The Heroes of 61 Mechanised Battalion.

A couple of weeks ago I came across Riana on the internet and we exchanged the usual questions starting with ASL (age, sex, location). She told me she is from Namibia and I suspect because of my age (44), she asked, whether I had been to Namibia before, whereby I replied that I had been there, courtesy of the South African Defense Force during 1982 to 1984.

She went on to ask me whether, I had been on or known of, operation Yahoo and I replied, no. In fact I had never heard of it or could not remember ever hearing of it and was sure that she was either mistaken or having me on. I all too often come across people who claim to have been amidst the goings on of the brutal terrorist war that was being fought, in the northern regions of what is now Namibia, thinking that they can somehow convince people into believing their stories of glory. They fool some of the people some of the time but they cant fool all of the people all of the time, especially those who have actually been there.

Riana began telling me a story and I soon came to the somewhat shocking realization that she was real and the story she was telling was the real. I sat on the edge of my chair till 3 in the morning taken back to a world that I had almost forgotten and in a way, so desperately wanted to forget.

After eventually going to bed, I could not sleep and could not stop thinking of that period of my life and what it was like to be there but, I could not help having doubts about the finer details of what she had told me.

Even though the sincerity in which she had conveyed the story, had me convinced that there surely must be some truth in it and I was convinced that an event of such magnitude must surely, be documented somewhere on the internet.

It was!! However, what I find so extremely saddening is that the details of our heroes are so sparsely documented that, they are forgotten by the vast majority and the fading memories of those who still do remember, will soon dissappear under the sands of time leaving the rest with nothing.This is the exact purpose of this Blog. To remind you, NEVER to forget!

In Remenberence of 2nd Lt D.R. van der Westhuizen and Rfn. J.H Potgieter who were attached to 61 Mechanised Battalion Group, Omuthiya in the Tsumeb district. “Etoshagebiedsmag”. Veni Vidi Vici!! Lest we forget.

In short, this is the story Riana van der Westhuizen’s conveyed to me. The details of which may be blurred by myself. She is the daughter of late 2nd Lt D.R van der Westhuizen and sister in law of late Rifleman J.H Potgieter. This is her Blog and I merely set it up for her together with this prologue, for her to continue with. The details are up to Riana and the men of 61 Mech, who hopefully come across this page, to keep it alive together with the memories of our heroes and our past. Go for it guys!

As mentioned above 2nd Lt D.R van der Westhuizen was attached to 61 Mech and who was an accomplished tracker. Between 6 and 18 April 1981 there were numerous infiltrations, which led to four events where fire was exchanged with Swapo infiltrators and which lead to the death or capture of eight of the enemy. Lt D.R. van der Westhuizen was involved in all four events.

On the 14th April 1981 two of his comrades, without substantial cover, were pinned down by Swapo insurgents, whereby 2nd Lt van der Westhuizen, “without hesitation”, as quoted by military documentation regarding the incident, stood upright in a military vehicle known a “Buffel” while ordering the driver to position the vehicle in which he was standing upright, between the Swapo and the solders pinned down by hostile fire, thereby redirecting the fire to himself, giving the soldiers opportunity to take cover. The Swapo insurgents were subsequently killed. For this act of bravery, 2nd Lt van der Westhuizen was awarded the Honoris Crux.

For those who don’t know the enormity of being bestowed the Honoris Crux. It is awarded only to those who "without thought of own safety and through personal courage and determination performed a gallant act or deed against the enemy in the field". It has only been awarded 187 times since its inception in 1952 to 1991.

One year and one day later on 15th April 1982, while on patrol in a Ratel, Lt van der Westhuizen was following a couple of a tracks that one of his trackers had picked up. The Ratel was hit by no less than five RPG-7 rockets in an ambush just after 10am. By the time backup went to their aid, the majority of the occupants of the Ratel had been killed including Lt van der Westhuizen’s son in law Rfn. J.H Potgieter. Riana was only 11 years old at the time.

Lest we forget.
Rfn. B.J Wolfaardt
Rfn. M Peterson
Rfn. JH Potgieter.
Rfn. Hough
Rfn. JDC du Toit
Rfn. GPC Hattingh
2nd Lt. DR van der Westhuizen
L/Cpl. JJ van der Berg
Kpl. MJ van Jaarsveld


Riana would like to hear from anybody who was involved with 61 Mech Battalion. Her address is at the top of this page.

Neville van Jaarsveld.