215120 Acting Corporal Stephanus Martinus Venter S.A. R.& H. Corps

215120 Acting Corporal
STEPHANUS MARTINUS VENTER
South African Railways and Harbours Brigade

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE P.E., MinstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(February 2025)

Figure 1. Crest of the South African Railways and Harbours Brigade.
(Image courtesy of warinangola.com)[1]

The subject of this research effort was an Afrikaner who came from a rather rundown suburb of Johannesburg to enlist, at the age of 41, in the South African Railways and Harbours Brigade of the Union of South Africa Army during World War 2. The man was married, with four children, and probably would have been exempted from service, but he chose to serve.

Stephanus Martinus Venter was born in Brummersdorp,[2] South Africa on 15 September 1899. He was a lead shunter on a South African railway line. He and his wife Rose Brunetta Gwendoline Venter had four children, aged 12, 9, 7 and 2 years, when he attested for service on 31 October 1940.

Venter was a South African by birth. At the time of his enlistment he indicated that he had no prior military service and that he had never been convicted of a crime by a Civil Court. His address at the time was 10a 25^th Street in Malvern, Johannesburg. Malvern is a suburb of Johannesburg. It lies south of Kensington and north of the industrial suburb of Denver. The area was formerly part of the Doornfontein Farm and was named after the urban district of Malvern in Worcestershire, England. The area on 25^th Street where Venter lived when he enlisted is rather run down today and appears to be a poorer section of the city. According to Wikipedia, Malvern’s population is 86% Black African today with the first language of Zulu being spoken by almost 40% of the population.[3] In Figure 2 below, No. 10 where Venter and his family lived in 1940 is in the demolished row of buildings about half way down the street on the right side. Unfortunately, no family tree information could be found for the Venter family on Ancestry.com, so additional information regarding his pre-military life could not be found..

Figure 2. A Section of 25^th Street in Johannesburg Where Venter Lived.
(Image courtesy of Google Earth)

The following is a description of Stephanus Martinus Venter on 2 May 1941 when he enlisted in the Army:

As the Railways and Harbours Brigade was associated with the South African Engineer Corps (S.A.E.C.) Venter held the rank of Private[5] when he joined his unit, the 1^st Composite Railway Operating Company, on 2 May 1941. From his service papers it appears that he did not receive any military training upon joining, other than how to salute and wear his uniform, since as a lead shunter he was already proficient in his trade.

Private Venter and his company embarked on RMS Nova Scotia on 7 June 1941 bound for the Middle East under the command of Major G.A.W. Duncan. The unit disembarked at Port Tewfik in Suez on 23 June and proceeded to Camp 23 on the Great Bitter Lake at Geneifa, Egypt.[6] The company was soon understudying the 17^th New Zealand Railway Company.[7]

The 1^st Composite Railway Operating Company was already operating various railway depots before the end of August 1941 and the company must have been among the first to receive awards to South Africans in the Middle East. On the night of 27/28 August enemy bombers attacked the Abu Sultan shunting yard and set fire to a truck loaded with ammunition and marshalled between other similarly laden trucks. The blaze could have been the prelude to a full-scale disaster, and the civilian engine driver and shunting staff refused to move the locomotive so as too isolate the burning truck. Warrant Officer I Leven-Marcon, a relief station-master in peacetime, Corporal W.W. Jones and Private J.J. Smith of the 1^st Composite Railway Operating Company volunteered for the dangerous task, and Smith – a shunter back in South Africa – jumped in between the blazing ammunition truck and the one next to it. With assistance from W.O. Leven-Marcon, he released the coupling, then raced to the locomotive, which had been manned by Corporal Jones who was an examiner and repairer on the South African Railway before the war. Smith instructed him to pull ahead some distance with the burning truck, and once it was well away from the other trucks, he released it. There it was left isolated, thus averting what could have developed into a major tragedy. W.O. Leven-Morton was awarded the M.B.E. for his part in this courageous episode, and both Corporal Jones and Private Smith were awarded the B.E.M.[8]

Figure 4. Area of Operations of the 1^st Composite Railway Operating Company.
(Image from Orpen & Martin)

On 1 September 1941 Venter was appointed to Paid Acting Corporal, a promotion no doubt due to his proficiency in his trade. During this period it was the mission of Venter’s company to operate railway depots. Though essentially an operating unit with no previous experience with wagon building, the company was approached to assemble trucks as rapidly as possible, and Major Duncan agreed to tackle the job. This requirement came about by the losses suffered by air attacks and the need to cope with the greatly increased traffic throughout the Middle East in support of the advancing 8^th Army.

Without wagon-builders, workshops or proper equipment, the men of the company were all roped in to tackle the formidable task. Volunteers crowded around a boiler-maker to learn riveting and at Geneifa preparations for a construction yard was rushed ahead.[9] Venter may have missed most of this wagon building work as it appears that he might have developed some health problems during this period. These problems prevented him from performing his duties as a shunter in a Railway Operating Company, so on 11 October he was transferred to the South African Engineer Corps General List, presumably while he was in Geneifa.

On 3 January 1942 he was admitted to No. 19 General Hospital in Alexandria. While in hospital he was diagnosed with “nervous dyspepsia”[10] and was placed on the “X2” List.[11] On 24 February 1942 Venter was determined to be medically unfit for further military service and was put on a list awaiting passage home to the Union of South Africa.

Figure 5. No. 19 General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt.
(Image courtesy of Australian War Memorial)

Venter embarked for home on 9 March 1942.[12] After arriving home on 21 March he was placed on leave. After returning from leave on 19 April he was posted to the Central Army Training Depot. He was discharged at Pretoria on 30 April 1942 with a Medical Classification of “X2.” His conduct while on active service was rated as “Good.”

For his service during the war Venter was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, War Medal and Africa Service Medal. These medals are shown left to right in the Figure below.

Acting Corporal Stephanus Martinus Venter was released from service on 30 April 1942 as medically unfit for further service. His total service was reckoned as shown in the tables below:

ORPEN, N. and MARTIN, H.J. Salute the Sappers: South African Forces in World War II. SAEC in East Africa and the Middle East, 1939-42. Volume 8 - Part 1. Sappers Association, Johannesburg, 1981.

[1] War in Angola web site.

[2] This town cannot be found on a current map of South Africa.

[3] Wikipedia: Malvern, Gauteng.

[4] Unless otherwise indicated, information provided in this section was obtained from Venter’s service papers.

[5] He may in fact been a Sapper.

[6] South African Railways and Harbours Brigade web site.

[7] ORPEN & MARTIN, p. 209.

[8] Ibid., pp. 216-217.

[9] Ibid., pp. 287-288.

[10] Non-ulcer dyspepsia, also termed "nervous dyspepsia," is a heterogeneous syndrome: ulcer like symptoms can occur with the irritable bowel syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux, and other disorders.

[11] Sick list.

[12] The name of the ship is not indicated in his service papers.

Age:	41 years and 1 month
Height:	5 feet 10 inches
Complexion:	Dark
Eyes:	Grey
Hair:	Dark brown
Scars:	None

Location	Period of Service
Union of South Africa	2 May 1941 – 6 June 1941
Egypt	7 June 1941 – 8 March 1942.
Union of South Africa	9 March 1942 – 30 April 1942

Location	Period of Service
Home Service	2 months and 27 days
Service Abroad	9 months and 2 days
Total Service	11 months and 29 days

Location

Location

Total Service