This year the hundreds of troops who died when the SS Mendi sank on the way to France will be honoured on Remembrance Sunday.

Mayor Amos Masondo and SANDF Chief Godfrey Ngwenya at the 2006 Remembrance Sunday

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SPECIAL tribute will be paid to the hundreds of soldiers who died in one of South Africa's worst military tragedies, the sinking of the SS Mendi during World War I.

In all, 616 men from the South African Native Labour Contingent died when the steamship SS Mendi sank in the English Channel on the way to France in 1917, along with 33 crew members. They will be remembered at the annual Remembrance Sunday memorial service at the Cenotaph in Harrison Street, starting at 2pm.

Remembrance Sunday was first held 84 years ago and is held annually on the Sunday closest to 11 November, the date in 1918 on which the armistice was signed, ending the World War I.

"The broader message of Remembrance Sunday is to honour all South Africans who have made the supreme sacrifice in wars and conflicts, including the struggle for democracy," says Eric Itzkin, the deputy director of immovable heritage in the City's arts, culture and heritage department.

Executive Mayor Amos Masondo is the patron and host of the service. Participants on the day will include the Freedom Regiments of the City of Johannesburg, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the Mendi Memorial Committee, military veterans and youth groups.

Reverend Mantsi Mohapi, a senior chaplain in the SANDF, will lead the service.

The day will begin with a parade by the SANDF, military bands and military veterans. It will be followed by a solemn wreath-laying ceremony, with wreaths laid at the Cenotaph by senior officials from the SANDF, the Mendi Memorial Committee, diplomatic representatives, ex-service organisations and youth groups.

Red poppy stickers will be handed out to people at the service. The red poppy is the international symbol for Remembrance Sunday, which is commonly known as Poppy Day; it symbolises the blooming of the flowers on some of the worst battlefields of the first world war.

To encourage young people to learn this history, the Johannesburg Student Council has been invited to attend the service. The 120 young leaders will be given information packages about Remembrance Sunday and the story of the SS Mendi, Itzkin says.

"It is an important day for building national unity and for reconciliation," he says, noting that one of the major conflicts honoured on the day is the struggle for democracy. "People need to remember that there are people who died to achieve freedom."

The SS Mendi
On 16 January 1917, the SS Mendi troopship sailed from Cape Town en route to La Havre in France, carrying the fifth battalion of the South African Native Labour Contingent. About 805 black privates, 22 white officers and 33 crewmembers were on board.

On the morning of 21 February 1917, just south of the Isle of Wight, the 4 000-ton steamship was rammed and almost cut in half by an 11 000-ton liner, the SS Darro. It sank in 20 minutes, killing 607 black troops, nine white officers and all 33 crewmembers.

Stories of the troops' bravery abound. Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha calmed the dying men by saying: "Be quiet and calm my countrymen, for what is taking place now is what you came here to do. We are all going to die, and that is what we came for.

"Brothers we are drilling the death drill. I say here and now that you are all my brothers. Xhosas, Swazis, Pondos, Basotho and all others, let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in our kraals, our voices are left with our bodies …"

Tributes
The SS Mendi has been honoured by today's South African Navy, which has among its fleet the SAS Isaac Dyobha, a warrior-class fast attack craft, and the SAS Mendi, a valour-class frigate.

A wreath-laying ceremony was held at the site where the SS Mendi sank when the SAS Mendi and the British Navy's HMS Nottingham met in August 2004.

Queen Elizabeth II also unveiled a Mendi memorial at Avalon Cemetery in Soweto in 1995 to commemorate the disaster. A plaque was also unveiled at the Delville Wood Museum in France.

The ship has also given its name to South Africa's highest award for courage, the Order of Mendi, bestowed by the president on South African citizens who have performed extraordinary acts of bravery.

"The story of the Mendi is one of bravery and comradeship in the face of death. It is honoured outside the world, especially in Britain," Itzkin says.