Lucus Majozi DCM – truly a worthy hero

Lucus Majozi, a Zulu, displayed great bravery at the battle of El Alamein on October 23 1942, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the highest British award for gallantry, after the Victoria Cross.

Serving as a black soldier in the South African Army he was not allowed to engage in direct combat with the enemy nor carry weapons, and served as a stretcher bearer.

During the long battle of El Alamein the Allies were attacking enemy forces and the South Africans needed to get through a minefield peppered with more than 500,000 mines.

The battalion, commanded by General Dan Pienaar, forced their way through, under heavy machine gun and artillery fire from the enemy, commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Majozi accompanied his company into action and, although under heavy fire, thought nothing of his personal safety, continuing to evacuate casualties, assisted by co-bearers.

Wounded by shrapnel and a number of bullets, he continued alone through the night to evacuate, often carrying men on his back to aid stations, finally collapsing the next morning.

Through his extreme devotion to duty and gallant conduct, he saved the lives of many wounded who would otherwise have died of loss of blood and further wounds.

His commander, Major-General Dan Pienaar, said of him: “This soldier did most magnificent and brave things with a number of bullets in his body, he returned time after time into a veritable hell of machine gun fire to pull out wounded men. He is a man of whom SA can well be proud. He is a credit to his country.”

Lucus Majozi DCM died in 1969 in Zastron. Historian Susan Erasmus said: “In honouring these soldiers, we honour life, what we have now, and pay some tribute to the society in which we would like to live and in which they never would. We will remember them and we should ...”

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