The reasons for choosing a life in the military are many and varied. Here is what lay behind the choice of one man.
Major-General Dan Pienaar CB DSO & Bar
Dan Pienaar was South Africa’s most charismatic general during World War II. He commanded troops with success in both the Abyssinian and North African campaigns and might have gone on to even greater achievements had he not been killed in an aircraft crash in December 1942. His interest in and commitment to a military career had its origins during the Anglo-Boer War.
When the War broke out, Dan was a six-year old living on a farm in the Wakkerstroom district of the Transvaal. His father and two of his older brothers joined their commando and went off to war. All three ended up in India as prisoners of war. Like so many Boer wives, Mrs Pienaar was left alone with the difficult tasks of both managing the farm and raising the children still with her. For a while the family was helped by a friendly British soldier, who brought them gifts of food and other supplies. He was known as “the tame Englishman”. Eventually, early in 1901, the family was moved to a concentration camp near Pietermaritzburg, where they were to remain until December 1902.
The misery of the camp was aggravated for the Pienaars when Dan’s leg was severely lacerated by an accident with an axe. In his book, Pienaar of Alamein, A M Pollock wrote of the aftermath of the accident as follows:
“Blood-poisoning set in and Dan was taken to the British military hospital at Fort Napier. It was at first feared that his leg would have to be amputated. Several doctors held consultations, and finally Dan’s mother was called in to make the decision. She decided on the more slender chance of her son’s pulling through without amputation. Slowly the leg responded to treatment, but for four long months Dan had to lie in the military hospital. On either side of him and all round him were wounded British “Tommies”. He became their favourite. Far from their own families, these soldiers, in their rough but kindly way, took the small boy to their hearts and lavished upon him an affection they would normally have reserved for their own children. Dan responded, as a child would, and very soon he and these British soldiers were fast friends. That friendship persisted in spite of later misunderstandings and undoubtedly formed the foundation of the deep respect which Major-General Dan Pienaar had for the ordinary British soldier.”
After the War ended, the Pienaars went back to their farm near Wakkerstroom. More hardships followed. The farm was maintained with great difficulty and all hope of a decent education for Dan was lost. His mother had hoped that Dan would have a career in the church, but Dan had already decided his future lay elsewhere. Mrs Pienaar died in 1906, perhaps worn out by the stresses and privations of her life. By 1911, with the farm still in difficulty, Dan decided to leave and fulfill a dream by making a new life for himself in the military.
Pollock continues the story:
“As luck would have it, the Natal Police were calling for recruits and especially for Afrikaans-speaking men from adjoining provinces. Dan’s father was able to scrape together enough money to buy a single railway ticket from Wakkerstroom to Pietermaritzburg, headquarters of the Natal Police; and so off went Dan – with a light heart, high hopes and half a crown in his pocket. This was on November 26, 1911.”
A few days later, and in spite of being underage, Dan dressed in the uniform of a former enemy and he settled into a life in which he excelled. From the Natal Police he went on to serve in what became the Defence Force of the Union of South Africa, whose uniform he wore with pride and honour until the day he died 31 years later.
Dreams can be realised in spite of the most improbable of circumstances.
19/05/2011
