Extract from March 2015 Newsletter of SA Military History KZN
EDWIN SWALES VC COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE DURBAN HIGH SCHOOL AND NATAL MOUNTED RIFLES.
Members will recall how the eThekwini Municipality summarily erased the memory of Major Edwin Swales VC from Durban’s heritage when they renamed Edwin Swales VC Drive. Johannesburg Committee member David Scholtz remedied this by sponsoring the erection of memorials to this WW2 hero at Durban High School and the Natal Mounted Rifles.
Former KZN Branch Chairman Paul Kilmartin has pointed out that the 3rd July 2015 will be the centenary of Maj Swales’s birth, the 70th anniversary of his crash and death in action and the 70th anniversary of VE Day.
Fellow member David Bennett has started the ball rolling to arrange a commemorative event at both memorials. The date has still to be finalised, but it is likely to be in early May 2015 while Paul Kilmartin is in Durban on holiday.
A notice will be circulated in due course, but members are requested to pencil the
6th May 2015 as a PROVISIONAL date.