MILLS Bomb Shellhole takes a look back at its history as it celebrated its 95th anniversary on November 26, with a social get-together and braai.

The Memorable Order of Tin Hats (Moth) is an ex-servicemen and women organisation founded in Durban on May 7, 1927, by Charles Evenden, popularly known as Moth O, and is based on concord and harmony. The Moths are made up of four tiers: the National Executive Committee (NEC), a provincial dugout, district dugouts and then shell holes, with the NEC being the highest authority.

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Old Bill of Mills Bomb Shellhole, Moth Piet Fourie, said they were honoured to have had three senior executives with them on the day. Mills Bomb Shellhole’s initial meetings were held in the Strelitzia Hall in Warner Beach.

Fourie said, “Our shell-hole buildings were erected in 1939, and we even had a waiting platform for the train bringing Moths to and from the meetings – this was known as the St Winifred’s Railway Halt. The remnants of this platform can still be seen in the upstairs hall where later construction took place and it was covered up. After our founding Old Bill, 20 more Old Bills and executives followed, paving the way to establish Mills Bomb Shellhole as one of the strongest and most vibrant shell holes in KZN’s provincial dugout.”

Four of their members have also received the highly coveted certificate of merit or M Badge, as it is commonly known. Fourie said this is the highest award in the Moth and is presented to Moths whose loyalty and devotion to the order has been outstanding over a considerable period and in a sphere wider than their shell holes.

One of the shell hole’s biggest honours is to have the original battlefield grave marker of a WW1 soldier, also a Glenwood old boy, Percy James Robins, who survived the Battle of Delville Wood just to be killed days later in Fampoux, France in 1917.

“After the war, his family travelled to France where the grave marker was retrieved and brought back to South Africa, where it now proudly stands in our museum. In more recent conflicts, the original cross of Maj Willie de Koker, of 1 Recce, who died in 1991 during a parachute training accident, was retrieved from the accident site earlier this year, together with the original stones from Hells Gate, St Lucia by the Parachute Veterans Organisation and was donated to Mills Bomb Shellhole as the custodian of the cross,” said Fourie.

He said the AECI memorial plinth was also moved to their shell hole in late 2011 when the land on which it was originally situated was sold for development. “The plinth was no longer being cared for. After lengthy negotiations with the new landowners, it was eventually relocated, and it now stands proud at the entrance to the shell hole, honouring those men who died in the two world wars,” said Fourie.

The social members and Moths celebrated the anniversary in the hall as the inclement weather prevented them from having it in the Garden of Remembrance, which would have been their ideal place to have it. Fourie said it was a great day, very well attended with spit braais, socialising and music playing.

Mills Bomb Shellhole will also be hosting their 95th anniversary market day on December 16, from 08:00 to 16:00. Entrance is free.

For more information, contact Piet Fourie at 082 457 2512 or ob@millsbomb.co.za.

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