In his obituary Mr. J Elsegood refers to the late Colonel, a distinguished soldier, as:
“one of only two men to win the Van Riebeeck Decoration (DVR) – for distinguished service in the field against the enemy – and also the Southern Cross Decoration (SD)”.
Without any other qualifying awards stated and attributed to late Colonel to justify his statement, Mr Elsegood is patently incorrect. Three examples of historical fact demonstrate Mr Elsegood’s inaccurate missive and can be found on a simple source such as Wikipedia:
• Major Arthur Walker HCG and Bar, SM (February 1953 – 28 March 2016) was a South African Air Force helicopter pilot who was twice awarded the Honoris Crux Gold decoration during the South African Border War. The Honoris Crux Gold was the highest military award for bravery awarded to members of the South African Defence Force. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Walker_(Pilot)
• Andrew Frederick Weatherby (Anthony) Beauchamp- roctor, VC, DSO, MC & Bar, DFC (4 September 1894 – 21 June 1921) was a South African airman and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was South Africa’s leading ace of the First World War, being credited with 54 aerial victories.
• Adolph Gysbert Malan, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (3 October 1910 – 17 September 1963), better known as Sailor Malan, was a South African fighter pilot and flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) who led No. 74 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain.[1] He finished his fighter career in 1941 with twenty-seven destroyed, seven shared destroyed and two unconfirmed, three probables and sixteen damaged. At the time he was the RAF’s leading ace, and one of the highest scoring pilots to have served wholly with RAF Fighter Command during the Second World War.
All three were air war recipients.
So, to the publication by Mr. J. Elsegood – anyone can write what they like, yet if opining on historical fact, it may be prudent for a Wikipedia search, something that even a year one undergraduate student is advised not to use. Or he could just reference this site and an accurate source article on the highest and most decorated South Africans written by Peter Dickens – link as follows; South Africa’s top military medalists
No shortage of information out there!
Written for the Observation Post by Dr. Garth Benneyworth
So, talking Olympics, but in a military context, who are South Africa’s greatest medalists?
Unfortunately we have to separate this into two sub categories as the National Party in 1948 decided that anyone fighting for the Allies under the banner of the “South African Union” was somehow “British” (so too their medals – the “Commonwealth” bit to these decorations mattered not a jot to the Nats) and anyone fighting for the ‘White’ Apartheid Republic they brought about in 1961 was somehow more “South African” – and they created a whole new set of medals in paramount to the “British and Commonwealth” ones – declaring these as “foreign” medals – which meant a simple peacetime SADF ’Skiet medal” (shooting proficiency medal) would be more senior than a Commonwealth decoration for wartime gallantry.
Naturally this caused a lot of distress for our WW1 and WW2 veterans at the time, some refusing to allow basic service medals to precede their hard earned combat medals – and it also caused lots of confusion. True, the Nationalists had to change them as South Africa was kicked out/left the British Commonwealth, no choice – but they did not have be sinister and give paramountcy over the Commonwealth medals.
Adding to this confusion is the current ANC dispensation who took the position in 2003 that medals awarded by the Apartheid Republic were for “Aparthied soldiers” and they created a whole new set to replace them for SANDF soldiers of a “democratic” South Africa – one thing they did right is they did not make them “paramount” to the SADF medals which maintain seniority (which the Nats did not do). To say this is a messy subject would be an understatement.
We also need to understand who is the South African with the “most” medals – like an Olympian who has won the most medals of any category – Gold, Silver or Bronze as opposed to the South African who has won the most “highest” medals for gallantry- again like an Olympian who has won the most “gold” medals.
Now to announce the winners:
The winner of the “most” medals i.e. the most decorated South African of the “Union” period is ….. Field Marshal Jan Smuts – here’s his rack:
Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts OM,CH,DTD,ED,PC,KC,FRS
Order of Merit (OM) – British and Commonwealth (WW2)
Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) – British and Commonwealth (WW1)
Dekoratie voor trouwe Dienst (DTD) – ZAR Republic (Boer War 2)
Efficiency Decoration (ED) – South Africa (Interwar and WW2)
Privy Council (PC) – British and Commonwealth
King’s Counsel (KC) – a legal appointment post nominal
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS)
Bencher of the Middle Temple – a legal appointment
South African Republic and OFS War Medal – ZAR Republic (Boer War 2)
1914/15 Star (WW1)
British War Medal 1914 – 1918 (WW1)
Victory Medal (WW1)
General Service Medal
King George V’s Jubilee Medal – 1935
King George VI’s Coronation Medal – 1937
1939 – 1945 Star (WW2)
Africa Star (WW2)
Italy Star (WW2)
France and Germany Star (WW2)
Defence Medal 1939 – 1945 (WW2)
War Medal 1939 – 1945 (WW2)
Africa Service Medal 1939 – 1945 (WW2)
Order of Merit (U.S.A.)
EAME Campaign Medal – U.S.A.(WW2)
Order of the Tower and Sword for Valour, Loyalty and Merit (Portugal)
Grootkruis van die Orde van de Nederlandsche Leeuw – Netherlands (WW2)
Grand Cordon of the Order of Mohamed Ali (Egypt)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer – Greece (WW2)
Grand Cross of the Order of Léopold II – Belgium (WW2)
Croix de guerre – Belgium (WW1)
Légion d’honneur Croix de Commandeur – France (WW1)
La Grand Croix de l’Ordre de L’Etoile Africane Ster – Belgium (WW2)
King Christian X Frihedsmedaille ‘Pro Dania’ – Denmark (WW2)
Smuts is unique in the sense that his two Boer War Republican medals pre-date his Union medals.
Field Marshal Jan Smuts and ribbons
The winner of the “highest” medals i.e. the highest decorated South African of the “Union” period is …. Captain Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor – here is his rack:
Captain Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor VC,DSO,MC&Bar,DFC
Captain Beauchamp-Proctor
Victoria Cross (WW1)
Distinguished Service Order (WW1)
Military Cross and Bar (WW1)
Distinguished Flying Cross (WW1)
1914 – 1915 Star (WW1)
British War Medal (WW1)
The Victory Medal (WW1)
Captain Beauchamp-Proctor is not unique in the sense that all his highest medals were earned whilst fighting in British military constructs as a South African Union citizen – which was perfectly acceptable then.
The South African winner of the “most decorated” South African in the “South African Republic” SADF period is ….. General Bob Rogers – here is his rack:
General Bob Rogers SSA, SM, MMM, DSO, DFC&Bar
General Bob Rogers
Star of South Africa (SSA) (South Africa)
Southern Cross Medal (SM) (South Africa)
Military Merit Medal (MMM) (South Africa)
Korea Medal (South Africa)
Pro Patria Medal (South Africa)
Good Service Medal, Gold (30 Years – South Africa)
Good Service Medal, Silver (20 Years – South Africa)
Union Medal (South Africa)
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) (WW2)
Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar (DFC and Bar) (WW2)
1939–45 Star (WW2)
Africa Star (WW2)
Italy Star (WW2)
War Medal 1939–1945 – Mentioned in Dispatches (WW2)
Africa Service Medal (WW2)
Distinguished Flying Cross (USA)*
Air Medal Bronze with Oak Leaf Cluster (USA)*
Order of Military Merit (Korea) (Chungmu cordon) with Gold Star
United Nations Service Medal for Korea
Korean War Service Medal
Grand Star of Military Merit (Chile)
Army PUC Presidential Unit Citation (USA)*
*American awards issued to 2 SAAF Squadron members under their command in the Korean War.2
23 Total
Note: General Rogers’ medal set are a combination of SADF (Republican) and UDF (Union) medals and decorations, and like Smuts some foreign ones too.
The winner of the “highest decorated” South African in the SADF “Republic” period is …. Major Arthur Walker – here is his rack:
Major Murray Walker
Major Murray Walker HCG&Bar, SM
Honoris Crux (Gold and Bar) – South Africa
Southern Cross Medal – South Africa
Pro Patria Medal – South Africa
Southern African Medal – South Africa
General Service Medal – South Africa
Good Service Medal Bronze – South Africa
Zimbabwean Independence Medal 1980 – Zimbabwe
General Service Medal – Rhodesia
United Nations Medal (Mozambique – United Nations)
Major Walker is unique in that won the Honoris Crux Gold (HCG) twice – the only South African to have a “Bar” to a HCG.
Overall Winning Medalists
So, of these four great medalists – who are the winners of the “most” and the “highest” given the grade and total sweep of the medals on offer – the answer:
Field Marshal Jan Smuts is the overall winner of the “most decorated South African”.
Simply because he has more decorations and medals (36) than Bob Rogers (23).
Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor is the overall winner of the “highest decorated South African”.
Simply because he has a Victoria Cross (VC) and his raft of decorations for gallantry serve to qualify it further – his DSO, two MC and DFC, putting him ahead of the other South African VC recipients – the highest gallantry award for the SADF was the “diamond” Honoris Crux (HCD), it was meant to be on the same level as a VC (albeit not the same as the VC is a stand alone, there is graded degree of bravery as there is with a HC set)- and nobody ever received a “diamond” Honoris Crux (HCD) in any event, it was never awarded, and no one ever will, it has been discontinued.
Of the new SANDF “Highest” decoration is the Nkwe ya Gauta – Golden Leopard – it replaced the Gold Honoris Crux (HCG) and like the HC set it is part of graded gallantry decorations going up in importance and there is no “diamond” Leopard – whereas the Victoria Cross is still a stand alone decoration and has no equivalent – so Beauchamp-Proctor still remains the “highest” decorated – and will remain such well into our living memory. So far there have been 3 recipients of the Nkwe ya Gauta – Golden Leopard – all of them posthumous.
Proccy – bravest of the brave
Please note this is not meant to degrade any one over the other – all four of these men are great South Africans.
Written and Researched by Peter Dickens
Jan Smuts by his son Jan Smuts, Heinemann and Cassell, 1952 – awards list ↩︎
Bob Rogers – his personal story as told by Roger Williams ↩︎
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