Roll of Honour - War
In the history of a force that existed for seventy years, and whose members were involved in wars, campaigns and, on occasions, rather indistinct affrays in many parts of Africa and beyond, there is bound to be a blurring of the lines of fact, and gaps in the accumulation of knowledge. With history, the gleaning of fresh facts is a continuing and exciting series of circumstances. This Roll of Honour is based on available information and the facts as known at February 2009, supported by a number of sources and rules.
In compiling the roll, the following criteria guided the author. Those listed in the roll comprise any attested regular or reserve member of the British South Africa Police, before 31 July 1980, who was:
- killed in active combat or while on specific defensive duties (i.e. during a contact and engagement with terrorists, ambush, landmine, or station attack) by direct or indirect offensive enemy action (generally classified as ‘killed in action’ – KIA);
- abducted and murdered by enemy forces, in any operational area, in consequence of their association with the British South Africa Police, irrespective of their duty status at the time, but includes regular members of the force who lost their lives in terrorist attacks on civilian airliners; and those
- died while in active combat or defensive roles (which shall exclude civilian police duties) as a result of unforeseen incidents (i.e. friendly fire, vehicle or shooting accident – by and largely classified as ‘killed on active service’ – KOAS).