Zambia World Wide

The loss of my father and son

We knew that sooner or later my father would be called up for active duty in the North as he was with the Navy. Standing on Monument Station on the 23rd Feb.1944 at 21h00 was the last we saw our father as his train was leaving the station. Seeing your father leave and everyone else in tears and some trying to find a spot where they could see their loved ones for just those extra seconds was a traumatic experience. Monument Station was next to Cape Town Station on the seaside and was used exclusively for the Defense Force.

It was a few days after his death that we received that dreaded telegram with its black edges. He was instantly killed on the 14^th Nov. 1944 while serving on the H.M.S.A.S. Treern as a Chief Engine Room Artificer. He was reading a letter from Mom when he was struck in the head by a 20mm Oerlekon Canon that was firing at an enemy sea mine in the vicinity of Volos off the Greek Coast. He was 34 years of age at the time of his death and was buried with Full Military Honours in the Gulf of Volos off Greece.

My father was not only a good carpenter and mechanic but he could play most musical instruments. During his naval training in Simonstown he played the piano accordion for the “Jasoka Band”. Just before his departure he played Drowsy Waters on the Hawaiian guitar for my Mom on one of the radio channels. He was an excellent artist. The comments I have received of the two paintings he made on the leaves of a Silver Leaf Tree in 1929 and 1930 certainly endorse my viewpoint. The details of these paintings of his training vessel the H.M.S.A.S Protea are unbelievable. His three separate photos of my sister demonstrating: - Hear no evil, See no evil and Talk no evil using the same negative and a Brownie box camera was published in the Cape Argus on 18^th April 1942. On the 15^th Sept. 1940 he was the only one who was prepared to accept the challenge to jump from the ship’s mast while docked in Durban. The photo is not a good one but it is one I often boast with. He taught his sister Margaret and me how to print. I still get complimentary comments concerning my printing. If only he taught me to write as I often can’t read my own handwriting

My father’s name appears at the Plymouth Naval War Memorial U.K. for those buried at sea and on the S. A Navy Roll of Honour in Simonstown Cape Province.

My mother’ being a senior citizen was contacted by the Durban Municipality requesting permission to name a street in Emberton using one of her names. In 1991 the municipality sent her a map of Emberton indicating the position of Christine Road.

Van der Hoff road one of the major roads in Pretoria is named after my great/great Grandfather the first Dutch minister in the Transvaal. He arrived in Cape Town in Dec 1852.

The loss of my son Stephen does not fall in this period but the similarities of his death and that of my father are so close that I felt its inclusion is justified. On the 27^th April 1983 just 5 months after celebrating his 21^st birthday he was also accidentally shot in the head. He was with the S.A.Police at the time and he too was buried with Full Police Honours.