Bringing history alive this Sunday

ANDRÉ Ellinckhuyzen may be a police officer by profession but he is clearly an historian at heart.

His inherent knack for information gathering that forms the backbone for his work in Crime Intelligence, also fuels his passion for collecting facts and relics that he uses to paint a complete picture of historical events.

André has dedicated every moment of his spare time over the past two years working tirelessly on accumulating as much information as he can on the soldiers whose names appear on the cenotaph at St Peter’s Anglican Church on High Street.

Through his efforts, he is able to engage a willing ear on the life lived, and the accomplishments, of each and every person named on the Vryheid war memorial. As he tells his tales, some quirky, some tragic, some funny, you come to appreciate that each name is more than just an engraving on the memorial, but represents an actual person that lived, laughed, and loved before he died in the war.

André’s travels to the past have led him to make friends around the world, but his journey began with a challenge from an old friend right here in Vryheid.

“Two years ago, I bought a very old helmet from a man named Flip Niemann in Groblersdal. He told me a story about a police officer that was killed in the 1947 Soweto riots. I wrote the story which was published in an edition of Servamus Magazine. Thereafter, my friend, Keith Sparrow, challenged me to write a story about the war memorial at St Peter’s Anglican Church,” begins André.

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“I began by taking a photo of the memorial, adding GPS co-ordinates and posting it to a Facebook page called ‘South Africa’s War Graves Project’. Then I took one man’s name and decided to see what I could find out. I ended up researching all of the names and I have managed to gather details on each and every one of the soldiers.”

There are more than 50 names on the war memorial, of men that perished in each of the World Wars, as well as the Korean War, and the South African Border War.

“My research began online and I used social media to track down the descendents of the soldiers. That was the key to finding the information that I needed. The fact that they died in the war was of secondary importance to me, I was eager to find out who they were, what they accomplished and the kind of life they lived,” André continued.

True to his word, André can point at a photograph of any of the soldiers and tell you a little story about the person.

“My research has taken me on a virtual journey around the world. I have met people from the Isle of Man. I have made friends with people who live in London, New Zealand, the United States and even Israel. Once people find out why I wanted to do this, they also become excited and they have sent me original letters, diaries and logbooks that belonged to the soldiers.”

While André’s work is currently in research form, he intends to have a book published in the near future.

“I have so many stories I could tell. Once my book is complete, I would like to dedicate it to all those men, who fought in the war, who didn’t die in the war. You shouldn’t have to die to be acknowledged. Through my book, I hope to rekindle a love for family and an appreciation for those who didn’t die, as well. They are the forgotten ones. Some of them are walking around here in Vryheid and no one knows who they are,” said André.

André hopes to make this Sunday’s Remembrance Day Ceremony, which takes place at St Peter’s Anglican Church, extra special. He has invited as many of the descendants of the soldiers as he could reach and asked them to bring flowers. Residents of Vryheid and the surrounding areas who were involved in the war are urged to attend and wear their uniform on the day.

The ceremony takes place at 11am for 11.30am.

Be sure to be there to catch André bringing history alive as he recounts stories of each of the soldiers.