Bester , Barend Gabriel (B G)

Your information on the location and it being a hand grenade accident is correct. We were in 1 SAI and members of the then called O&O Wing(later called Mechanised Leader Wing). Incidently, the shoulder flash dispayed on this page is not correct. This shoulder flash is the flash of 1 SAI when the Unit was still situated in Oudtshoorn, hence the ostrich feathers. When the Unit moved to Bloemfontein, the flash changed, displaying the number "1" prominently in the middle. During the time of the accident the flash was a Honey Badger (Ratel), standing on its hind feet. At the time of the accident I was a few meters behind Bester. We were busy with "loopgraaf opruiming" training. The excercise is difficult to explain, but it entails the soldier throwing a handgrenade into the trench, with him following just after the explosion, occupying the position. The rest of the soldiers move past and repeat the drill at the next position. A grenade was thrown, Bester entered the position and immediately climbed out of the trench, bent forward and lay down. We immediately started cardio-pulmonary resucitation and continued until a doctor arrived, declaring him dead. We never felt any pulse. We speculated that he crouched too near(actually just past) the corner of the position to be occupied, thus exposing himself to the explosion. He also held his head to one side instead of bending it down to his chest for protection. We were wearing our steel helmets. His death was especially unfortunate as we used "no 7" training handgrenades [This in brief is a hand grenade of which the fragmentation "cover" is removed, making it like a BIG cracker with few metal parts, used in this format for training purposes.] He sustained only one very small injury(a small hole not much larger than a sigarette butt), just to the left of the middle of his chest, where one's heart is. In my opinion this was an unfortunate freak accident. I have a photograph of the group that went before us, taken just after a grenade exploded.