SS Mendi memorial

The Cape Garrison Artillery, formerly UCT Regiment and a Reserve Force Unit, held a commemoration service for the SS Mendi at its memorial site at UCT on 21 February.

About 30 members of the Fort Wynyard-based unit marched, flags were raised and there was a minute's silence to remember the 646 crew members and soldiers aboard the steamship that sank off the Isle of Wight, en route to France, in 1917.

About 616 of the deceased were South Africans, mainly black troops of the South African Native Labour Corps.