Name

Rank

Regiment

Date of Death

BOUWER, J

Private

Essential Services Protection Corps, South African Forces

30 Dec 1946

BOUWER, J

Gunner

South African Artillery

13 Jul 1942

BOUWER, JH

Corporal

Witwatersrand Rifles/Regiment de la Rey, South African Forces

28 Oct 1944

BOUWER, JL

Private

South African Railway Services

29 Oct 1918

BOUWER, PF

Private

Imperial Light Horse/Kimberley Regt., South African Forces

13 Sep 1944

BOUWER, WC

Warrant Officer Class II

South African Artillery

09 May 1944

BOUWER, WC

Warrant Officer Class II

South African Engineer Corps

29 Sep 1944

Additional Information:

Son of Rosina Bouwer; husband of Alice M Bouwer, of Cape Town.

Cemetery:

CAPE TOWN (PLUMSTEAD) CEMETERY, Western Cape, South Africa

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

Grave UGG. 169

Location:

Plumstead is a suburb of Cape Town 15 kilometres to the south of the city. The cemetery is 2 kilometres east of Plumstead railway station.

Historical Information:

This cemetery, previously controlled by the Cape Peninsula Cemeteries Board of Trustees, is now administered by the Cape Metropolitan Council. The majority of the war graves are concentrated in either the 1939-1945 War Military Plot, which is alongside one arm of a forked road, or the 1914-1918 War Military Plot, which is alongside the other. At the junction of the two arms stands a Cross of Sacrifice erected after the 1914-1918 War. There was a military hospital at nearby Wynberg during both World Wars. Nos. 65 and 66 Air Schools operated from the nearby Youngsfield Aerodrome. Three civilian building contractors are buried in a communal grave, together with service personnel who were killed in an aircraft crash at Elandsfontein whilst inspecting sites for fortification.

Additional Information:

Son of Johan G. and Magtel M. Bouwer, of East London, Cape Province, South Africa.

Cemetery:

EL ALAMEIN WAR CEMETERY, Egypt

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

IV. C. 18.

Location:

Alamein is a village, bypassed by the main coast road, approximately 130 kilometres west of Alexandria on the road to Mersa Matruh. The first Commission road direction sign is located just beyond the Alamein police checkpoint and all visitors should turn off from the main road onto the parallel old coast road. The cemetery lies off the road, slightly beyond a ridge, and is indicated by road direction signs approximately 25 metres before the low metal gates and stone wing walls which are situated centrally at the road edge at the head of the access path into the cemetery. The Cross of Sacrifice feature may be seen from the road. Within the cemetery will be found the Alamein Memorial, through which the access path to the cemetery passes, and the Alamein Cremation Memorial which will be found in the south-eastern part of the cemetery.

Historical Information:

The El Alamein War cemetery contains the graves of men who died at all stages of the western desert campaigns, brought in from a wide area round about, but especially those who died in the Battle of El Alamein at the end of October, 1942 and in the period immediately before that. There are over 7,000 war casualties commemorated in this cemetery.

Cemetery:

CASTIGLIONE SOUTH AFRICAN CEMETERY, Italy

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

I, A, 15.

Location:

Castiglione dei Pepoli is a town in the Province of Bologna about 60 kilometres north of Florence and about 60 kilometres south of Bologna. It is situated in mountainous country near the highest point of the road connecting Prato and Bologna. The cemetery is on the west side of the road a little to the north of the town. Take the autostrada A1 and leave it at Roncobilaccio exit and keep heading for Castiglione. The cemetery is at the edge of the road on the right entering the town. The cemetery is permanently open and may be visited anytime.

Historical Information:

The cemetery was started in November 1944 by the 6th South African Armoured Division, which had entered Castiglione at the end of September and remained in the neighbourhood until the following April. Many of the burials were made direct from the battlefields of the Apennines, where during that winter South African troops held positions some 8 kilometres North of Castiglione. The majority of those buried in this cemetery were South Africans, the remainder belonging mostly to the 24th Guards Brigade, which was under command of the 6th South African Armoured Division. In the cemetery there is a memorial building originally erected by South African troops, which contains two tablets unveiled by Field-Marshal Smuts; they bear the inscription in English and Afrikaans: "To save mankind yourselves you scorned to save." "Om die mensdom te dien het jul veiligheid versmaad." There are now over 500, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site.

Cemetery:

KEETMANSHOOP MUNICIPAL CEMETERY, Namibia

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

179

Location:

The South African and German graves are scattered in the old walled section of the cemetery which is owned by the municipality. Follow 5th Avenue (the main street) and turn into Kaiser Street (which becomes Stamprieter Road) in the direction of the Grunau - Windhoek Road. The cemetery is at the junction with 1st Avenue.

Historical Information:

Keetmanshoop surrendered to the Southern Forces on the 20th April 1915. Two of the graves were brought in after the Armistice.

Cemetery:

CASTIGLIONE SOUTH AFRICAN CEMETERY, Italy

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

III, B, 9.

Location:

Castiglione dei Pepoli is a town in the Province of Bologna about 60 kilometres north of Florence and about 60 kilometres south of Bologna. It is situated in mountainous country near the highest point of the road connecting Prato and Bologna. The cemetery is on the west side of the road a little to the north of the town. Take the autostrada A1 and leave it at Roncobilaccio exit and keep heading for Castiglione. The cemetery is at the edge of the road on the right entering the town. The cemetery is permanently open and may be visited anytime.

Historical Information:

The cemetery was started in November 1944 by the 6th South African Armoured Division, which had entered Castiglione at the end of September and remained in the neighbourhood until the following April. Many of the burials were made direct from the battlefields of the Apennines, where during that winter South African troops held positions some 8 kilometres North of Castiglione. The majority of those buried in this cemetery were South Africans, the remainder belonging mostly to the 24th Guards Brigade, which was under command of the 6th South African Armoured Division. In the cemetery there is a memorial building originally erected by South African troops, which contains two tablets unveiled by Field-Marshal Smuts; they bear the inscription in English and Afrikaans: "To save mankind yourselves you scorned to save." "Om die mensdom te dien het jul veiligheid versmaad." There are now over 500, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site.

Additional Information:

Son of Willem C. Bouwer and Margaret C. Bouwer; husband of Hazel L. Bouwer, of Johannesburg.

Cemetery:

JOHANNESBURG (WEST PARK) CEMETERY, Gauteng, South Africa

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

Mil. Sec. Grave 245.

Location:

Johannesburg (West Park) Cemetery is located 10 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg on D.F. Malan Drive.

Historical Information:

The cemetery is controlled by the Johannesburg Municipality and is the largest cemetery in this city. The majority of the war graves are concentrated in the Military Allotment in the North-Western sector of the complex and the rest are scattered in the various religious denominational sections. A platform feature in gold coloured face brick along the Western boundary of the Military Allotment, is the site of a Cross of Sacrifice. Behind the Cross, the low Western wall of the platform feature contains the cremation memorial tablets commemorating casualties cremated at the Johannesburg Crematorium in Johannesburg (Braamfontien) Cemetery.

Additional Information:

Son of Willem C. and Violet S. Bouwer; husband of Hendrina J. Bouwer, of Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa.

Cemetery:

CASSINO WAR CEMETERY, Italy

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

II. B. 2.

Location:

Cassino War Cemetery lies in the Commune of Cassino, Province of Frosinone, 139 kilometres south-east of Rome. Take the autostrada A2 from Rome to Naples and leave it at the Cassino exit. At the junction of this exit and the road into Cassino is the first of 6 clearly visible signposts to the cemetery and Memorial.

Historical Information:

The site was originally selected for a war cemetery in January 1944, but the development of the battle during the first five months of that year made it impossible to use it until after the Germans had withdrawn from Cassino. During these early months of 1944, Cassino saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Italian campaign, the town itself and the dominating Monastery Hill proving the most stubborn obstacles encountered in the advance towards Rome. The greater part of the soldiers buried in the war cemetery lost their lives in the battles during these months. There are now over 4,000, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over 200 are unidentified and two special memorials have been erected to men who were originally buried in other cemeteries in the vicinity but whose graves have been lost. One commemorates two soldiers who were buried in Portella Military Cemetery, and the other, a soldier who was buried in Campobasso Military Cemetery. Within the cemetery stands the Cassino Memorial, which commemorates over 4,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who gave their lives during the campaign in Sicily and Italy and have no known graves. A memorial which stands just south of the Cassino-Naples road in the village of Pastinelle, 3 kilometres east of Cassino, commemorates the visit of HM King George VI to the battlefield. It consists of a marble column upon which the Royal Coat of Arms has been carved in relief and above which is written in English and Italian: - "This path was walked on the twenty-second day of July, 1944 by His Majesty King George VI on the occasion of his visit to Cassino."