Military History Tours          On Tour - Boer War 112th Anniversary Tour to South Africa 8 June 2014

A great day of touring. A couple of hundred kilometres of tollway driving, a coffee stop and we rode into Kroonstad. Our first stop was the main Boer War cemetery where I am pleased to report there has been no deterioration in the past two years. The cemetery is locked and surrounded by razor wire, and this helps, the only damage being a couple of mindless attempts to breach the wire. Our host Dreis Otto opened the gate allowing us to inspect the list of interees in the gate-house, and wander the cemetery inspecting the iron crosses most with identifying discs still in place. Many Australian names were found.

Then on to the small Boer War cemetery where again we found it in excellent condition, and again with Australian names.

Dreis then took us to the Concentration Camp cemetery which was a real eye opener. It is a great credit to our host who with a small group of five committee members maintain it out of their own pockets. The pristine condition of the site stands sentinel to their dedicated work.

A boxed lunch in the bus and we proceeded a hundred kilometres to Lindley, the site where David Legg’s great uncle Gunner Legg of the Royal Horse Artillery serving with the Commander in Chief’s Bodyguard died in an ambush. We were able to find the cemetery where Gunner Legg was buried and his name on the central obelisk.

Then we had another two hundred kilometre drive to our Johannesburg lodge. There we thanked our local guide Dorothy and driver Andre for a very professional job well done.

At evening meal we marked the conclusion of the Military History tour, andbade farewell to those who were not joining us for the Kruger extension.