One of the great pleasures in collecting historic artifacts is the very direct link they provide to the past. Items of military history are particularly evocative, since they are frequently traceable to specific individuals. Thus, history is made tangible, for instance when appreciating a medal, but also personal, because a name could be inscribed on the object. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy collecting medals and decorations.
Making such a personal connection with the past enables one to really empathise with historical circumstances. When looking back at twentieth century history and its two global conflicts, or World Wars, one may come to view history quantitatively in terms of numbers and statistics. True, these two conflicts were fought on a scale unrivalled in human existence – WWII involved some 690,000,000 combatants. However, each number, whether casualty or survivor, was a life lived or cut short. All these lives were like yours or mine; ordinary, except that they lived through exceptional and terrible episodes of all-encompassing war. Yet, a group of medals awarded to an ordinary person may extend the memory of his or her contribution far beyond their social status or own lifetimes, if properly preserved.
This is the case with mr. Henry Moresby Patrick Sealy, one of the 334,000 South Africans who fought as part of the British Commonwealth forces during World War II. I was fortunate to have procured his group of medals along with some original documentation that shed some light on his service during WWII.
Identification photo of Henry Sealy in his middle age, which accompanied his medals and military records
The earliest dated document in the collection is a registration card for the Union of South Africa’s Active Citizen Force (ACF). The ACF was created in 1912 and served as a reserve to the Permanent Force (PF) of the Union Defence Force. By law, all able-bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 were obliged to undergo military training after 1912. However, this was not strictly enforced by government, partly because there was a steady stream of volunteers to serve in the PF and ACF, even during peacetime. Henry Sealy’s ACF registration card indicates that he enrolled for training in January 1934. It also shows that at the time he resided at 197 Florida Road, Durban. Coincidentally this is not far from where I grew up as a child.
Citizen’s Identification Card in terms of the South Africa Defence Act of 1912.
Another document in the collection concerns Sealy’s demobilisation from military service some 11 years later, in October 1945. The “Ex-Volunteer’s Identity Book” provides interesting biographical insights. The obverse of the Identity Book is a shade of dark blue, which does not contrast well with the black ink handwriting that appears on it. Nevertheless, I have added a scanned image of the document below:
Henry Sealy’s Ex-Volunteer’s Identity Book issued to him upon demobilisation in October 1945
From this document it transpires that Sealy, No. 4465-V (‘V’ indicating ‘Volunteer’) assumed full-time volunteer service on 18 June 1940. The war in Africa had commenced eight days earlier on 10 June 1940 with the East African (involving Italy) and North African (involving Germany and Italy) campaigns. South African forces played significant parts in both these campaigns. The document also shows that upon his demobilisation in 1945, Sealy was a married man, 27 years of age. That would have made him 22 years old when he volunteered in 1940. His address is now listed in Pietermartizburg, where he worked as a civil servant in the Natal Provincial Administration before enlisting (see scanned reverse of Identification Book, below). The Provincial Administration was (and remains) headquartered in Pietermartizburg, which is about 80km inland of Durban. The renowned Comrades ultramarathon has been run between these cities annually since 1921. Thousands of volunteers from Natal, including Sealy, were demobilised at Kings Park in Durban, which now houses a 52,000 seater rugby stadium.
The reverse of Henry Sealy’s blue Ex-Volunteer’s Identity Book
Another document provides us with information about his service. The Quartermaster Clearance Certificate was issued to account for kit and equipment of soldiers returning to South Africa. From Henry Sealy’s clearance certificate one can see that he held the rank of Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Cape Corps (CC). The Cape Corps was raised in May 1940 to provide additional manpower for the South African war effort and incorporated so-called ‘coloured’ troops. In South African society, the term ‘coloured’ refers to individuals of varied ethnic origin which includes African, European, Asian (Malay) and indigenous Khoisan ancestry. Demographically South Africa’s coloured population has traditionally been centred in the Cape Colony and later Cape provinces. The origins of the Cape Corps as military unit can be traced back to the 18th century, when an indigenous unit was raised by the Dutch government in the Cape. It saw action in WWI, and some of those veterans were involved in the unit’s reconstitution in 1940. The Cape Corps consisted of coloured men and NCO’s led by European (white) officers.
It is noteworthy that Henry Sealy served with the Cape Corps. The documents I have discussed clearly show that he was resided in the Natal Province, prior to and after WWII. Many units were raised and reactivated in Natal during the early stages of the war, and it is curious that he should not have enlisted with one of his ‘local’ units. One can only assume that he had an affinity to the Cape (perhaps by birth) or that he possessed specific skills that were requisitioned by the Cape Corps during its reactivation for service in North Africa. Alternatively, since the Cape Corps was designated a non-combatant service unit, it is possible that Sealy was attached to a combatant unit from Natal, but as a member of the Cape Corps support through service troops such as drivers, POW guards, stretcher bearers, medical orderlies, etc.
The cap badge of the Cape Corps features the figure of Hope with her right arm resting on Table Mountain and her left hand holding an anchor. It references the historical name, Cape of Good Hope.
Notwithstanding the particularly interesting nature of the aforementioned documents, the most evocative testament to Henry Sealy’s military service are the medals that he was awarded. These are the Africa Service Medal, the War Medal 1939-1945, the Africa Star, and the 1939-1945 Star, pictured below:
L-R: Africa Service Medal, War Medal 1939-1945, Africa Star, and 1939-1945 Star. Note the patination on the Africa Service Medal, which is struck in silver, as opposed to the cheaper Cupro-Nickel of the War Medal next to it
The Africa Service Medal was awarded to members of the Union Defence Forces and the South African Police who volunteered for war service outside South African borders between 6 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. It was therefore a medal that was largely restricted to South Africans, and was issued in addition to the War Medal 1939-1945, which was awarded to all subjects of the British Commonwealth who had served full-time in the Armed Forces for at least 28 days between during the war. The Africa Star was a campaign medal awarded to Commonwealth subjects who served in North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943, and the 1939-1945 Star was awarded for 180 days service between 3 September 1939 and either 8 May 1945 in Europe or 2 September 1945 in the Far East theatre. This group of medals is typical of what many South African servicemen were awarded at the conclusion of the war.
The letter above was issued to Henry Sealy as confirmation of his awards. A ribbon for the 1939-1945 Star is attached, which partially obscures the date of 10 June 1946. Separate ribbon samples were issued for servicemen to make ‘ribbon bars’, which were worn on uniforms or civilian dress in circumstances where it is inappropriate or impractical to wear full-size medals. It is interesting to note that this letter lists his work address as “Provincial Audit … Pietermaritzburg”, which suggests that he may have been an accountant or auditor by profession.
Henry Sealy’s blue Identity Book notes that he is “to resume his civil occupation with Natal Pro. Admin., P.M. Burg” (sic). One can therefore deduce that he returned to the relatively prosaic life of a provincial bureaucrat, after a five-year intermission of adventure and, no doubt, peril. One wonders how he must have sat at his office desk and reflected upon the things he did and saw during the war, his mind reliving unforgettable memories both terrible and remarkable, only to be startled back to the mundanity of the present by the ringing of a telephone or the knock of a colleague at the door. Henry, and so many like him were, after all, ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances.
anapophist 