Compiled and written by Veteran Tony Macquet
There were two South Africans that we know of, who served and were both killed during the Vietnam War.
Their details are: Lt John Louis Molyneaux Jr.
1st Lieutenant John Louis Molyneaux Jr (service number 0103695) is remembered by The United States of America, Australia and South Africa
Killed in action towards the end of Operation Marmaduke Thrust, on the 31st August 1968. He won the Purple Heart for falling on an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) to protect his men.
He was born in Chicago, but did his primary school education in Australia, then completed his high school education in South Africa, where he became a naturalized South African. He returned to the USA to do his degree and was called up for Vietnam.
He is much remembered by his surviving class mates of the Class of 1962, St Charles’ College in Pietermaritzburg.
John Louis Molyneaux Jr was born on the 13th January 1946 in Chicago, USA, lived in Australia, and then grew up in South Africa as a naturalised South African – going to St. Charles College, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, before returning to the United States of America. At the onset of the Vietnam War, he joined the United States Marine Corps and, as a 1st Lieutenant, he was tragically Killed in Action towards the end of Operation Mameluke Thrust, on the 31 August 1968, when he detonated a Viet Cong ‘Booby-trap’ (now known as an Improvised Explosive Device or IED) whilst on patrol in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. He was 22.
Lieutenant John Molyneaux U.S.M.C.
Veteran Tony Macquet recalls ...
It was an honor to have experienced a significant portion of our formative years alongside John Molyneaux. We began high school together at the age of 13, with John being slightly younger than the rest of us. In 1962, we both graduated (Year 12) together.
We were at a Marist Brothers College, St Charles’ College in Pietermaritzburg, Kwa Zulu Natal where we were boarders, with John’s family living in Durban and mine near Harding, so we only went home 4 times a year.
Now, 60 years later, having misplaced my 1962 year book, the memory that those of us who are left from that 1962 Class recall that John was an extremely smart student and an absolute gentleman. My younger brother, Chris, who was two years behind us, remembers John very well, as he was John’s “Fag,” which meant he had to polish his shoes, amongst other chores. Chris found John to be very considerate and a perfect gentleman.
Marist Brothers College, St Charles’ College in Pietermaritzburg, Kwa Zulu Natal
Matric Class of 1962 – John Molyneaux is seated on the extreme right.
We were not a big class, with just 28 in that year level, and we had some very bright boys, with John being one of the brightest. The following year, 1963, about 30% of the class went off to do military service, me being one of them, and it was no surprise to us when the Molyneaux family returned to the USA and John and his elder brother, Edward (Eddie), then went to university there. John attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he graduated with a BA in Business Administration in 1967.
However, it was a great shock to learn in 1968 that John had made it to 1st Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and had been killed in action at Quang Nam in Vietnam. He was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division and he was buried, with full military honours, at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Chicago, near where he was born.
His name is also found on the Vietnam War memorial – 45W LINE: 015 for those who wish to pay their respects to him.
John’s parents acknowledged their son’s old school with a generous gift of number of American books to remember him by, and a plaque was placed in the School Library. Unfortunately, the wrong year date was used of his passing, which should have been 1968 and not 1967.
A few years later, when the school chapel was built, the Old Boys’ Association added his name to a Roll of Honour of those Old Boys who were killed during World War 2, which is in a prominent position within the chapel. The plaque, along with those killed in the First World War are there to this day to remind the scholars of those St Charles’ Old Boys, who paid the supreme sacrifice and died with such honour during the First and Second World Wars and Vietnam.
John Molyneaux is fondly remembered by many.
Rest in Peace, John.
Lest we forget.
Some of this information is credited, with thanks, to Peter Dickens and Graham Du Toit.
2 Lt Everitt Murray (Lofty) Lance
Called Lofty due to his height, Lofty earned the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) in Korea as a South African pilot. He then served as a fighter pilot with the Canadian and Royal Air Forces, before joining the Australian Air Force, where he flew helicopters.
9 Squadron RAAF started their involvement in Vietnam on the 6th June 1966 sending eight Iroquois helicopters of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), landing at the Vung Tau airbase, Vietnam in support of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF).
Flight Lieutenant ‘Lofty’ Lance lost his life on the 7th June 1971 when his helicopter was shot down. His remains were sent back to Australia and he was buried with ‘Full Air Force honours’ a week after his death on the 16th June 1971 in the Woden Cemetery, Canberra, Australia. He was survived, at the time, by his Australian wife, Margaret, and their three children.
Several of the Australian Vietnam veterans were present on the day of Lofty’s death, and they recall Lofty’s chopper going down. This was very close to where several of them were operating. Here is a bit of its story, as received from a Vietnam Veteran:
Monday 7 June 1971
Temperature: 76.4 F (24.7 C) Humidity: 84% Rainfall: 1.48 inches (37.6 mm)
3 RAR
• Bn HQ redeployed to FSB Pamela (YS4892)
• A Coy at YS5294
• B Coy at YS5093
• C Coy at YS5092
• D Coy at YS5295
• Sp Coy at FSB Pamela (YS4892)
4 RAR
• Bn HQ at FSB TRISH (YS5288)
• B Coy at YS5390
• C Coy at YS5491
• D Coy at YS5592
• Sp Coy at FSB TRISH (YS5288)
• Victor Coy at YS5289
2 SAS Squadron has 8 LRRPS deployed.
At 1055 New Dust-off required urgently as Albatross 07 is shot down. Greg Forbes the co-pilot recalls “We flew to the FSB to get ammunition for B Coy 3 RAR, who we were told was in heavy contact.
As we were loading a Sgt from 3 RAR (the paymaster Sgt Jimmy Griffith) told us that he was coming with us to help lower the ammunition down. As we were lowering the ammunition, we started to take ground fire.
Captain Lofty Lance tried to fly out, but we had no engine. Last thing I remembered was a tree branch coming through the window. Then I recall that Peter Vidler, a crewman was pulling at the collar of my flying suit. His arm was hanging at a funny angle. I looked over at Lofty and he was dead. As I struggled to get out of my seat, some soldiers arrived and told us to get away as the chopper was on fire and the ammo was about to explode.”
Jimmy Griffith fell 35 metres to the ground after hitting the tall trees on the way down. He never fully recovered from his burns and broken bones. The door gunner Corporal David Drubber was killed when the helicopter turned on its side. David was trapped under the skids.
Comments