The Victoria Cross Soldier who never lived to witness victory in Europe

MANY countries have commemorated the 80th anniversary of VE Day this week. The event has been largely ignored in South Africa even though approximately 12 000 Union Defence Force soldiers died during the Second World War. Their contribution towards Victory in Europe on May 8, 1945, should not be underestimated.

Four South Africans were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British military decoration for valour in the face of the enemy, during World War 11. Three were born in Natal: Quentin Smythe (1916-1997), John Nettleton (1917 - 1944) and Edwin Swales (1915 - 1945) Gerard Norton (1916 - 2004) was born in the Cape. Swales, who was awarded his VC posthumously, was the last South African to receive a VC.

Born in Inanda, on July 3, 1915, Edwin was one of four children born to Harry and Olive Swales. He had an older sister Joan, an older twin brother John and a younger brother Harry. Just months after Harry’s birth, their father died in November 1918 aged 36. It was the first tragedy faced by Olive who had enjoyed less than six years of married life. The children attended Umhlali Preparatory School before Olive moved to Durban.

In 1930, John and Edwin entered high school at DHS, which was close to where the family lived. Edwin’s talents were on the sports fields where he played rugby as well as cricket for the school’s 1st XI. Finishing school in 1934, he joined Barclay’s Bank as a clerk. Interestingly, Gerard Norton, a product of Selbourne College and equally sports mad, also matriculated in 1934 and then joined Barclays Bank as a clerk at their Umtata branch.

Edwin’s link to Durban and strong sense of service was emphasised when he volunteered with Natal Mounted Rifles (NMR) in 1935. One of SA’s oldest regiments, it was making the transition from a calvary to a tank regiment.

The following year, tragedy again struck the family when Edwin’s twin brother John was badly injured in an accident on Berea Road. He was  rushed to Addington Hospital, but five days later he died on March 12, 1936, without regaining consciousness. He was 20.

When war broke out in 1939, Edwin was a Warrant Officer (Class 2) with NMR. He served with the regiment in Kenya, Abyssinia, British Somaliland and Egypt before applying for a transfer to the SA Air Force. He was accepted. On completion of training in Benoni, his commanding officer noted that he was “the outstanding pupil on the course. His character was such that it influenced every other man.” After receiving his wings in Kimberley and an officer’s commission, he was seconded to the British Royal Air Force in 1943. There he came into his own.

From July 1944 until his death, he flew both day and night raids with the elite Path Finder  Force, attacking targets in Kiel, Hamburg, Stettin, Bremen and Nuremburg. In letters to his mother, Edwin wrote of going on another “trip”. After a particularly daring daylight raid on the Cologne railway shunting yard two days before Christmas 1944,  he was awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). A chuffed Edwin sent his mother a telegram telling her of his achievement. He was later quick to add that he “did not come over here for decorations”.

Sometime on February 22, 1945, Edwin sat down to write to his mother. In his letter he wrote that he had been recommended for promotion to Major, but as it had not been published, he was still a Captain. He was going on fewer “trips” and was due some leave that he would take in Bournemouth. He ended his letter: “Well mother I will write again on my return from leave. Regards all. Your loving son Edwin”.

He would never write again. The following night, he had a raid on Pforzheim in Germany. Two of his engines were put out of action by enemy fighters, but he managed to complete his mission. Realising the stricken Lancaster would not make it back, Edwin kept the plane airborne until they reached  friendly territory. He then ordered his crew to bail out . hardly had they jumped when the aircraft crashed. Edwin was found dead at the controls, still strapped in his seat. Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Harris wrote to Edwin’s mother: “His only thought was for the safety of his crew. This he achieved at the cost of his own life.”

The posthumous award of the Victoria Cross was gazzetted on April 24, 1945. His grave is in Leopoldsburg War Cemetery in Belgium. One can only imagine what Olive Swales went through: the grief at losing a second son, but the pride in his selfless humanity. The headmaster of his old school expressed those mixed emotions of pride and sadness when DHS renamed one of its school houses “Swales”. The school now known as Glenwood Preparatory has named each of its four houses after South Africa’s World War II VC heroes: Nettleton, Norton, Smythe and Swales.

The Durban City Council spoke of its high appreciation of his gallantry and when a new road was built in 1946, it was named Edwin Swales VC Drive. A later Council believed this appreciation was misplaced and renamed the road: Durban is the only city in South Africa to remove an honour previously given to a VC recipient. Rather than being ashamed, it was well - pleased with itself.

Barclays Bank (later FNB) commissioned a bust which remained at their Edwin Swales VC Drive branch until it was relocated in 2007. The bust was then presented to DHS. Anothe item now in the custody of the school is the silver model of a Lancaster bomber presented to Edwin’s mother at a ceremony at Durban’s Medwood Gardens. Olive lived with these appreciative gestures and her private memories until her death in 1967 aged 83.

Thousands of soldiers did not return home. Many who did were crippled or plagued by their experiences of war. But VC Day was a time to celebrate - at least victory had come to Europe even if Japan still had to be defeated. Today those fragile threads linking our generation to the war have been replaced by indifference . Yet we should still care by honouring and respecting that generation who gave it their all. 

SUNDAY TRIBUNE

Edwin was an exceptional pilot but remained modest even in retiring by nature. Out of uniform, he enjoyed a beer, smoked 20 a day and played rugby whenever a match was organised between the services. In what may have been his last match in October 1944, the Australian Services team beat the Brits 14 -11. That must have hurt.