By Jacques de VriesReserve Force Council Association09-09-2016

The year 1916 is one that goes down in South African military history as being one of its bloodiest, of the first substantial testing of the 1st South

African Infantry Brigade’s mettle at Delville Wood. The raging battle fought there from 14/15 July until 20 July by South African troops, and on until September of 1916 by British and Dominion troops against staunch German military opposition, has passed into South Africa’s hallowed cultural military heritage, marked with great honour on 12 July 2016 at the centenary commemoration of the Brigade’s participation in the opening of that confrontation.

The Reserve Force Council and the South African Delville Wood Commemorative Museum Trust afforded members of the Reserve Force Council Association and Junior Officers’ Association the ivaluable opportunity to represent the country as battlefield guides for a

The entrance to the Delville Wood battlefield, with the Memorial and Commemorative Museum beyond

month from July and into August of 2016. The 1916-2016 Reserve Force Council Memorial Guides Project was the first of its kind, and a physical manifestation of many years of planning at various levels by the Delville Wood Commemorative Museum Trust and Reserve Force Council. This culminated in the deployment of 2nd Lieutenants Sam Ntlombe, Mulalo Nethononda, Thamsanqa Mpolweni and Mr Jacques de Vries to Delville

ReseRVe FoRce council 1916-2016 DelVille WooD MeMoRial GuiDes PRoJect

The South African Commemorative Museum and Wall of Remembrance at Delville Wood, July 2016

Wood. Participation in the 100-year anniversary service at Delville Wood in Longueval on the Somme was preceded by a memorial service on 8 July 2016 held on the French Channel coast near the small town of Arques-la-Bataille, where 270 South Africans are interred, hailing from the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC). It is here where 2nd Lieutenant Sam Ntlombe’s great grandfather – Private Seventeen Tuse, 9063, SANLC passed on in this vicinity in the course of his duties, and was buried in Arques-la-Bataille British Cemetery during the First World War.

Visitors stopping at Delville Wood along their Western Front pilgrimages were given guided tours around South Africa’s premiere site of commemoration of the First World War from 10:00 to 17:00 each day. In addition to directing tours around the battlefield, its Memorial, Wall of Remembrance and Museum, members ensured the smooth daily running of Delville Wood’s Information Centre, which served as a first point of interaction with visitors. The Memorial Guides’ presence at Delville Wood sought to highlight the diverse contribution made by South African society to the war on all fronts, with particular emphasis made during tours of the exploits of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade

during its fight at Delville Wood in July 1916, the crucial logistical contributions made by the black men of the South African Native Labour Corps and their loss and sacrifice during the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi in February 1917 and the martial prowess of by the coloured men of the Cape Corps at the Battle of Square Hill in Palestine in September 1918.

In the course of their duties, guides were able to have interactions with the Minister for Defence and Military Veterans Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as well as an audience with the Commander-in-Chief President Jacob Zuma at Delville Wood on the occasion of the unveiling of the memorial precinct’s new Wall of Remembrance and transformed commemorative museum on 12 July 2016. They took the opportunity to elaborate on the mission and vision of the guiding programme during the centenary commemorations. Guiding activities were greatly enhanced through a highly fruitful cooperation with the Canadian government’s office for Veterans’ Affairs guides programmes at the two Canadian sites of First World War commemoration on the Western Front – Vimy Ridge and Beaumont Hamel. Here, friendships were cemented and valuable expertise exchanged.

Members of the Reserve Force Council Association and its Junior Officers Association with the Commander-in-Chief, President Jacob Zuma at the

Caretaker’s Cottage – Delville Wood, 12 July 2016.

The Centenary Commemoration of the Battle of Delville Wood and unveiling of the Wall of Remembrance by the Commander-in-Chief,

President Jacob Zuma on 12 July, 2016.

Commemoration for SANLC men interred at Arques-la-Bataille British Cemetery on 08 July, 2016. Both 2nd Lieutenant Sam Ntlombe and Mr Jacques de Vries

(pictured centre) share South African Native Labour Corps heritage through their great grandfathers – Ntlombe’s family member having worked and passed on

in France in August 1917, and that of de Vries having been a passenger on the troopship SS Mendi, narrowly surviving its sinking in February of the same year.

The guides’ presence at Delville Wood was beneficial not only to enhancing awareness of South Africa’s complex participation during the First World War in the eyes of junior officers of the Reserves and visitor alike, but also strengthening the offering made to the public by the Delville Wood Commemorative Museum and memorial. To this end great thanks must go out to organisational structures within the Delville Wood Commemorative Trust, Reserve Force Council, and to the staff at the Delville Wood Commemorative Museum for making the deployment possible.

Guide team members de Vries, Ntlombe, Mpolweni and Nethononda during their visit to the trenches of the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 in Zonnebeke near Ypres in Belgium on 01 August, 2016

The programme aimed at all times to make a meaningful contribution towards highlighting the effect of the First World War on South African black, white and coloured participants and underscoring their achievements. The programme sought above all else to give a balanced representation of this history during the centenary commemoration of the battle fought there and to the sacrifices made by all South Africans in that conflict. ‘Their ideal is our legacy, their sacrifice our inspiration.’

2nd Lieutenant Mulalo Nethononda explaining the significance of

the newly inaugurated Wall of Remembrance to a visitor at Delville

Wood. The memorial commemorates the names of all South Africans

who fell during the First and Second World Wars, irrespective

of race, rank or unit.