Dear
Sir/Madam,
Hereby is I believe an exclusive photo of the
operational team manning the Operational Post at Southern Air Command
(Silvermine) on the evening of the sinking of the Oceanos. In this photo is a
photograph of a Shackleton in the cockpit. Maybe you would like to “cut” that
out as they were not used during the S&R.
As
you can imagine, that time of night, the Command Centre was manned mainly by
skeleton staff. Most of the others were called out away from their braai’s and
parties they were having at the time!
Silvermine was in command of Maritime events. I recall
receiving a call from the Ops clerk on duty and stating that we have a ship with
about 600 people on board and that it was sinking! Well I must say that for a
Saturday evening and after a great party, it was thought to be some proverbial
joke! However when she said “ Hold on for Colonel Hallowes please”, I thought
well here comes the CPO of the navy to have a chuckle! You can imagine by
immediate surprise and utter amazement when Col Hallowes calmy pronounced this
as a fact! With hazards on and armed in the clothes I was wearing there was no
hesitation, I still had to pick up a colleague along the way. We arrived at
Silvermine and immediately proceeded to task the relevant aircraft and put into
place the necessary co-ordination with the Sa Navy (Divers), Army for ground
support, Medics etc. I think we left work the following day about 2 hours after
the “Oceanos” had sunk. The Tv crew who came to Silvermine to film events as
they had unfolded after the sinking were surprised at the enactment. We were not
actors. Everything was calm as it was on the night of the sinking. Each person
knew what was required of them and we did our work as we had been trained to do
in emergencies.
I do
not recall all the names here, but here goes;
Front
row: (L to R) Maj Van Wyk, Col ……., Col Tiny Hallowes, Lt Col Jinx Botes, Capt
Willie Nel.
Standing (L to R) Sgt Piek,Maj Gerry Everard, Capt Erwin
Kotze, F/sgt Danie Theron, Sgt Kitley, unknown, unknown,unknown,unknown, Cpl
Dumas, F/sgt Ismail Abrahams, F.sgt Johan v.d
Berg.
Kate
Mathieson not in the photo.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require
further information.
Kind
regards,
Ex
SAAF employee.
Derek
Piek
I.T
Department
Safari
Cargo Systems