Cape Town, South Africa—— The names are carved on pillars of African hardwood that stand upright as if reaching toward the sun. No one knows where the people they represent are buried.

But their names, forgotten for more than a century, have now been resurrected and entered into the annals of history.

A memorial with 1,772 names has been erected to black South African servicemen who died non-combatantly on the Allied side during the First World War and have no known graves.

The inscription on the granite block of the Cape Town Memorial Hall reads: "Your legacy is preserved here."

Because they were black, they were not allowed to bear arms. They were members of the Cape Town Labor Corps, transporting food, ammunition and other supplies and building roads and bridges during the First World War.

Instead of serving in Europe, they participated in fringe battles in Africa, where the Allies fought in what were then German colonies, German South West Africa (now Namibia) and German East Africa (now Tanzania).

These men made the same ultimate sacrifice as the approximately 10 million people who died serving in the military during the 1914-1918 war.

After the war, they were not recognized due to British colonialism and the racial policies of South Africa's apartheid regime.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the British organization responsible for managing war graves, has built the new memorial in Cape Town's oldest public garden, which it said finally righted a historical wrong.

Britain's Princess Anne, chairwoman of the committee, unveiled the memorial on Wednesday.

"It ensures that the names and stories of the deceased will echo through history for generations to come," Princess Anne said. "It is important to recognize that those we come to pay tribute to have gone without recognition for too long. We will remember them."

As her speech concluded, a lone soldier played "The Last Post" on a bugle to commemorate the black service members who died in the First World War 106 years, two months and 11 days after the war ended.

While South Africa has several memorials to white soldiers who died in both world wars, the contributions of black servicemen have been ignored for decades.

David McDonald, operations manager of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which oversees the South African project, said the project had been facing a permanent problem until researchers discovered evidence of their service in South African army documents about 10 years ago. Risk of loss.

Researchers found more than 1,700 black service members. It also directed the committee to contact the families of six of the deceased, most of whom were from remote rural areas of South Africa.

Four of the families attended Wednesday's ceremony. They laid wreaths at the foot of the monument and touched pillars commemorating their departed loved ones and those bearing their names.

"It makes us very proud. It makes us very happy," said Elliot Malunga Delihlazo, whose great-grandfather Bhesengile was among those honored.

Derichrazo said all his family knew was that Besengile went to war and never came back.

"While it pains us that we can't find the remains, we ultimately know that he died in 1917," Delihlazo said. "Now the family knows. Now, we finally know."

___

AP Africa News: