While it is fitting that the Delville Wood Memorial has evolved from being a monument associated primarily with white South African sacrifice into a place that seeks to commemorate all South Africans who served in the war, the true test of remembrance lies in what future generations are taught of the war effort.
“While it is fitting, therefore, that the Delville Wood Memorial has evolved from being a monument associated primarily with white South African sacrifice into a place that seeks to commemorate all South Africans who served.
“This transformation is an important act of historical justice. But memorials alone are not enough. The true test of remembrance is what we teach our children. It is the stories we include in our textbooks. It is the names we speak at national ceremonies. It is the dignity we afford to the descendants of those who served,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
The President, who is on an Official Visit to France ,attended the 110th Commemoration of the Battle of Delville Wood in Longueval, northern France.
The President remembered South African soldiers who fought in the battle.
“We remember them not merely as names inscribed upon stone, nor as figures recorded in military archives, but as human beings whose lives were interrupted by war. They were sons, husbands, fathers and brothers.”
He said South Africa remembers all those whose contribution was diminished, ignored or deliberately excluded from the official history of the country.
“We gather to affirm that the memory of a nation cannot be divided according to race. Sacrifice has no colour- and courage belongs to no single community.”
In July 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, the 1st South African Infantry Brigade was ordered to capture and hold a small wooded area near the French village of Longueval.
It was called Delville Wood.
The South African soldiers were given an instruction to take and hold the wood- at all costs which saw more than 3,000 South African soldiers enter Delville Wood on 15 July 1916.
For six days and five nights, the South Africans endured relentless shelling, repeated attacks and close-quarter fighting.
“Of the more than 3,000 men who went into the wood, only a small fraction were able to walk out in organised formation. Hundreds had been killed. Thousands had been wounded, captured or reported missing. Delville Wood became a symbol of South African courage,” adding that it also became a symbol of the terrible cost of war.
While honouring their courage, the President said the conditions under which they died should not be romanticised.
“The true honour lies not in war itself, but in the courage, loyalty and humanity shown by those who endure it. The men of Delville Wood endured what few human beings should ever be asked to endure. Their sacrifice deserves the eternal gratitude of our country.”
He added that the story of South Africa in the First World War does not end at Delville Wood and cannot be told only through the experience of white combat soldiers. He said it must also include the thousands of Black South Africans who served in the South African Native Labour Contingent.
“Under the racial policies of the Union of South Africa, Black South Africans were generally not permitted to carry arms as equal soldiers in the European theatre of war. They were willing to serve. But they were denied the status, recognition and dignity afforded to white combatants.”
More than 20,000 Black South African men travelled to France to perform essential labour in support of the Allied war effort, including unloading ships, maintaining railway lines and carrying supplies.
“The contribution of the labour contingents was therefore not secondary to the war effort. Yet, for decades, their service was treated as though it mattered less. Their names were absent from prominent memorials.”
The President also referred to the tragedy of the SS Mendi, which had been carrying over 800 members of the South African Native Labour Contingent towards France. The Mendi sank in February 1917 and its sinking, he said, remains one of the greatest maritime disasters in South African history.
“The men of the Mendi were not armed soldiers. But they died in the service of a war effort to which South Africa had committed them. Their deaths were deaths in service. But the nation did not fully acknowledge the debt it owed them. The same was true of many members of the Cape Corps and other South Africans of colour who served in various theatres of war.”
He said the task today was not merely to add forgotten names to old memorials but that a democratic South Africa must remember differently from the governments of the past.
“We cannot repeat a history that elevates some lives and diminishes others,” he said.
He said the country cannot speak of national sacrifice while excluding the majority of the nation and that a common memory must be built.
“Black servicemen often served under discriminatory conditions and were denied equal military status.”
Confronting history
He said future generations must be taught the full story of the past.
“We must tell them that South Africans fought with extraordinary bravery in the fields and forests of Europe.
“Above all, we must teach them that a nation is strengthened when it has the courage to confront all of its history.”
Patriotism
President Ramaphosa said true patriotism does not require one to hide injustice.
“True patriotism requires us to correct it,” saying the First World War was born of militarism, imperial rivalry, nationalism and the failure of diplomacy.
He said the consequences of war remind “us that leaders have a profound responsibility to pursue peace.”
“As South Africa, we must remain committed to the peaceful resolution of conflict. We must support diplomacy, dialogue and negotiation. At the same time, we honour those who serve in our armed forces today,” said President Ramaphosa. -SAnews.gov.za
