Bethlehem (not the one with three wise men and a virgin) – November 1985. I was officer on duty for the night when we got a call from the railway police that military personnel on a Pretoria - Durban train were causing havoc. The train was due to stop in Bethlehem (not the one with three wise men and a virgin), and could we send some guys over and help restore order?
I sent the MP’s, and since it was a quiet Friday evening, about 7 of them went. It wasn’t enough. In the end I sent a section of sappers to go and help. There were three navy guys on the train (I never did figure out why the navy has a presence in Pretoria), a Petty Officer and 2 sailors. They had trashed a whole coach, then beat up some of the passengers, set off all the fire extinguishers, and were trying to braai in their compartment when the train stopped at the station.
It was about midnight when we got them into camp, still aggressive as anything, trying to explain something in incoherent drunk to me. We chucked them in the cells to cool off, and decided to leave them till morning.
I stopped by to see them at the end of my duty shift, and one of the now extremely hungover sailors manages to explain that it was his bachelor’s party. And he was supposed to get married at 10 am. And he was 500km away from Durban. He was going to miss the wedding.
At 07:30 an Admiral phones me, wants to know what the fuck was happening. Why the fuck had we arrested his future son in law? I arranged for the now very sad sailor to phone the Admiral, and his girlfriend. As I left the room I saw him wince and heard a shrill screaming from the other side of the phone…
Turns out his name was Gary. I gave him a lift to Durban on Saturday afternoon (the next train was only in 3 days time) in my car. I was going home to see my girlfriend in Mtunzini. He wasn’t sure if his girlfriend was ever going to speak to him again, never mind get married to him….
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