Fundraiser to help bring Skillie home
Little did his fellow Parabats know that this would be last time they'd ever see him alive.
The West Rand Canopy is hosting a Kwaai Braai for all military veterans during the Easter weekend, on the Harlequins Rugby field in Krugersdorp West.
Attending veterans will get the chance to see Reccie Wynand du Toit introduce his new book. Campers can also expect some great entertainment and nostalgic talks and company. Campers are welcome from Friday morning (30 March at 10am) until Tuesday morning.
This event will also be fundraiser to help bring the remains of a fallen Parabat, Andries ‘Skillie’ Human, back to South Africa.
Parabat ‘Skillie’ was declared Missing in Action on 4 May, 1978 when he presumably crash-landed in the Culonga River in Angola while the rest of the Parabats returned to base in Namibia (then South West Africa) after the mission.
There was much speculation about what had happened to him, with drowning in the Culonga River which ran alongside the camp deemed the most probable cause of his disappearance.
In 2011, a rumor spread that Skillie had been found and buried by a local tribesman. This, in turn, spurred the Parabat Veterans’ Organisation (PVO) to plan a trip to search for the grave.
It soon became clear that Skillie had indeed fallen into the river and drowned. A few days after the battle, his body floated to the surface and was retrieved by the man and buried in a waist-deep grave next to the river. The local tribesman subsequently took the historian to the grave-site and showed him the indentation in the ground where the body lay.
They soon discovered that the grave-site is in fact within 100 metres of the estimated landing area. The plans for the expedition were immediately put into high gear and the Ebo Trust was contacted to help with the governmental interaction.
Authorities from the Trust estimated that a sum of R350 000 would be needed to launch a successful expedition. This was based on the amount used to execute the retrieval of the Ebo remains.
The PVO then launched a national multi-function fundraising effort in October 2016 and has collected about R150 000 to date.
For more information or if you would like to get involved, feel free to contact Hennie Kruger on 082 854 9137 or Craig Rheeders on 083 266 2197.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at krugersdorpnews@caxton.co.za or phone us on 011 955 1130.I
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister websites:
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
