Old Boy Lyle McKay was awarded the Military Cross for his efforts on D-Day in World War 2.
In the following extract provided by SAMilhistory.com more background is given about his role in this military intervention that turned the tide of the war around and eventually led to the fall of the German Nazi regime.
“Capt. Lyle Louwrens Archibald McKay was part of South African forces attached to the Royal Marines on D Day, 6 June 1944. He showed remarkable courage on this most significant day in history.
“Captain McKay showed qualities of initiative, energy and courage in a high degree by spotting and engaging enemy strong points, machine gun positions and anti-tank guns from the beach throughout D-Day.
“In the course of the day he was wounded by a direct hit from a 75 millimetre shell which put the main armament of his Sherman tank out of action, but he nevertheless continued to engage the enemy with his .300 Browning machine gun until he finally moved inland from the beach with only one of four Centaur tanks, the remaining three still being out of action through damage to tracks on landing.”
His daughter, Heather Bam, sent us these memories of his schoolboy years at Stellenbosch High School, as Paul Roos Gymnasium was known in those days.
Boyhood and secondary education
After I had successfully passed Standard 6 at the primary school, we finally left Mount Frere and returned to the farm Kromdraai. My parents were no longer involved in farming, but in cheese making, a field in which they were at home and familiar with the requirements. My mother was the expert cheesemaker and my father attended to other operations relating to cheesemaking. They were now in the employ of my mother’s brother, who owned the cheese factory on the farm.
My older cousin, Louw attended Stellenbosch Boys’ High school and his younger brother was due to join him. I think I would have carried on my education at Kokstad High School, but my uncle persuaded my parents to send me to Stellenbosch with his boys. My parents agreed, on the basis that I had done well at primary school and should do well at Stellenbosch. I was not party to the discussions, but I think the idea was to apply for a bursary. I presume this was successful and off to Stellenbosch we went: Uncle, Aunt, their two sons and me – all packed in his big sedan car.
We arrived in the town of Stellenbosch a little late as my uncle was in the habit of visiting relations en route, which delayed us considerably. I was housed in the Hostel Industria. I found many things strange and different, but I gradually settled down and worked very hard.
The school was dual-medium, but Afrikaans dominated in the day-to-day proceedings at the hostel. Virtually all the subjects were foreign to me, which did not make things any easier, but my hard work paid off and at the end of the term I was placed third in the English-Medium group. I must concede that the Afrikaans-Medium group was considerably bigger than ours! By the end of the year I was running level with my biggest rival and so the rivalry between us continued until we matriculated.
I digress to introduce my school principal, Mr Paul Roos, who taught us Latin. He was, of course, the famous Paul Roos who captained the SA Rugby Team in 1906 when they travelled to the UK. In England he was asked what name the team went by and he replied, ‘They are the Springboks/Springbokke.’ They have kept the name to this day.
Amongst ourselves, we boys referred to him as ‘Ou Paula’. He was a fantastic human being and we had the highest regard for him. He had a deep voice and always signalled his arrival to the Latin class with a deep, resonant clearing of his throat. On one occasion, he was late for the lesson and omitted his usual signal to warn us of his arrival. When he entered the room there was absolute chaos, with each student doing what he liked. This upset Ou Paula and then and there, we each had to bend over and receive three strokes with the cane. We deserved it! To mark the event some wit coined this little rhyme,
Amo, Amas, Amat
Hier kom Ou Paula met die lat
Hy slaan my drie houe op die gat
Dat die bloed so spat!
The rhyme amuses, but there was no blood. This was the single occasion I received a caning from him. The only other caning I was given at school occurred during study time when the Housemaster gave me a walloping for insolence. He actually drew blood and felt it necessary to apologise to me the next day. I guess it was my fault.
To return to Ou Paula: on many occasions we disrupted Latin sessions by raising questions about his rugby tour to the UK. He didn’t often fall for this, but a few times he did. I remember him telling us that when they had to play a game in Scotland, the field was too cold and hard to play on and so the Springboks said the field had a bone in it.
Around 1931/1932, Bennie Osler captained the Springbok side and the Western Province side, playing at flyhalf. His full name was Benjamin Louwrens Osler and he was a cousin of my mother, Gertrude Louwrens. His younger brother, Stanley, also played for the Springboks, until injury put a stop to it. Stanley Osler ended his career as principal of Kearsney College in Natal.
At the time, the Western Province side was very powerful, as was Stellenbosch University (The Maties). Stellenbosch Boys’ High School was also very strong and we seldom lost any of the matches we played against Bishops, Rondebosch, SACS, Paarl Boys High, Paarl Gymnasium and other such schools. In this atmosphere I became a rugby man – at least in enthusiasm, if not talent. As an adult I played rugby in most of the towns where I was stationed.
I took to school rugby like a duck to water. I was slightly built and certainly not robust enough to play forward, but I had the talents of running fast over shortish distances, tackling hard, handling the ball smoothly and kicking. I was therefore played on the wing, at fullback and sometimes centre, but with all the talent around, I generally played in the B teams. I recall one practice when I was concussed and only came to in the shower. On another occasion during a match, I was going for a ball that had been kicked in my direction. An oncoming forward took a flying kick at the ball, missed it and kicked the nail off the centre finger on my left hand. It needed immediate medical attention and I had to leave the field to go to the doctor. That put me out of the game for a time, but in due course I was ‘back on the ball’. Let me say, I was really enjoying my schooling.
There were two girls’ high schools in Stellenbosch, the English-speaking Rhenish and the Afrikaans speaking Bloemhof. Rhenish used to arrange occasional social activities like dances, to which the English-speaking boys were invited. Although I was still very shy of girls, I invariably went along to the dances and I discovered that girls did not bite.
The long holidays were in June and at Christmas, when I went home to East Griqualand, usually by train. Shorter holidays were spent down in the Cape, either with my cousins at Mossel Bay, on farms in the area or at the home of Myrtle’s fiancé, Clair, at Clifton, in Cape Town. My parents could not afford to do any better for me. In any case I was limited to one pound a term for pocket money.
At school, pinching grapes seemed to be a natural occupation. The hostel was surrounded by vineyards and the theft usually took place at night. I don’t know whether the masters viewed the operation with a blind eye or not, but to us the process was part of the initiation of all new boys. Late one afternoon a farmer caught a few of my friends and me in the vineyard – pinching of course! He took us to his home, gave us a good talking to and plied each of us with a glass of wine. He was a real gentleman and the lesson was well learned.
At the end of 1932, I passed my Junior Certificate exams – First Class and looked forward to tackling Matric. In the meantime, it was back home to my folks in East Griqualand. My parents were still short of finances at this stage and I gathered that I’d have to complete my schooling at the Kokstad High School. As it turned out, I spent just one day at the school and then things began to move.
When Paul Roos discovered that I had not returned to Stellenbosch Boys’ High School, he sent for my cousin Louw and questioned him. Louw told him that my father had written, applying for the continuation of my bursary, but had received no reply, so he had no option but to send me to Kokstad High. The next development was an order for me to return to Stellenbosch and a commitment that the bursary issue would be resolved. I was only too pleased to continue my education in Stellenbosch with my friends. I do not know what other negotiations went on, but the next I knew my younger brother Colin was also at Stellenbosch, to get his Junior Certificate (Std 8). He was at Industria and at this stage I was at Prima, working towards my Matric.
I was glad to have Colin there and he visited me every Sunday afternoon. Colin was naturally bright and proved to be a better rugby player than I was. He was solidly built and had a natural flair for the game. In later years he played rugby in Natal, captaining Berea Rovers, one of the top Durban teams.
One day, my roommate Arthur Bain complained to me that he had ‘piles’ and I was instructed to tell the matron that he wanted to see a doctor. The matron duly came and said she wanted to see his ‘boils’ before he went to the doctor. It took both of us some time to persuade her that piles were not boils!
In lighter vein, let’s talk of one of my English masters, Laddie Coetzer, so called because he addressed pupils as ‘Laddie’. He really spoke a beautiful English and I knew he thought well of me as a student. It so happened that he caught me and no doubt an accomplice, pinching fruit. He told me that I had disappointed him, that I had let him down and that he had thought better of me. He certainly cut me down to size. I apologised for the misdemeanour and I think that episode put a stop to my criminal tendency to steal fruit!
Towards the end of Standard 10, we were given many opportunities to study. I took full advantage and was rewarded with a First-Class Matric Pass in the subjects, English Higher, Afrikaans, Latin, Chemistry, Geography and Mathematics, scoring distinctions for Latin and Mathematics. I was awarded a bursary to Stellenbosch University, but unfortunately, I was unable to use it. My principal gave me a very fine testimonial and in 1935 it was over to me.
