Overview: - I, Frikkie Bekker, commenced my military service in January 1975. From Durban we travelled to our base in Potchefstroom. I was enrolled in 42 Battery, 4

Towards the end of the year, we went to do our border duty. We were based at Mapacha. After a few weeks we were moved to Kwando. Arriving at Kwando, we had heard that 2 weeks prior a panzer car unit had hit a landmine and we were told there was only one survivor. We did our regular patrols in the Kwando area. One day, we walked through a camp that was hit by terrorists (when the SAPS still did border patrols), it was called Sherilongwe. We also stood at the beacon where the 3 countries came together. After a few weeks we were sent to a bush camp where the Luiana River and the Kwando river met.

One morning on patrol , (after a couple of hours) we came upon a terrorist ambush site. It was an opening in-between a dense bush. We sent our scouts through to investigate, fortunately , there was no activity at that time. We searched the site and dug up mortars and AK47 ammunition that was buried under fire places and saw all the dug in sites that were prepared for ambush. Further on we found a dam, being hot, we thought that we would give each troop a chance to jump in and cool down in the water, we found boots and ammunition wrapped in plastic bags beneath the water. Shortly after that we had a radio message from the camp that they were sending a truck to collect us as we were not going to proceed with this patrol. They picked us up and on arrival at the camp, we were told that we were going to set up an ambush position further in Angola due to terrorist activity in that area.

About 2pm, we had all our equipment ready to lay this ambush, we had mortars, strims, claymore mines, etc. We had a Unimorg that was not landmine prepared as it was brand new. We had to use that to transport the troops. I asked Theron why he would send us on a road , marked ?RED? on the map, with a vehicle that was not land mine prepared. I was told by him to do as instructed. After everyone got onto the Unimorg, I then got on, but it was under duress. After driving for about an hour we approached a river with just a narrow wooden bridge. We sent the hippo over first and then everyone on the Unimog got off, as there were 19 in total on this vehicle and it was to heavy for this small bridge. I stayed behind and laid all the webbing on the flat bin of the Unimog for extra protection in case of mines. Which worked out to be a good thing, not knowing what was due to happen.

After driving again a further one and a half hours, we came to a clump of trees. We stopped and spoke about sending the hippo through first, as we had to go onto the road between the trees.The Hippo went through with no problems. Then we proceeded with the Unimog, as we got to the centre, we hit the landmine. I still believe that this mine was detonated, as they couldn?t see what was on the hippo but they could see all the troops on the Unimog. It was so loud that I did not hear anything. All I saw was smoke and flames. I was lucky to be blown off and landed on my feet on the ground. When I jumped up, I saw Van Tonder running closer with blood all over his face. He told me that there is still somebody on the vehicle. I shouted to him that I am going to fetch him. When I got there, it was Mark Nuwenhuis. The vehicle was by then in flames, and being stunned by the blast, he did not know which side to get off the truck. I jumped up onto the back of the vehicle and

threw him off . The heat was excruciating . When I got onto the ground and took him away, I was told that there is still someone else on the vehicle.

I could only see the soles of his boots moving. I decided to go back once more .On getting there, I saw it was Mattuschek. The heat was so much that I had to jump off again. When I hit the ground, I turned around and went back for the 3

We did not get very far, when the first mortar started exploding and rounds were going off. Most of the firearms we had, were destroyed due to the explosion. There were some troops that was probing for landmines around the vehicle. We carried Mattushek to the tree where all the other injured were. Closer to the Unimorg we found the medic and Lt Brand working on Lt Larum. He was very badly injured in the explosion, as he was right on top of the gearbox that took the direct impact. His right leg was virtually blown off, we had put some drips on him, but I could see that there were possible internal injuries. The medic could not handle the smell of flesh burns, between Brand and the medic they were giving him mouth to mouth. Then I tried giving mouth to mouth as well, but the smell was terrible, we could not breathe over him. I tried for at least another half an hour, when eventually, he came to. Asking what happened. And then he would slip away again, that happened 3 or 4 times. Every time we told him, we are doing the best we can to help him, but unfortunatley he did not make it. One of the troops that was standing inbetween the driver and LT Larum, was also injured.

I had to keep myself busy as I was in pain with the heat burns on my face and arms. My hair was singed and my eyebrows and hair on my arms were gone.

We hit the mine at approx 4.45pm, (on the 13

Theron then sent a medical vehicle full of rifles and ammunition, but that never reached us due to problems on route. That was the longest night I have ever had in my life. By then we had guys with burns, and injuries and dead that we did not know how to sort out, if the choppers did not come to fetch them soon. Rfn Scheunfeldt, and his dog was there, but the dog had heat burns on his eyes, he could not see or smell due to his injuries , that could have helped us a lot if he was able, as he would have been able to detect terrorist activity in the area we were in.

We stayed under that tree. Every now and then, Mattushek would ask us for water, which we did not have. We would feed him the drip water, just to get some moisture into his mouth. The next morning, we decided to go and look for water. We knew the Luiane and Kwando river was either side of us, but we did not know how far. We then started walking, (4 of us), to see if we could find

water. After a short while, I suggested that we turn around, as I saw elephants walking in the opposite direction the previous evening. Call it what you want, but if we continued walking in that direction, we would have walked straight into an ambush.

We then found an omaramba, (which is a waterhole covered with grass), and managed to get water for Mattushek, and the others. We went back to the vehicle after that and took the damaged rifles off and stacked them in front of the Unimorg , then returned to the injured troops by the tree. We had Lt Larum wrapped up in a ground sheet, of sorts. I remember then, that while we were sitting there having a rest, Matthushek was calling BP Pretoruis. When BP Pretorious asked him what was wrong, he said ?Look at my arms, they look like dead leaves? . Then I recalled him saying ?BP, kyk daai 750 op die highway? and ? BP, gaan na die Roadhouse in Vereeniging en gaan koop vir ons ?n hamburger?.

The choppers only came the next day to collect the injured, and did not bring us any rifles or ammunition. I swore at the chopper pilot, who was a Major, and said to him, that it was easy for him to fly in and out and leave us there to F... die. He then threatend to lay a charge against me. I managed to get 2 rifles that he had with him. I also asked him why they did not bring a super freelong to take us all back one time but he did not answer me.

We were told that they would come and fetch us at any time if we had problems, but the response was that it was too dangerous, but I think that they were just shit scared. When the choppers left, we had 6 rifles, between 25 of us.

It was not very long after that, that we were attacked again. There were so many shots fired, we did not know if we should stand up or lie down. They hit us with rocket launchers and mortars, we tried to fight back but we did not have the fire power, or the equipment. There was a rifle with a rifles trim standing next to a tree, I jumped up to go and fetch it. On firing, it went quiet for a few seconds due to the explosion. We managed to shoot a couple of terrorists. There was a terrorist that stood on our burnt our vehicle giving instructions to his troops, he did not stand there for very long, needless to say, he was shot. Rfn Scheunfeldt, and his dog,and Retief, lost their lives in this shootout. ( Lt Brand removed their personal watches and dog tags to give to the authorities to return it to their families, as far as I know the watches were not returned to the family, as my wife worked with Rfn Scheunfeldt?s sister)

The first round I shot with the rifle that I got from the chopper pilot, got stuck in the barrel. I took a rifle from one of the troops as he was in shock and could not shoot and there were terrorists running towards us and we had to act fast. We had to withdraw swiftly. There were about 4 of us behind one tree trying to ward off the terrorists, while the others were retreating. By then we were running out of ammunition, and we had to split up. I gave the rifle to one of the smaller rifleman, and told him to run through the trees and hide in the omaramba. I was left with no rifle for defence. I then split up with everybody and fell back, running, the rounds were still flying around us. I was running 1 ? 2 steps, dive, 1 -2 steps, dive, did not know if I should stand or lie down due to mortar fire.

I went to sit against a tree on 3 occasions, I was so tired, that I thought that they can come and shoot me here now. Then my life history flashed through my mind in seconds, from the day I could

remember as being a small child till now, how I played with my little cars in the sand, and what will happen if I die? How would my parents feel?

I even took my dog tags off due to the shininess of the metal, so that it did not reflect in the sun. I then rolled in the sand with my army clothing that was so wet with perspiration, so that the sand could stick to it and I would blend in with my surroundings. As I got to the end of the clump of trees and was scared that I was going to run into an ambush, (as the terrorists had enough time overnight to surround us.) I decided to go into the open veld.

I ran as far as I could, and then fell down and thought I could hide behind the smallest bush that I can find, and that they would not find me there. Looking up, I saw a heap of sand, and remember saying to myself, if I ever get into trouble, I would crawl down an anteaters hole, (as some of them are big enough for me to hide in). I crawled towards the heap sand and found this hole, by that time it was midday. I got in the hole feet first, thought that if something was going to eat me, it would have to get through my soles of my boots first. I stayed there to just before dark. While lying there, I was terrified. I started to hear things above me as if there was a ?tribal dance?, ?stamping of feet?. A I asked, ?please God, I just need 2 seconds if they find me here. One, to get out of the hole and 2, to kill the guy closest to me.? The beating and the stamping got louder and louder. I decided just to crawl out. When I got out there was nothing and nobody to be seen, then I only realised that it was my heart beating so loudly. It was a great relief and then stayed there until it was dark.

I started walking at night, but had no direction. My only weapon was a branch of a tree that I could use as a club. Animals in the bush gave me an indication whether it was safe for me to walk. I eventually came back to the little road that we had travelled on but could not remember if I had to turn left or right. I turned left. As soon as I got the smell of the burnt out vehicle, I realised I was close to the site where we were ambushed. I just walked a little closer to see which side the vehicle was pointing to give me and indication of the direction of our camp. Walking back towards the trees I saw 2 bodies lying there.

I found a small bush on route that I could hide in at night. I remained close to the ambush site as I knew that they would come and look for us with the choppers. One morning, at about 5am I heard a shot go off. My first thought was, ? oh no not again?. I heard a voice screaming out, ?Waars julle manne? it was Lt Brands. I decided not to disclose my position and run over this grass plane towards them as it was too far and an open field.

After that, I do not know what happened to them. I woke up one morning, hearing vehicle noises, it would come and then go, come and go. I said to myself, ?I am going bossies?. ? Keep your mind active?. I started talking to myself so that I did not hear things that did not exist. It was not long after that , that I heard the vehicle noises again. And I said to myself, that I AM going bossies. But the noise came closer. I looked for a vehicle travelling along the road, but saw nothing. Then in a distance, I could hear it again, it was a chopper, but decided to stay where I was. The chopper was a blue. And the ones we used in operation were all green. A while after that I saw a green chopper, it flew over the proximity of our vehicle that was struck by a land mine, but it was a long way away and they would not be able to see me. I would still not come out of hiding, as there were shots fired that morning .

As the chopper turned to return to base, I went out into the veld and took my shirt off and waved at them. Then one of the chopper pilots saw me, and came straight towards me, I then lay down in the grass. They showed me to wait there and then brought another chopper in to pick me up. I was then flown away from there, and dropped off at a pick up point not far from there, where they had dropped off other guys. Eventually they flew in with a super freelong and picked us up and flew us back to base.

On arrival we went through medical checkups. They wanted to send some more troops back to sort out these terrorists and asked for volunteers to go with the reccies. We all volunteered again and got back onto the vehicles. While we were waiting for instructions to leave, a radio message came through to say that it was aborted and that they want us back in Grootfontien. We had to go for another operation ?orange?, deeper in Angola.

They then wanted to transport us back to Kwando on a vehicle. I refused. I said that we had already hit one mine, and that there was no ways I was going to travel on any road for anybody with any vehicle that was not landmine prepared. They asked if we expected to be flown out. Which I replied, ?yes?. We were then flown out.

It took 7 days to pick everyone up that was involved in that incident, some even walked all the way back to camp. Some of the troops were shot through their arms, some through the shoulders, and one had a bullet graze on his head.

From there they flew us out from Mapatcha to Grootfontein where we were told that we were going to fly into Angola with our 25 pounder guns. I had not been re-issued with kit, and went into Angola with only the clothes that I had on. The move to Angola was like a revenge for the guys we lost and got injured in the Caprivi. In Angola we did not take any prisoners.