Scarred for life by bomb
I WANT to pay tribute to one victim of the terrible tragedy that occurred on July 24 1964. Glynnis Burleigh, a young girl of 12, was at Johannesburg’s Park Station and her life was changed forever by the terrible injuries and scars that were inflicted on her by the bomb planted by John Harris. She is the granddaughter of Ethyl Rhys, who died on that day, as mentioned in your article, “Boy whiz who found a meaning in a bomb” (July 20).
The reason I feel so strongly about Glynnis is that our lives crossed paths on three occasions:
On the day of the bomb blast, my father was taking another family to the station and he was there when the bomb went off. This highlighted to me how it could so easily have been my dad who was caught in the blast. I had just turned 14 three weeks earlier;
A few months later, our family went on a picnic in Krugersdorp and Glynnis was there, still heavily bandaged, in a wheelchair, and I remember feeling shocked at seeing her all bandaged and looking very frail. She was only two years younger than I; and
In 1972-73, I was working in Braamfontein at Barlow Rand when our human resources lady came to say that a new staff member would be starting, but she would not be taken around and introduced to everyone in the office, as was the custom, because she was very self-conscious. Her name was Glynnis Burleigh.
I did eventually get to work with her and have never forgotten the horror I felt when I saw her for the first time. Her face looked like a molten wax mask. We often spent time together at lunch, chatting, and she expressed the hardships she had endured. She said she preferred to be in the UK, because the people there were more used to seeing people with horrific injuries because of survivors from the war.
I have never forgotten Glynnis, but I am sure that many people in South Africa do not know anything about her, or what this poor, innocent girl had to endure because of the politics of the time and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. During a lunch-time chat one day, she told us what happened. She said she was conscious throughout and remembered everything clearly. — Marilyn Fraser, by e-mail