'Hell no, we won't go!'

Nice piece to read, strange that you didn't mention where is Brett Myrdal. He is a Park Manager in Table Mountain National Park. One of the best manager i ever have in my life. I will always cheerish him CJ

Those were brave boys. Well done and great to hear they are all doing so well now. I was greived to hear about Ivan Toms death.

Wow, really powerful...isn't it sad that so many of them are not in SA anymore...

I salute these brave and extraordinary people! Despised by the majority of their white contemporaries in those days and mostly unsung to this day, they are obscure heroes who simply did what they believed was right.

These men were very brave.

I wish I had the courage to do what they did.

Of all the things I've done in life of which I am ashamed, spending 2 years propping up such an evil system as apartheid, instead of following the example of these men, is near the top of my regrets.

Oh humbug! The whole conscription thing and even the three week camps thereafter was nothing but fun and fellowship! I'm glad I went and, with the benefit of hindsight, I'd gladly go again. I've no time at all for these draft-dodger cowards. They were, and are, a shabby disgrace.

Well said Jon; we did our thing to mess up the cogs in the Soviet machine and to provide stability for a political settlement. Proud to have served.

Great men of honour! I bow before your spirits. During the dark days of insecurity, torture and harassment meted out by SADF & SAP, I always admired your courage. Your resolve to stand up against an evil system always gave Black people hope, and was enough proof that the struggle waged against apartheid was a just one. Guess what? History has proven you right - conscription and apartheid are no more, and the voices of reason have prevailed.

I was the last intake to do 2 years of National Service. Do I have regrets? Sure, if I had gone to University first I would have missed it and had a two year headstart in life. Do I regret doing duty for my country? Not at all. I would do it under the ANC government now, and I absolutely detest who they are for their wholesale corruption and mismanagement of the country. That is the key. I was doing it for my country, not some political party.

People forget that Communism up to around 1985 was a real threat to Africa. Hence the war in Angola, and that was the main reason for conscription.

I am also surprised at how few actually went to jail. The threat of jail time was very real to me at that time. Some friends joined the police for 4 years instead of the two years of national service. This was never an option for me. I wanted to get in and get out as quickly as possible.

I still harbour a huge amount of resentment against the government of the time for the way we were treated. National Servicemen were just cannon fodder to the government and the Permanent Force, and we were treated accordingly. Some, like my brother, who fought in Cuito, lived with the scars for years afterward.

I don't respect these ECC guys at all and have to question some of their motives, but the article was enlightening.

I am sorry that we on sahistory missed this important event in our history. I had the honor of know and working with some of these brave comrades. Your article brought back found memory of the late Billy Paddock who died so young in a car crash. I first met Billy when he a day after he came out of prison. He called me up and volunteered to work with me and my colleagues in Afrapix. He went on to become a accomplished and fearless photographer and journalist. I salute the memory of all those brave men and women who stood up to evil and for freedom and justice .

Its not rocket science mate! Our motives for joining the ECC and for refusing to serve were extremely simple. We refused to serve in the apartheid government's military because that military was used primarily to maintain apartheid and to continue the oppression of our fellow South Africans. And those regional wars, such as the one in Angola, were aimed at punishing the people of our wider region who also supported our fight for freedom and democracy.
If to this day you cannot understand that taking a moral stance like this in life is "character-building" - then there is little that you will ever understand about your own country, its history and its future.

Would anyone of the members involved above, that were in prison & lived the apartheid era, be interested in going on a journey with me to compile a book. I would like to dedicate it to my Uncle, BILLY PADDOCK, as well as the Special Few that were close, near and dear to him. I would like to Honor him and his memory and speak of the Real Man behind whom many scorned. I don't believe his death was an accident either, miraculously all evidence of the accident was lost & never to be disclosed. We will never know the truth but what I do know, even as a child, is that he was a man full of life, energy & passion, he lived, he loved and stood for what he believed in and be it hereditary or a gene thing, I would like to do the same in whatever way I can! Thank-You!

I, as an anglican priest, was working in Crossroads during the 80s and witnessed first hand the destruction that South African security forces were causing right on the outskirts of Cape Town. I also had the opportunity to visit Namibia and (clandestinely) Angola to witness the destruction these security forces were causing there.
I was proud to work with Ivan Toms -- then a medical doctor who founded clinic in Crossroads -- and to have known and supported Anton Eberhard, Peter Moll, Billy Paddock, Charles Yeats, Pete Hathorn and Charles Bester in their amazingly courageous stand. These were courageous patriots.
Being born about a decade earlier than most of them, I was never 'called up' and therefore never put to the test.