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Rob "Ralpapajan" Thurman
This Lens is to introduce myself. To let the world know more about me; where I come from and what I have done; what I am doing now. This photo was taken of me when I was a Flight Lieutenant (Captain) in the Rhodesian Air Force Voluntary Reserve. That was way back before I became a pacifist.
I was born in England in the market Town of Melton Mowbray (where the best Pork Pies in the world are made and Stilton cheese is synonymous with the town) in the county of Leicestershire. It was from here that the expression "Paint the Town Red" originated.
My first memories are of Squadron of German bombers flying over our little house, where I lived with my mother, elder brother and grand-parents. My father was in the Royal Navy, and had been since 1920. He was a Chief Petty Officer ~ Engineering.
This is the HMS Zulu. When I was nearly 6 months old on the 4th August 1942 the Zulu was sunk by Italian Macchi C200 Saetta fighter/bombers off the coast near Tobruk. Dad was injured but survived.
Opposite where we lived in Asfordby Hill was the Holwell Works, a huge pig iron producer with 4 chimneys serving the blast furnaces.
Fortunately for the family, the Germans elected to use the 4 flames from the chimneys as a sighting point for their bombing forays, rather than bomb it.
When war ended my father returned home but couldn't settle in to life in England. He had taken part in the relief of Nanking in 1927 and had served in Ceylon and the Mediterranean. The cold winter of 1947 and the floods decided him. He decided to move the communists took over before he could get there. He chose instead Rhodesia and the family moved there in 1948.
The HMS Emerald ~ the Cruiser that my Dad traveled to the Orient with and that helped with the relief of Nanking ~ for which he received the Freedom of that city.
If you are a Royal Navy buff or merely interested in the sea you should take a look at Pingbosun's Gallery where this photo appears.
I was born in England in the market Town of Melton Mowbray (where the best Pork Pies in the world are made and Stilton cheese is synonymous with the town) in the county of Leicestershire. It was from here that the expression "Paint the Town Red" originated.
My first memories are of Squadron of German bombers flying over our little house, where I lived with my mother, elder brother and grand-parents. My father was in the Royal Navy, and had been since 1920. He was a Chief Petty Officer ~ Engineering.
This is the HMS Zulu. When I was nearly 6 months old on the 4th August 1942 the Zulu was sunk by Italian Macchi C200 Saetta fighter/bombers off the coast near Tobruk. Dad was injured but survived.
Opposite where we lived in Asfordby Hill was the Holwell Works, a huge pig iron producer with 4 chimneys serving the blast furnaces.
Fortunately for the family, the Germans elected to use the 4 flames from the chimneys as a sighting point for their bombing forays, rather than bomb it.
When war ended my father returned home but couldn't settle in to life in England. He had taken part in the relief of Nanking in 1927 and had served in Ceylon and the Mediterranean. The cold winter of 1947 and the floods decided him. He decided to move the communists took over before he could get there. He chose instead Rhodesia and the family moved there in 1948.
The HMS Emerald ~ the Cruiser that my Dad traveled to the Orient with and that helped with the relief of Nanking ~ for which he received the Freedom of that city.
If you are a Royal Navy buff or merely interested in the sea you should take a look at Pingbosun's Gallery where this photo appears.
To study the Founder of Rhodesia ~ Cecil John Rhodes ~ visit Rhodesia's Leaders and Founders in the Table of Contents. It is, of course, written from a British perspective and one would be wise to explore other articles as well.
Table of Contents...
... an easy way to find your way on this Lens!
Rhodesia was Super
My early life shaped my destiny
This is a photograph of me taken just as I left to fetch the week's shopping in Gatooma (Katomba) from Kewada's Stores. Often PC Docherty of the BSAP would help me stop the tractor by running alongside and putting on the brakes. In his absence I would simply jump from the seat onto the brake pedal. The accelerator was on the wheel and I could change gear without using the clutch. I was just 9 years old. This wasn't a posed picture. In those days life was relaxed.
I enjoyed growing up in Gatooma. We were friends with the Specks Hotel owners and their nephews, Bill and Bobby, and together we would cycle with my older brother the eleven miles along the main strip road to another uncle of theirs, Bill, who owned the Umsweswe Hotel on the banks of the Umsweswe River. By the time Bobby and I were ten we were allowed to cycle alone! The strip road was built during the depression of the 'Thirties. The indigenous people at that time all occupied their own little piece of their motherland and were able to survive the Depression by providing for themselves as they had done for a thousand years. White people, however, were already locked into the consumer economy that only allowed them to live if they earned an income. So it was white men who built the roads to provide employment.
A strip road consists of a gravel base with two roughly two feet wide strips of tarmacadam down the middle. Vehicles would drive down the two strips and, upon seeing another vehicle approach, would move to the left, These roads survived for many years and I remember driving along them in the early 'Seventies.
Growing up in Rhodesia
A Character who inspired the book I am currently preparing.
This is my first motor car. I bought it in 1959. It is a 1948 MG Model Y Sedan. It had wooden floorboards and if you didn't tighten the steering wheel nut it would come off in your hands. We used to play a joke on other motorists by taking it off. We had a reserve wheel fitted below it!
In 1953 the family moved to the capital ~ then Salisbury and now Harare ~ where we stayed except for sojourns elsewhere from time to time, until I moved to the Republic of South Africa. In Gatooma I had been at school at Jameson High, named for Leander Starr Jameson, Rhodes' right-hand man, followed by Sir John Kennedy School, also in Gatooma and which was named for the Governor of Southern Rhodesia. The British were firmly in control. After we moved to Salisbury I attended Nettleton School, named for a VC Pilot from Rhodesia who had been killed during WWII flying on behalf of the "Mother" Country. In Gatooma my elder brother, Keith, had started a Boy Scout Group and, after guarding the aircraft of the Southern Rhodesia Auxiliary Air Force, which were visiting the town, had decided to join up. I was never aBoy Scout but was a Cub. My mother was the Pack Leader and today my wife, who has been in the Movement for thirty years still wears my mother's original hat badge.
It was in Salisbury that I did my growing up. Ranging through the Bush from my prefabricated home in one of the poorer suburbs, Queensdale, alongside the Makabusi River.
It was from here, too, that I traveled to the Pfungwe Tribal Trust Land and met a man who influenced me more than any other before or since, on Len Harrington-Dearle. My next book is a novel that recalls many of the stories that he regaled me with. Look out for it later this year.
To study Sir Leander Starr Jameson ~ visit Rhodesia's Leaders and Founders in the Table of Contents. It is, of course, written from a British perspective and one would be wise to explore other articles as well.
To be continued...
...as and when I get the time!
There is more to come!
New Text module
Rhodesia's Leaders and Founders
The links shown will enable initial research but it is best to search independently if you are really interested.The link shown ~ and many others ~ are written from a British perspective.
- One Biography of Cecil John Rhodes after whom Rhodesia took its name.
- This link is taken from Encyclopedia.com. It is one of many that tell the story of this man who, with Lord Milner, started the Round Table Organization. He was also Premier of the Cape Colony. An avid Royalist and British Imperialist his dream was to unite Africa from Cape Town to Cairo inside the British Empire and to also take back the independence of the United States of America. Rhodesians were aware of his nature for they called the annual "Rhodes and Founders" Holiday the "Rogues and Bounders."
- One Biography of Sir Leander Starr Jameson ~ who inspired Rudyard Kipling to write the poem "If".
- Jameson was a confidant of Rhodes. It was he who led the Jameson Raid that led directly to the Boer War. The Transvaal - settled by Boers and determined to be independent of the British possessed huge quantities of gold yet to be mined. The Boer war was actually to secure this gold for the English queen, though the excuse was that British folk were being discriminated against. Look at the multi-nationals who onw the mines of the Witwatersrand today and you will see who actually won the Boer War. And it isn't the ordinary people or the indigenous.
- Sir Otto Beith ~ Financier and the one who wanted Rhodesia's Gold the most.
- I won't say too much about this man. My own research tells me that he was far from altruistic, that he was one of "Rhodes' Bounders". His statue sat for many years in Salisbury's Jameson Avenue. Had very strong links to European Bankers.
- Alfred Milner Milner, 1st Viscount ~ yes the Milner was in his name twice!
- Read this one ~ although it is not directly connected to Rhodesia he was, I believe the power behind Rhodes on behalf of the "Crown." When you get to the URL site check out the related items before clicking on the top one. He was really the one that fomented the Boer War and afterwards?
Check this quotation: "After the war, Milner's financial policies aided economic recovery, but his importation of indentured Chinese laborers raised strong opposition. He remained in South Africa until 1905, working for the assimilation of the Boer territories into a South African federation firmly linked to Britain." An example of British Imperialism. - Ian Douglas Smith ~ last Prime Minister of Rhodesia
- As usual this is written with a British slant. Today it is difficult to get the truth about "Smithie," as he was known to all Rhodesians. I was on his National Executive for some years and got to know him well. Most of the attached article is pure rubbish. One day the British may wake up to what they have done to the world, but I am not holding my breath.
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Esther Kirsten
Jul 21, 2011 @ 9:59 am | delete
- You have great memories of Gatooma and should join the group on Facebook titled "I lived in Gatooma"
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by Ralpapajan
Ralpapajan
Hi everyone. This is in essence my autobiography ~ so don't read here ~ read the Lens!
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