period. Most entries about 32 Battalion’s fallen in this register are correct, however some are also misleading or wrong. The cause of death, as recorded in the register, was conveyed to the families of how their loved ones had died and sometimes, it is not the truth of what really happened to the casualty.