This Day in History: October 10, 1926
Additional Date: October 10, 1926
The South African National War Memorial was opened outside the village of Longueval, France, next to the historic Delville Wood. The Memorial was unveiled by mrs Annie Botha, the widow of General Louis Botha, after an address by the then Prime Minister, Gen J.B.M. Hertzog in commemoration of the thousands of South Africans who fought during the First World War. The inscription was later broadened to include those that fell during the Second World War too. The Memorial was topped by a sculpture of Castor and Polloux holding hands and was designed to symbolise the unity between all nations of South Africa.