61 Mech | 61 Mech

Introduction

This website was created not only to document the official history of 61 Mech, but also to capture the actual stories of all the soldiers who experienced adventure, misfortune, disappointment, elation, brotherhood, friendship, camaraderie, patriotism, distress and all other emotions while serving with this unit.

We have received amazing accounts from our veterans so far, ranging from soul searching episodes to lighthearted anecdotes relating to operational exposure during the Border war and the routine in the lines. These stories are all filed on our member site.

The stories of the former foes

We also want to hear what the former foes experienced during the conflict in Namibia and Angola, and a Russian interpreter who served during 1987 in Angola has already contributed his story which is filed with our section on former foes. We trust many more veterans from Russia, Angola, Cuba and Namibia will follow and share their stories with us.

The stories of the former foes can help us gain a proper understanding, not only of what they had to endure, but also to obtain a different perspective of the start, development and escalation of that war.

Invitation to the PLAN veterans from Namibia to tell their stories

The 61 Mech Veterans Association has extended an invitation to the PLAN veterans in Namibia to tell us their stories, which we hope can help us all come to a better understanding of each other’s past and also help bridge the gap between these former foes.

In the end we were all human beings on both sides who were called upon to perform a specific task, but life has moved on and it is time to smoke the peace pipe in all earnest.

Article published in The Namibian on 5 October 2009

The Namibian newspaper published an article with the heading “Plan veterans invited to add to former enemies’ website” on 5 October 2009, which gave extensive exposure to this outreach by the 61 Mech Veterans Association.