Identity
Person No.
3081
Service No.
195524
Last Name
First Name
Hector Gerald
Initials
H G
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
22
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Military Service
Rank
Private
Regiment
Unknown
Unit
Secondary Unit
South African Police
Defence Force
SAP 3,731
South African Police
Location
Country
Locality
Unknown
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Coordinates
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Proposed / National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Operation
Operation
Dates
1941-12 to 1942-01
About
Operations against Bardia and Sollum by 2nd South African Division including the South African Police Brigade, culminating in the early-January 1942 assaults. George Stegmann describes a mass funeral of fourteen men from his battalion after heavy fighting.
Notes
Son of John and Hester Maria Burns.
Same date and unit (1st Bn South African Police, 15 Jan 1942) as the Free French friendly-fire incident described by George Stegmann in The Lights of Freedom (nine B Company men killed when Allied aircraft mistook SA positions for the enemy). Stegmann names “Porkey” Geyer among the dead; other surnames in the memoir may be altered.
Research notes
Stegmann, George. The Lights of Freedom. Just Done Productions / Lulu, 2007 (ISBN 978-1-920169-48-0).
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
South African Police Memorial
open source ↗
South African Police Memorial, Union Buildings, Pretoria (1984).
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
Stegmann — The Lights of Freedom
open source ↗
Free French friendly fire / B Coy, c.15 Jan 1942
Stories 1
Private, 1st Battalion South African Police, killed in action on 15 January 1942.
George Stegmann’s memoir The Lights of Freedom describes a Free French friendly-fire bombing/strafing that day that killed nine B Company men of the South African Police Brigade. This casualty falls on the same date and battalion; Stegmann notes that some names in the book were changed.
George Stegmann’s memoir The Lights of Freedom describes a Free French friendly-fire bombing/strafing that day that killed nine B Company men of the South African Police Brigade. This casualty falls on the same date and battalion; Stegmann notes that some names in the book were changed.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.