NEW WAR MEMORIAL PLAQUES WILL ‘PRESERVE THE PAST’
After months of tireless work, Howick resident Bruce Prescott has finally been able to unveil the changes made to the Cenotaph.
The original [and very valuable] brass plaques, showing the names of the soldiers from the Lion’s River district who died during World War I, have been removed from the war memorial opposite the Howick Hotel. They have been rehung in the Howick Museum to prevent them being stolen and to preserve the past.
In their place are new durable plaques, made by Signco, which feature gold lettering on a dark brown background.
A new name has also been added to the memorial. It reflects the contribution of a man named Ndabana, who died while on active service. Some of his decedents still live in Mpophomeni.
The new plaques - which have been approved by AMAFA (KwaZulu-Natal Amafa and Research Institute) - were bolted into place by Prescott last Wednesday. Watching on were Tau Lenkena, curator of the Howick Museum, and Jenny Hoepfl, from the Lion’s River Heritage Society.
It’s been a labour of love for Prescott, who has lobbied the municipality, councilors and AMAFA for months. He also liaised with SignCo to ensure that the new plaques would be acceptable replacements.
“The uMngeni Municipality would like to thank Bruce, the Lion’s River Heritage Society and the Lions Shellhole MOTHS for all their help with this project,” Lenkena said. “We would also like to thank SignCo for printing the new plaques.
“And, we really hope that we will now be able to have a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in November.”
Prescott said that when the Cenotaph was built it featured an artillery piece. Sadly this has been lost and is unlikely to be replaced.
The war memorial will also need ongoing maintenance. In recent months Prescott and Lenkena have had to remove a Yellowwood sapling, which was growing out of the top of the Cenotaph, to prevent it from causing significant damage to the stonework.
The concrete cornices are also in need of renovation.
Thousands of South African soldiers died during World War I, some during fighting an attack led by Jan Smuts in Tanganyika (present day Tanzania) but most in Europe. More than 2 300 white soldiers died in the Battle of Delville Wood alone.
Six hundred volunteer African soldiers perished when the SS Mendi sank off the Isle of Wight in February 1917.
Oral history records that the Reverend Isaac Wauchope comforted the men aboard the sinking ship with the words: “Be quiet and calm my countrymen, for what is taking place now is what you came here to do. We are all going to die, that is what we came for.
“Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Zulu, say here and now that you are all my brothers … Xhosa, Swazis, Pondos, Basotho and all others, let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries, my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais back in the kraals, our voices are left with our bodies.”
On hearing of the tragedy, Prime Minister Louis Botha led Parliament in standing to pay tribute to their courage and sacrifice.