A visit to a sacred shrine outside Bulawayo in honour of African soldiers who gave their lives in armed service reminds Cathy Buckle of the sacrifices made 75 years ago now. Erected in 1947 by the founder of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (Charles Evenden) the MOTH memorial at this Silent Shrine shows allegiance to the fallen and “remembers all servicemen who have answered the Sunset Call, both in war and peacetime.” – Sandra Laurence
At the going down of the sun
By Cathy Buckle*
In the still, quiet heat of a Matabeleland morning a few kilometres into the Matopos National Park outside Bulawayo, a friend and I came to the consecrated ground of a shrine. An Emerald Spotted Wood Dove was calling, its haunting, mournful song in this sacred place bringing goosebumps to my arm. Backed by a steep black granite hill, the shrine stands amongst the tumbled boulders in an enduring memorial to those who have fallen in war.
Beautifully fenced, each metal post is topped with a tin hat, with two crossed rifles as clear testimony to armed service. Stone-lined flowerbeds are filled with Christ Thorn euphorbia flowers, grey stems thick with black thorns, pale flowers held on crimson bracts.
Erected in 1947 by the founder of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (Charles Evenden) the memorial at this Silent Shrine is to show allegiance to the fallen. “Those who fell, irrespective of class or creed are the Nobility of the Nation and we know from long experience that if we work for them and do the things they would have us do, that bond which joins us shall never be broken.” (Evenden)
As we walk quietly around the shrine the feeling of not being alone is powerful. A plaque embedded in the stone reads: “At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.” Another plaque indicates the site of relics left beneath the stone “as a token of sound memory to fallen comrades.” In a protected rondavel higher in the rocks is a garden of rest and a repository of ashes. On the outside screen around the rondavel are names of fallen soldiers: Barr, Francis, Kagwira, Mahmoud, Norman, Takavera and so many more. Line by line I read the names, and tears cloud my eyes as I imagine all those soldiers gone seventy-five years ago.
A stone birdbath at the base of the shrine is dry and I get the bottle of water I always carry for emergencies to fill it, because water is life and with this small gesture I feel I can show my respect to the fallen soldiers.
The Memorable Order of Tin Hats, MOTH, founded a brotherhood of South African former frontline soldiers to help and “remember all servicemen who have answered the Sunset Call, both in war and peacetime.” As I rest my hands on the engraved words of poet Laurence Binyon written in 1914 I can almost hear the Sunset bugle call in these hot African hills and see the soldiers looking out from the rocks.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”
(Poem For the Fallen, Laurence Binyon ,1914)
A fortnight after visiting the MOTH shrine I visited a 92-year old pilot, a veteran of a war fought many decades ago. Struggling to afford his medicines in a time when international economists calculate our inflation at 400%, I went to see how I could help. I found him singing, wearing an apron, working on a small wooden aeroplane he had carved himself and was going to use at a talk he was giving about being a pilot. When I asked if I could hold the plane he was delighted and when I commented that there were no wheels for the plane to land on he laughed and said, “Oh that’s no problem, these old folks will never notice.” We both laughed.
The 92-year-old was singing as I left.
My new book, Zimbabweās Timeless Beauty: The 2022 Collection is available in paperback or kindle from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/catherinebuckle – the hardback version – and my āBeautiful Zimbabweā calendar 2023 is available from: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018.
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Ndini shamwari yenyu (I am your friend).
- Thank you for your wonderful support of my new bookĀ Zimbabweās Timeless Beauty: The 2022 Collection. The Kindle or paperback versions are available from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/catherinebuckleĀ and the hardback version and my āBeautiful Zimbabweā Calendar 2023 are available from: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018.
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