Johannesburg, Oct 21 (PTI) An Indian-origin South African family has paid homage to their ancestor, a Royal Indian Air Force officer, eight decades after his death during service.

Jay Muckerdhooj and his wife Sham became the first descendants of Pilot Officer Dharamraj Aheer Goordeen to lay a wreath on Saturday at the Delhi/Karachi 1939-1945 War Memorial, situated within the Delhi War Cemetery in New Delhi.

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Goordeen, who hailed from Dannhauser in the then province of Natal, was a South African World War II hero. He died in service on April 21, 1942, at the age of 25 in Kohat (now in Pakistan).

He went to India to study medicine but joined the Royal Indian Air Force to be part of the Allied Forces' fight against Axis Forces in World War II. At that time, both India and South Africa were British colonies.

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The Muckerdhooj couple, his third-generation descendants, who are residents of Meyerson in South Africa, said this was the first step in their quest to trace their ancestry in India.

Brigadier General Kevin Moonsamy, Defence Advisor at the South African High Commission in New Delhi, facilitated the visit after Muckerdhooj requested assistance from the South African Indian Legion of Military Veterans (SAIL).

“SAIL was honoured to play a part in the event,” said its Public Relations Officer Legionnaire Vinesh Selvan.

“When we contacted Brigadier General Moonsamy to assist the Muckerdhooj family, he immediately rose to the occasion and volunteered to host the family at the embassy and accompany them to the memorial site,” Selvan added.

Moonsamy said the request formed part of his military duties in the realm of military diplomacy. His office had to arrange special permission for the family to visit the site on Saturday as it is normally closed on weekends.

He said it was the first time the Defence Advisor Office in India had received such a request to facilitate and assist a family wanting to honour their forebears.

SAIL has been working diligently since its establishment six years ago to secure recognition of the military contribution to South Africa of its Indian-origin citizens.

“They were passionate patriots in the interest of their country despite the restrictions of apartheid, but were unfortunately mostly relegated to lowly positions in the defence forces until the advent of democracy under President Nelson Mandela in 1994,” Selvan said.

The Muckerdhooj couple has now headed to Bihar to visit the ancestral village from which their forebears first came to South Africa over a century ago.

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