Marine Sholto Hedenskog, Royal Marines
http://www.news24.com/Regional_Papers/Components/Category_Article_Text_Template/0,2430,303_1339132~E,00.html Fallen Royal Marine spent time in Helderberg before leaving for Iraq
BARELY a month before South African Sholto Hedenskog (26) died in a helicopter crash in Iraq, the young Royal Marine was going out with his cousins to the Dros at the Somerset Mall and spending time with his aunt and uncle in Somerset West.
Now the consolation that Bruce and Sheryl Hedenskog of Somerset West are clinging to is that their nephew died while living his dream of being a Royal Marine. He was one of the 12 Allied soldiers who died in a helicopter crash in Kuwait on Friday last week. Bruce and Sheryl saw Sholto a month ago when he spent two weeks in Somerset West before being deployed to Iraq. Bruce says Sholto was excited at the time to be going to Iraq, although he was apprehensive. "He said it was dangerous and that if something should happen, we should remember that it was his dream to be a Royal Marine," Bruce said this week. Sholto was his brother's son.
Sheryl explains that it was Sholto's "absolute dream" from the age of 14 to be a Royal Marine. He was born in Pretoria and graduated with a B.Sc in Human Movement from Rhodes University in 1998.
He joined the British army in 2000, not because he couldn't find employment in South Africa, Sheryl says, but because he had always wanted to be a Royal Marine.
Sheryl says that Sholto was also part of the US invasion of Afghanistan last year. The family were told of Sholto's death on Saturday. "It has been really, really traumatic for the whole family," Sheryl says.
"He was so young. What is it all going to help in the end? So many people are dying ..."
Sheryl says that Sholto's mom, who lives in Cape Town, last spoke to him on Tuesday night last week while he was being transferred. "His parents are absolutely shattered. We're all almost dumb from the shock."
Bruce, who works at Old Mutual Bank in Somerset West, says that Sholto's death has hit his three children very hard.
"When he was here on holiday he spent a lot of time with his cousins and they went out a lot. My kids were very close to him and are taking it very hard.
"It's tragic and senseless - but who can make head or tail of war? He was so happy in what he was doing and so proud. At least he died in the place he wanted to be."