Joe Louis in his army days

Veterans Day may be specific to the United States, but here in South Africa I recently saw an elderly gent in uniform collecting money for former soldiers.

He was at a shopping mall, and he asked my wife not to deposit notes into his tin, but rather coins, because his previous donations had been stolen.

Apparently robbers watched him from a distance and after they saw him receiving notes, they targeted him. How sad!!

As a kid I knew many people who had fought during World War II, but naturally, not anymore. A person who turned 18 in 1945 would now be 82.

Sport, of course, had its share of WW2 veterans. I once interviewed tennis star Eric Sturgess, who was a fighter pilot and ended up in the prisoner of war camp featured in the Steve McQueen movie, The Great Escape.

There were Springbok rugby players like Francis Mellish, John Aspey and Okey Geffen, also prisoners of war in Africa.

Australian cricketer Keith Miller, a pilot, also saw action.

And there were also boxers, including then reigning world heavyweight champion Joe Louis and the man who nearly beat him, Billy Conn.

These old veterans are the last living link between us and the past – let’s treasure them because before long they’ll all be gone.

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