It has been a sad week for South African history circles. Colyn Brookes passed away in Cape Town earlier this week, of a sudden heart attack. Colyn was a great contributor to our military history, travelling around the country to record long-forgotten, and often unknown, grave sites and memorials to fallen soldiers. I was blessed to meet him in Cape Town, where he gave me photos of all the female soldiers' graves he'd recorded to date. Colyn was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire in 1946. He served with the Scots Guards from 1966 to 1973. He moved to South Africa in 1979. Colyn started MIBISA (Military Burials In South Africa) Archive Project in 2003. He undertook three photographic trips a year, and covered about 2,000 kilometres each trip. His work has been preserved in various ways, one being the book "MIBISA Volume One - Western Cape (Military Burials in South Africa)". He started MIBISA with the intention of photographing all military-related burials within the borders of South Africa. The Western Cape book was the first of nine proposed volumes. The listings cover headstones, memorials, plaques and monuments and have the Name, Rank, Serial Number, Unit and other information. A CD with the photographs is included with the book. Colyn was involved with various volunteer projects, such as Find A Grave, the South African War Graves Project, and the War Graves Photographic Project. A military burial is classified as that of any person who died whilst undergoing military service or training. The MIBISA photographs include those of the Zulu Wars, the Anglo-Boer War, the Rand Revolt, World War I and II, the Border War and the Freedom Struggle. The database contained more than 7500 photographs from the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape areas, collected over 36 months and involved travelling some 60 000 kilometres. The project was self-funded by Colyn. His trips depended on holiday pay, annual bonus and tax rebates. His published books were to help support the project financially. Colyn also had plans to publish a coffee table book, From Bridges to Blockhouses: A study of military construction during the Second Boer War 1899-1902". Colyn was married to Pauline for 38 years.
One of the many special stories that Colyn got involved in, concerns David TITUS. David died of illness at the age of 30. He was one of the first members of the Cape Coloured Corps to volunteer for duty in WWII (service number C273709V). Colyn started looking for his grave in 2003. Three years and some 7000 graves later, he found it and placed a small advert in a local paper. David's sister, Dinah CHARLES, and his brother Samuel, made contact on 16 October 2006, the same day as David's death in 1946. Colyn found David's grave in Taylor’s Cemetery, outside De Doorns. Dinah (age 70 in 2006) recalled how her Ouboet looked after the family with his war pay. Samuel, Dinah and Colyn attended a re-dedication service for David at the grave on 22 October 2006.