Wessels, Louis Theodorus Hermanus (L T H)

Theo or Tank was my friend since std 6 at Grey in Bloem. We were friends all the way to matric. I went off to 4SAI and he went to Bats. He was in Bats with another good friend Andre Sonnekus. Tank had 2 and a half fingers missing on his right hand...I believe they nicknamed him 7's at one point. He was a platoon sargeant and I saw him only a short while before his death We were somewhere watching a Grey game and chatted...planing on doing some pistol shooting in the new year after I had completed a camp. I ended up in Oshakati with the UOVS university unit and we had heard there was a big op going on. Late one afternoon a Puma flew over and some of us were asked to donate blood to wounded troops. When the guys got back from the sickbay/hospital, they talked about one guy who had been killed... his body bag was open and they had seen him lying there, his face covered in stalks of dry grass, almost as if he was asleep. They only mentioned that it looked like he had taken a round through the neck. A day or so later someone in the university unit who knew me from school told me that it had been Tank who had been killed. I tried to find out what had happened... and all I managed to find out was that he may have led an attack on a bunker to silence a machine gun. He stormed forward with some other guys and seemed to stumble and fall. Ive never been able to find any other info on what happened.

Paratrooper's Prayer Heavenly Father, King of the world I know that all things are in your hands, whatever happens to me. As a paratrooper I am prepared to suffer hardship. I am ready to endure danger and unrest, pain and hurt. I am willing to be hungry end thirsty. I am prepared to face the enemy fearlessly. Lord I am weak. I cannot depend on my own strength. I do not want to trust in my own abilities. Lord my God; Let me trust in you alone. Give me courage and strength, and, above all, faith to do my work