Description
Korea War Medal, South African issue, P16322 J.D.S. Snyders.
Officially impressed: “P16322 J.D.S. Snyder”
A very rare award to No. 2 “Cheetah” Squadron, South African Air Force, one of only 797 medals issued, the entire South African Air force present consisted of 243 officers and 545 Other ranks. 23 South African Officers and 15 other ranks from the army also served.
During the war 34 Pilots and two ground crew died and 7 Prisoners of War were returned.
Out of 846 South African present during the war, 797 of them received the medal.
There is a printed medal roll but it has four names missing, this medal is mentioned and confirmed in “Honours, Medals and Awards of the Korean War” by Kevin Ingraham as a man who was entitled but missed off the printed roll.
Kevin writes in his section on the SA Korea back in 1993:
“Further details on the recipients can be found in the South Africa Korea Roll by Colin Owen. This is currently out of print but shows up on dealers lists in the UK. There are 4 names missing from this roll that have since been confirmed. One of these is J.D.S. Snyders, P16322”
The battalion a whole were honoured by the Republic of Korea and also the United States of America with the “Presidential Unit Citation”.
During the war the Squadron flet the F-51 Mustang the famous American Fighter Plane, before they switched over to the new F-86 Sabre Jet Fighters.
The Sabres arrived in January 1953 with the first combat mission being flown in late March 1953. The aircrew and ground crew all had to be sent to Japan first to receive specialist training in Jet Engine Aircraft, fortunately most of the Pilots had flown Vampire Jets back in South Africa before the war, but it was a schooling for the men like Snyders as they studied the Sabre Jet Engines in Japan.
