Static Line “Freefall” – Derrick van Zyl
Salute the Eagle – My experiences as a Parabat in Angola by Kevin Vos
https://www.warbooks.co.za/products/salute-the-eagle-my-experiences-as-a-parabat-in-angola-kevin-vos?variant=32026620547 “This is my story; from the time when I was conscripted as a schoolboy into the army at age seventeen.” This story is fact and not fiction. It is not a historical account written in the first person, it is written as a novel giving insight into the small talk, the joys and the […]
ROOIPLAAS PARATROOPERS COMMUNITY by Eeben Barlow
http://eebenbarlowsmilitaryandsecurityblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/rooiplaas-paratroopers-community.html I have never been a member of any SADF Veterans Organisation for numerous reasons. Many have asked me to join them but I have always declined and walked away. That is until my old Parachute Sappers (specifically by name of Chappies van Zyl) twisted my arm to the point that it almost broke. I […]
Background to Rooiplaas
Background to Rooiplaas Rooiplaas, the parachute training facility in Bloemfontein, South Africa, has a rich history. It played a crucial role in the training of thousands of paratroopers and parachute packers. In 1960, the first South African soldiers received their training as paratroopers in the United Kingdom. On 1 April 1961, the first parachute unit […]
The forgotten soldiers (Staff reporter)
https://mg.co.za/article/2003-04-04-the-forgotten-soldiers/ “‘Forgotten’ is an understatement; we have been wished away.” A former member of the African National Congress’s now defunct military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), finds a rare point of agreement with a former conscript in the apartheid regime’s South African Defence Force (SADF) who says: “We are sitting here, up shit creek, no paddles […]
The lingering, unspoken pain of white youth who fought for apartheid by Theresa Edlmann
https://theconversation.com/the-lingering-unspoken-pain-of-white-youth-who-fought-for-apartheid-46218 The legacies of apartheid in South Africa can only be understood by making sense of the complexities of the past. This includes recognising what those who were young during the apartheid era – and who are now the elders and leaders of our society – experienced during that time. In the roughly 30 years […]
