Gunners honour the fallen

THE annual Gunners’ Memorial Service is held at the memorial gun on the first Sunday in September since 1967.

The guard of honour is provided by the Natal Field Artillery, a SANDF Reserve Force Regiment, which also fires the salute to the fallen with its 25-pdr guns.

The memorial service was held on Sunday at Old Fort, where Clive Wilsworth, chair of the Gunners’ Association, welcomed dignitaries for the 49th service, which was held to honour all those from the province who gave their lives in service of the country, and for what they believed in.

Speaking at the service, Father Dane Elsworth said it was an auspicious occasion where people remembered fallen gunners. “Military metaphors are used in the Bible to explain the Christian life, and we are called to be soldiers, to show courage, discipline and order. To be a soldier is the highest calling, as the nation depends on them. We remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to give up their lives, those men, some very young, who fought battles so that humanity can live better lives,” he said.

The guns were fired and the Last Post sounded before and after a two minute silence, whereafter wreaths were laid in memory of those lost in battle.

According to Ken Gillings, honorary secretary of The Gunners’ Association Durban Branch, the memorial is a British gun used by the Transvaal Horse Artillery (THA) during the German South West African Campaign. The THA lost two guns to the Germans in the Battle of Sandfontein on 23 September 1914. They were spiked (rendered unusable) by the South African Gunners and the Germans dropped them into Lake Outjikoto, north of Tsumeb.

The lake is extremely deep but one of them struck an underwater ledge of rock and was subsequently recovered and used for training purposes by the South African Field Artillery Depot in Potchefstroom. The THA coincidentally did most of its Citizen Force training on this gun from 1913 and subsequently (after the war) until 1922. It then ended up in the Wynberg Military Camp and the SADF granted permission for it to be used as a memorial in Durban after strong motivation by Mr Anson Lloyd, who served in the artillery during the Second World War.

The memorial was designed by Mr Keith Gow, who was also a Gunner in WW2 and who later became chairman of the Durban Branch of the Gunners’ Association. It was unveiled at a Dedication Service held on 27 August 1967. The annual Gunners’ Memorial Service has been held at the memorial gun ever since.