Researched and submitted by André van Ellinckhuyzen

“Remember me and smile,

for it’s better to forget,

than to remember me and cry.”

                                                                                    – Dr. Seuss

Heine Jonck was born on a Wednesday of December 30, 1959 in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. His parents Theunis Jacobus Jonck (1930-1996), and Elizabeth Jonck born Els (1934-2013) both grew up in Port Elizabeth where they were also married, and during their years in Vryheid they were both employed at “Rodag Food Distribution” which was owned by Ronnie Schuster at the time. Later years the Jonck’s moved to Johannesburg where they worked for Score and Metro Cash and Carry. Theunis died of a lung disease, and Elizabeth was killed in a motor vehicle accident, and they were laid to rest in Port Elizabeth.

Heine grew up in Port Elizabeth, and he spent his junior school years there at “Laerskool Tjaart van der Walt”. When his family moved to Vryheid in the north of KZN, he was enrolled at the Vryheid High School where he then matriculated at the end of 1978.

Heine was one of five brothers, and his four brothers were named:

Christiaan or “Chris” Jonck, who was employed with “Tiger Wheel and Tyre” for many years;

Gerhard Jonck, a retired employee of the South African Railways & Harbours, who specialised as a Locomotive and Train driver;

Then there was André Jonck who was also employed with the South African Railways & Harbours in Vryheid, and died when he was only 19 years old after he had fallen from the roof of a train; and

Theo Jonck, who is a Civil Engineer who lives in Malaysia;

In January 1979, Heine joined the South African Air Force on a permanent basis, and he reported to the SAAF Gymnasium, at Valhalla at the Swartkop Air Force Base near Pretoria, where he underwent three months of basic military training. In 1980, Heine received specialised training as a Radar Operator at the Air Traffic Control School at Waterkloof Air Force Base, and it was there that he met the love of his life. Heine was deployed to the 3-SRS Radar Station at Klippan situated near Mafikeng, now known as Mahikeng, on the South Africa/Botswana border in the North West Province. The South African Air Force at that time controlled a number of strategically placed radar stations, which included stations at Ellisras, Mariepskop and Acornhoek both near Hoedspruit, Klippan near Mafikeng, and the underground radar station at Devon.

In October 1980 Heine got “engaged to be married” to a girl named Heike, who herself was also a trained Radar Operator with the SAAF. The engagement of the two was celebrated with Heine’s family in Vryheid, and on their way back to Klippan after their weekend pass, disaster struck when Heine and Heike were involved in a serious motor vehicle accident and Heike was admitted to the Vryheid Government hospital for three days to be treated for broken ribs, a broken jaw and nose. Heine was fortunate to escape with no injuries.  Heike Eva Nessler born in Freiburg, Germany in 1961 and matriculated from Alberton High School in 1979, was at first based at the Master Radar Station at Devon and later she transferred to Klippan. In December 1980 Heike resigned her post with the SAAF, and she moved back to Johannesburg where she studied at the WITS Technical College and obtained her National Diploma in Microbiology. In 1984 Heike was married to Derek Michael Horne, and in 1994 the couple immigrated to New Zealand where they now live and Heike is employed with a pharmaceutical company in Auckland on the North-Island.

On Tuesday of May 12, 1981, Heine Jonck and four of his “Air Force Buddies” left the “Number 3 Satellite and Radar Station” (3 SRS) situated on the farm Klippan and drove to the nearby “cement factory town” named Slurry, about 23 kilometres to the east of Mafikeng, for some “R&R”. On their way back to the base the driver of the vehicle they were in lost control of it, the vehicle left the road and it rolled a number of times. Heine who was sitting in the front passenger seat was thrown out of the car. The seriously injured Heine was rushed to the nearby Mafikeng Hospital to be treated for his injuries.

In June 2020, an emotional Heike Eva Horne neé Nessler, wrote from New Zealand: “The ‘casevac’, which is military slang for ‘casualty evacuation’, of the critically injured Heine was done by means of a military Atlas Oryx helicopter from Mafikeng Hospital to the Number One Military Hospital at Voortrekkerhoogte near Pretoria. For nine days he fought for his life, although he never regained consciousness, and there was hope when on the one day Heine started breathing on his own, but this was actually just the beginning of the end. Finally, on May 21, 1981 at 3:10pm, Heine gave up the struggle”.

A semi-military funeral service for Lance Corporal Heine Jonck was held in the Dutch Reformed Church (Klipkerk) in Vryheid, and he was laid to rest in the local town cemetery.

Per Aspera ad Astra.

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