Colin Eglin, our longtime liberal friend and one of the architects of democracy in Africa - as Mandela used to call him -, during the ceremony recalled:  “After the WW2 South African soldiers who were waiting in Italy expressed the view that if there was going to be a war memorial it had to take the form on a Living Memorial, that would serve the needs of the people, and more particularly the young people of South Africa”.
All South African servicemen/women, from the most junior foot soldier to the top generals, paid two days of their pay into a Living Memorial Trust Account.  This provided the seed capital for the construction of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.
Starting from a modest beginning in 1956 this Hospital has grown in size and stature to become a world class children’s hospital which serves the needs of children of southern Africa, and whose influence as a teaching hospital extends across the African continent.