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Victims of a Giant Hoax

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21.01.2022 LEST WE FORGET: 03 Sep 1978: Four Crew Members and 44 Passengers from Air Rhodesia Viscount "Hunyani", Registration YP-WAS, Flight RH825 were killed when the ai...rcraft was shot down by ZIPRA insurgents using a Soviet SAM-7 Grail shoulder-launched Surface-to-Air Missile approximately five minutes after take-off from Kariba Airport. Almost immediately a distress signal was received to the effect that the aircraft engines had failed. The aircraft crashed near the northern border with Zambia in the Urungwe Tribal Trust Land, 40km South-East of Kariba Dam. Eighteen people survived the initial crash but 10 survivors were executed by the ZIPRA Terrorists who returned to the accident scene to loot the aircraft contents. The remaining eight passengers managed to escape. The four crew members were posthumously awarded the Rhodesian Meritorious Conduct Medal (MCM) for brave and gallant conduct. CREW: Captain & Aircraft Commander John Eric Courtenay Hood MCM (P) (36) First Officer Garth George Beaumont MCM (P) (31) (South Africa) Air Hostess Miss Dulcie Esterhuizen MCM (P) (21) Air Hostess Miss Brenda-Ann Louise Pearson MCM (P) (23) PASSENGERS: Mr Fred Barkhuizen (47) (South Africa) Mrs Anne Barkhuizen (48) (South Africa) Mr Walter Brown (50) (Fife, Scotland) Mrs Elizabeth Brown (45) (Fife, Scotland) Mr Jeremy Bull (22) (Gwelo) Mrs Karen Bull (23) (Nurse, Bulawayo) Master Gary Callow (12) (Salisbury) Mr Walter ferrier (57) (Salisbury) Mrs Margaret Ferrier (54) (Salisbury) Constable Malcolm Gillespie (22) (BSAP, Salisbury) Mr Ramesh Gulabh (34) (Centrust Travel Bureau) Mrs Shakuntala Gulabh (28) Miss Veena Gulabh (8) Miss Leena Gulabh (4) Mrs Dahiben Gulabh (58) Mr Aubrey Hewitt (64) (Attorney, Bulawayo) Mrs Jeanette Hewitt (53) (Teacher, Bulawayo) Miss Audrey Hewitt (23) Mrs Prabhaben Lalloo (38) (Milton Park, Salisbury) Miss Meela Lalloo (20) Miss Romsla Lalloo (11) Mr Douglas Loder (58) (Builder, Bulawayo) Mrs Margaret Loder (51) (Headmistress, Carmel school, Bulawayo) Master Keith Loder (11) Mr Paul Nicholls (30) Good Year Tyres, Bulawayo Mrs Francis Nicholls (26) Mrs Joan Nicholls (55) Master Mark Nicholls (9) Miss Michelle Nicholls (7) Mrs Ruth Rainey (33) (Salisbury) Mr Roger Seaton (42) (Salisbury) Miss Cheryl Tilley(20) (Rhobank, Salisbury) Mrs Vina Ellizabeth Trinder (63) (TTC, Bulawayo) Miss Lida van Beuningen (24) (Marandellas) Mr Peter Vermeulen (51) Mrs Mary Vermeulen (49) Mr Ronald Vermeulen (26) (Aircraft Engineer, Salisbury) Mrs Alison Vermeulen (27) (Barclays Bank, Salisbury) Master Matthew Wilger (8) (Bulawayo) Miss Leanne Wilger (4) (Bulawayo) Mrs Margaret Wray (55) (Bindura) Miss Marianne Wray (7) (Bindura) Master John Wray (9) (Bindura) Miss Dawn Young (19) (BSAP, Salisbury) PASSENGER SURVIVORS Mr Robert Hargreaves (28) Mrs Shannon Hargreaves (18) Mr. Anthony Hill (39) Mr. Hans Hansen (35) Mrs Diana Hanson (31) Dr. Cecil MacLaren Mrs Sharon Cole Miss Tracey Cole (4) See more

20.01.2022 Rhodesia's 'Big Stick'. The Canberra B2 of the RhAFs 5 Squadron had the capability of carrying out strikes into any of the 'Front Line States', and often did. Aquarelle pencils and airbrushed sky on Fabriano board.

17.01.2022 RHODESIA: BONDED BY WAR. I am, oftentimes, asked the same question: Why do soldiers miss war? What is it that you are truly missing? These are my thoughts alo...ne and I don’t presume to speak for anyone else despite the fact that there may well be parallels between my perceptions, memories and considered opinions that some will be able to relate to and, conversely and, fairly, those that diverge from my position. One thing that I do know, having debated many issues about our service and what I remain truly confident about is, and despite soldiers being involved in the same contact, we all viewed what was going on with different eyes. Call it angles of attack, first engagement or whatever. In the heat of battle, physical contact or call it what you will, it was seen differently through the eyes of each man. Contact was simply a will to engage with our enemy whenever, wherever and to survive and those night and day experiences remain indelibly imprinted in our memories. For many, contact was ‘intoxicating’. At the sound of enemy fire, the proverbial ‘crack and thump’ adrenalin kicked in. By the same token, you were in some kind of moral free-fall into a place of darkness where you are killing people, and some of your own were dying. What happened in our rugged and otherwise beautiful countryWAR! It was frightening and anyone who tells you that they weren’t afraid was, in my very humble opinion, lying. We knew that that death was omnipresent, but you just had to compartmentalise that probable outcome and ‘file it away’. Many good, oftentimes incredibly young men died or were grievously injured, and remembrance is an incredibly special, sacred and time-honoured tradition to honour those both in uniform and post. Those who served in the defence of Rhodesia, regardless of unit or service affiliation, we truly experienced an unreasonable measure of ‘battle fatigue’ but we shared a common bond that is impossible to accurately describe but we were, ultimately, absolutely united in purposewell now, what a question! Where our adversaries were concerned, there was an unbridled contempt for both ZIPRA and ZANLA and everything they stood for. We faced incursion from Zambia to our North (ZIPRA), Botswana to our West (ZIPRA) and Mozambique to our East (ZANLA) but we were up for ‘it’. Rhodesians were ‘fit for purpose’ and we demonstrated our ability to defeat our enemy within and beyond Rhodesia’s borders. That’s not bravado, it is a simple and widely respected, agreed and undisputed fact. Once you were ‘out there’, our Country was merely an abstractionwhat we were really doing was fighting to survive, to protect our kith and kin, our way of life but we were also looking out for the man on either side of you. This has been the way of the military man for millennia. Consider, if you will, the Greek soldiers at the Walls of Troy who really didn’t care about Helen. They were fighting because they were with their brothers. On the field of battle that was your only concern and we did it passionately, deliberately, resolutely and aggressively, and always! We defended, we avenged, we sacrificed and, for the most part, we bled. We were prepared to die for the unique creation that was Rhodesia and our continued existence. This is about our fellow countrymen. Those were our friends and our fallen Brothers, men of men, who never got the chance to experience the cycle of life, the birth and growth of their children. They will never grow old, because they chose to stand alongside their Rhodesian brothers and face our common enemy, regardless of race, religion, tribal affiliation, ethnicity or however one wishes to describe it. There is no greater honour than to fall for your Brother. I live, so those words are very easy to ‘toss out there’ but I say them without equivocation. If it were me or one of my team, no question about it, I would have put my life on the line. That is how we were trained and how our love for those in our midst developed. It was never in question. It is not sufficient to acknowledge our fallen by name, or simply inscribe their names in marble as proof that they lived and died. To truly honour our fallen, we must acknowledge how and why they gave their lives. Their death wasn't a random act or a splash of misfortune. A great many men voluntarily put themselves in harm’s way, were prepared to die, so that we could rest secure at home. They were the insurance policy that guaranteed that our God-given rights, were more worthy than their own tomorrows. For the infantrymen in combat, there is nobility and purpose in our lives, and that is unique. We in the military never saw ourselves as a people apart. We were citizens of Rhodesia and no more than that. The best soldiers and leaders in battle became that way by being loyal and dutiful subordinates. We never got a vote. We executed the lawful intent of our commanders and government of the day. There was no political affiliation on our dog tags. We continued the warrior legacy of our forebears with disregard for adulation or unanimous approval. We never cared what you looked like. We didn’t care who you voted for, who you worshipped, what you worshipped, who you loved. It never mattered if your Dad left you millions when he died, or if you knew who your father was. Through our training, we were honed into a machine of lethal moving parts that our enemy knew the better to avoid whenever possible. We would not countenance threat nor intimidation without a hostile and deadly response. That was the Rhodesian military way. We saw, and were involved in, a war of attrition we never asked for and we truly gave better than we received. That is the truth and, in Rhodie parlance, the long and short of the matter.

14.01.2022 You would have to be crazy to read this book! Will bring back great memories of a great people, and a bucketful of sadness at the loss of their country and nation. But you will learn about us, the Rhodesians !! So don't wait, open the cover and immerse yourself in its pages!!

04.01.2022 Rhodesian Light Infantry Recruit Course jogs by, hauling along 26 pound FN MAG machine guns in the extreme Rhodesian heat near Cranborne Barracks, circa. 1976 T...he Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) use relatively unique in it's "Commando" structure and training regime. Members of the unit included local volunteers, National Service conscripts, and foreign nationals. By the height of the Rhodesian Bush War, all of these young men including the National Servicemen on call ups were trained to the same extremely high standard. Unlike the stereotypical "drill instructors" of other army basic recruit courses common in the world, and Rhodesia at the time, the RLI training regime was unique. By no means was it a "basic" course. Men were taken off of "civvy street" sometimes, and had to quickly adapt to learn a wide variety of skills. Everything from tracking, absailing, rock demolitions, hand to hand combat, parachutist and helicopter skills were learned top of their regular skills as infantrymen. This "Commando" training mentality created a rigorous course, not through the mere shouting and screaming of staff NCOs, but the demands placed on the candidates themselves. Wherever possible, mental toughness and independent thought was encouraged among the recruits by their leaders. This training mentality created a strong esprit de corps, smart soldiers and unbelievable dominance in battle. When it was all said and done, fully fledged "Commandos" in the RLI replaced their bronze cap badges, with shining silver ones on green berets. #RhodesianLightInfantry #RLI #Commando #RhodesianBushWar #MilitaryHistory #ColdWarHistory #Mindset