Desert Rest

Tucked away on the Internet, I found The South Africa War Graves Project, a volunteer-run enterprise whose goal is to archive photographs of every SA serviceman's grave from the 2nd Anglo Boer War onwards. This huge project is run by the indefatigable Ralph McLean, who lives in Canada and directs a small group of dedicated souls who travel and photograph graves all over the world. Unsung heroes, all...

I gave him my uncle's name, and Sidi Rezegh.
And with just those paltry facts, he found him. My uncle, with rank of Corporal in the SA Irish, aged 31, born and brought up in Cradock, son of my correctly-named grandparents, husband of a named young wife he left behind, died on 23rd November 1941. He is buried in Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya.
His Grave/Memorial reference is 5.B.22. As yet, there is no photograph of his grave.

I'm not sure my grandparents, his siblings or his young wife ever knew this. Otherwise I'm sure they would have tried to visit his grave in later years. Perhaps all they were told was that he was listed as missing-in-action - and never came home. And yet the family details are all correct. Surely they would have been informed? And how sad that none of us has ever visited the cemetery, or touched where he lies.
We never knew he was there.

http://southafricawargraves.org/

Desert Search

My grandparents' eldest son was a soldier in North Africa during World War 2. Tragically, he lost his life in battle towards the end of 1941. I wanted to pattern one of my characters in Karoo Plainsong on him - but I needed to know more. And so I began what turned out to be a most extraordinary 'virtual' journey to trace my uncle's final days. All I knew at the outset was that he was believed to have died at a place called Sidi Rezegh, although that was unconfirmed. I had no date, no record of his regiment, and no details of where he might be buried.

My entire 'journey' took place online, although I was in touch with people and resources on 3 continents. I found that Sidi Rezegh lies not far from Tobruk, in Libya. The battle there was fought during Operation Crusader, the Allied push to relieve Tobruk, which had been under siege from the Germans for most of 1941. I discovered that South African and New Zealand forces had been involved, and - most significantly - that the 2nd South African Irish regiment had been in the thick of the battle. With the family's Irish roots, could this be where he served?
We were soon surrounded. The German tanks towed heavy artillery, which had been used to bombard Tobruk. For 3 days the battle raged. We were pinned down in narrow slit trenches by machine gun fire just above our heads. We were unable to dig deeper as we were then on solid limestone..(South African Military History Journal)

Would I be able to confirm that this was where he fought and died? Or would he remain one of the unknown among the 4000 soldiers killed, wounded or taken prisoner?

Selling Shoes - 1900s style

My grandfather left Ireland over 100 years ago in order to take up a position at Cuthberts Shoe Stores in Cradock. I don't know whether he already worked for them in Ireland and this was a foreign posting (!) or whether he took a chance and headed out for a new life in Africa, come-what-may. Whatever the reason, he packed up, took a boat from one end of the Atlantic to the other, train-ed across the Karoo and worked - and saved - for 5 years until my grandmother was allowed to join him.

Cuthberts no longer exists in Cradock, but we found the place where it had once been, in a small gabled building across the way from the imposing Dutch Reformed Church on Market Square. I imagine trade must have been brisk in those days, what with the dirt roads being so hard on shoe leather. Presumably future sales were also buoyed by ladies coming out of church in need of a little light window-shopping..