01 Mar 2015

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama was among dignitaries who attended Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Fallen Heroes commemoration in Gaborone on February 27.

The President, whose birthday also fell on the same day, was played a happy birthday song by members of the BDF band before laying a wreath in recognition of the soldiers who died in line of duty.

The annual event was intended to honour all service members who passed on while in the service to the nation and to bring national awareness about the contributions that the defence force made to the nation through selfless personal sacrifice by individual BDF personnel.

Speaking at the event, BDF Commander, Lt Gen. Gaolathe Galebotswe said this year’s event had improved in the sense that they had invited WWII veterans from Molepolole and Kanye who were engaged in the knitting of warm clothes for the soldiers who experienced extreme cold winters at the battle zone while fighting against Nazism and Fascism soldiers.

He said true to his word, last year, he promised that the commemoration would be extended to other parts of the country where BDF had barracks and this time around the event was held in synchrony with Francistown, Thebephatshwa Air Base, Selebi Phikwe and other BDF installations.

Meanwhile, he paid tribute to those who played part in the nation building and protection of the sovereignty of the country, noting that this event should not be restricted to BDF as dikgosi among other people in the society contributed significantly to what is the present day Botswana.

He therefore said BDF would not host this day alone next year as other stakeholders had to be involved.

Elaborating on the issue, BDF director of protocol and public relations Col Tebo Dikole said the BDF had been communicating with authorities to establish this day as a national day, noting that their wish, among others, was to commemorate it as a public holiday as it was done in neighbouring countries.

He said men from Molepolole (WWII veterans) and grandmothers from Kanye, who were involved in the knitting of clothes for the soldiers and other members of the community had to be thanked and acknowledged for the role they played in pre-independence period up to now, he said.

Col Dikole said by that time most of those grandmothers were school going pupils and had to be engaged in knitting the jerseys and socks while at the same time attending school. The British government whose Botswana recruits were fighting alongside with other allied forces was providing wool for this benevolent gesture.

The commemoration of the Fallen Heroes Day in BDF began on February 27, 2011, geared towards remembering the 15 BDF members who were killed at the Lesoma Ambush on April 27, 1978 by the Rhodesian Regime.

Following the initial commemoration, a deliberate decision was taken to recognise other fallen heroes who had met their demise in line of duty such as Peace Support Operation, Inter Regional Deployments, local deployments and training to mention a few. ENDS