A fact from The Troopie appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 1 February 2021 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the Rhodesian Light Infantry's statue The Troopie(pictured) was smuggled out of Rhodesia following the establishment of Zimbabwe prior to the regiment's disbanding?
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Latest comment: 3 years ago5 comments3 people in discussion
The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
... that when the Rhodesian Light Infantry's The Troopie statue (pictured) was unveiled, it was declared it would never be destroyed as long as an RLI soldier draws breath? Source: Statesman Journal
ALT1:... that the Rhodesian Light Infantry's The Troopie statue (pictured) was smuggled out of Rhodesia following the establishment of Zimbabwe prior to the regiment's disbanding? Source: Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980. Helion Limited. p. 64. ISBN1909982377
The C of E, because I found ALT0 hardly hooky at all, and because I felt that ALT1 was more appropriate for the regimental anniversary - being an example of action rather than a platitude - and because the sourcing for ALT1 seemed more reliable. If you didn't want ALT1 selecting, why did you offer it? If you would like to withdraw ALT1 I would be happy to re-review. Gog the Mild (talk) 17:51, 13 January 2021 (UTC)Reply
It only says the RLI's General John Hickman was present, which is hardly surprising at the unveiling of an RLI memorial. If "quite a few of the high ranking Rhodesian officers were present" that should be stated directly with a source. The "minor scandal" gets one paragraph in each of the articles Ronald Reid-Daly and Selous Scouts, neither of which mention Hickman's dinner comments. To me that makes the "small part" too miniscule to mention here.
You reverted my edit with summary "I disagree". Do you only disagree with removing this one sentence, or do you disagree with the other changes? In the latter case, please expand.
The reason being I was trying to keep this a neutral article about a war memorial. I did not want to include racial elements in this to avoid UNDUE/WEIGHT. I also wanted to try to avoid overt politicising given the RLI existed and served before the Bush War started. The C of E God Save the Queen! (talk)15:53, 1 February 2021 (UTC)Reply
A "neutral article about a war memorial" that doesn't mention the war being memorialised? Or the reason why it was feared the statue would be removed? Or the reason South Africa was the place it was moved to? That's not neutral, that's whitewashing. The RLI was founded in 1961. Does the monument list soldiers killed in the World Wars? jnestorius(talk)16:10, 1 February 2021 (UTC)Reply
I actually came here to suggest the same edit. The current version of this statement seems out of place and it doesn't have any obvious direct relationship with the subject of the article. TheBennsylvanian (talk) 15:27, 1 February 2021 (UTC)Reply