1,772 black servicemen who died in the First World War were ignored in South Africa. They are finally honored

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Names are carved into poles of African hardwood raised as if reaching toward the sun. No one knows where the men they depict were buried.

But their names, forgotten for more than a century, have been resurrected and are now recorded in the annals of history.

Black South African servicemen who died without fighting on the Allied side during the First World War and who have no known grave have been recognized with a memorial featuring 1,772 names.

An inscription on a granite block at the Cape Town memorial reads: “Your legacies are preserved here. »

Because they were black, they were not allowed to carry weapons. They were members of the Cape Town Labor Corps, transporting food, ammunition and other supplies and building roads and bridges during the Great War.

They served not in Europe but in the fringe battles in Africa, where Allied forces fought in the then German colonies of German South West Africa (now Namibia) and German East Africa (now Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi).

These men made the same ultimate sacrifice as an estimated 10 million others who died serving in the armies during the 1914-1918 war.

After the war, they were not recognized due to the racial policies of British colonialism and then the apartheid regime in South Africa.

The memorial finally rights a historical wrong, said the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the British organization that cares for war graves and built the new memorial in Cape Town’s oldest public garden.

The memorial was opened on Wednesday by Princess Anne of Great Britain, chair of the commission.

“This ensures that the names and stories of those who died will be echoed in the history of future generations,” Princess Anne said. “It is important to recognize that those to whom we have come to pay tribute have remained ignored for too long. We will remember them.

At the end of his speech, a lone soldier played “The Last Post” on his bugle to commemorate black servicemen who died in the war, 106 years, two months and 11 days after the end of World War I.

While South Africa has several memorials dedicated to its white soldiers who died in both world wars, the contribution of black servicemen has been ignored for decades.

They were at risk of being lost forever until a researcher found evidence of their service in South African army documents about 10 years ago, said David McDonald, operational director of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which oversaw the South African project.

Researchers have discovered more than 1,700 black servicemen and the War Graves Commission has traced the families of six of the dead, most from deeply rural South African regions.

Four of these families were represented at Wednesday’s ceremony. They laid wreaths of flowers at the foot of the memorial and were able to touch the individual posts dedicated to their deceased loved ones and where their names are inscribed.

“It made us very proud. It made us very happy,” said Elliot Malunga Delihlazo, whose great-grandfather, Bhesengile, was among those honored.

Delihlazo said his family only knew that Bhesengile had gone to war and never returned.

“Even though it pains us … not to be able to find his remains, we finally know that he died in 1917,” Delihlazo said. “Now the family knows. Now we finally know.

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AP Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa