{{Short description|Rhodesian Army general (1920–2012)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Use South African English|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Lieutenant General | name = Keith Robert Coster | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=ZAR|ID|OBE|SSAS|ESM}} | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|04|19|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|06|05|1920|04|19|df=yes}} | birth_place = Eshowe, Natal, Union of South Africa | death_place = Somerset West, South Africa | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = {{flag|South Africa|1928}}<br />{{flag|Rhodesia}} | branch = {{army|South Africa|1961}}<br />{{army|Rhodesia}} | service_years = 1937{{ndash}}1985 | rank = Lieutenant General | service_number = | unit = | commands = | battles = | battles_label = | awards = {{MilAward Stack|ID |OBE |SSAS |ESM|size=x12px}} | memorials = | spouse = {{Married|Molly Stanley|1941|reason=died}} {{Married|Millie Aherin|1995}} | relations = | other_work = | signature = | website = | module = }} Lieutenant General '''Keith Robert Coster''' (19 April 1920{{snd}}5 June 2012) was a South African army officer who rose to command the Rhodesian Army from 1968 to 1972.

==Biography== Coster was born on 19 April 1920 in Eshowe, Natal, Union of South Africa.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.myheritage.com/names/margery_coster|title=Mary Coster Search|website=myheritage.com|access-date=2 February 2023 }}{{Better source needed|date=February 2023}}</ref> He was educated at Maritzburg College,<ref name="Maritz">{{cite web | url=http://www.maritzburgcollege.org.za/mcob/military?showall=&start=3 | title=Military old boys | access-date=18 June 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055140/http://www.maritzburgcollege.org.za/mcob/military?showall=&start=3 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. After his matriculation at the school in 1936, he enlisted in the Special Service Battalion of the Union Defence Force (UDF) (of South Africa), and was commissioned into the South African Air Force (SAAF) on 6 September 1939. While flying a Mohawk V with 5 Squadron SAAF, he was shot down over North Africa by a Luftwaffe fighter plane, a Bf 109, on 11 July 1942 and was a prisoner of war<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nongqai Vol 8 No 8|url=https://issuu.com/hennieheymans/docs/nongqai_vol_8_no_8|page=51|chapter=Part II: Shot Down and POW in Italy|volume=8|issue=8|first1=Hennie|last1=Heymans|date=25 July 2017|access-date=2 February 2023|via=Issuu|language=en|archive-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216043807/https://issuu.com/hennieheymans/docs/nongqai_vol_8_no_8|url-status=dead}}</ref> until 4 May 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lt Gen K.R. Coster: A Life in Uniform|url=http://rhodesiansoldier.com/lt-gen-k.r.-coster--a-life-in-uniform.html|access-date=2021-07-20|website=The Rhodesian Soldier|language=en}}</ref> He was sent to Stalag Luft 111 in 1942 where he was reunited with his old friend Roger Bushell (Big X) just before the camp was liberated in 1945 he helped his neighbour in the next bed Paul Brickhill to successfully hide his manuscript of The Great Escape by wrapping it round his forearm and covering it with plaster of paris.

After the war, Coster transferred to the South African Army, and during 1952 attended the Royal Army Staff College at Camberley in England. In 1955, he left the South African Permanent Force to join the Army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland as a major.

On the dissolution of the Federation, Coster joined the Rhodesian Army, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant-general and was appointed as general officer commanding. On 25 April 1969 he took the salute at a Rhodesian African Rifles public open day, in Bulawayo.<ref>{{cite AV media| url-status = live| archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211209/EuTdZj1zU2c| archive-date = 2021-12-09| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuTdZj1zU2c| title = The Rhodesian African Rifles | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He retired from that post in 1972 as a lieutenant-general, having commanded the Rhodesian Army from 1968 to 1972.<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=DWboTJOvHYy2hAeNg5wP |journal=Africa Research Bulletin |volume=9 |year=1972 |title=Military Appointments}}</ref> He left for South Africa, serving as a civilian officer with the South African Defence Forces from 1981 to 1985, when he retired after forty-seven years of exemplary public service.<ref>{{Cite web|title=DistrictMail 14 June 2012|url=https://issuu.com/districtmail/docs/districtmail_14_june_2012|access-date=2021-07-20|website=Issuu|date=13 June 2012 |language=en}}</ref>

== Awards == Coster was awarded four medals for his wartime service and he became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1964 New Year Honours.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/43207/supplement/51/data.pdf | title=The London Gazette | edition=8th supplement | page=51 | date=31 December 1963 | access-date=28 June 2019 }}</ref> Whilst in Rhodesian service he was awarded the Independence Decoration (Rhodesia in 1965), which was awarded in 1970, and in 1971 he received the Exemplary Service Medal. Later when in South African service he was awarded in 1981 a Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of South Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://issuu.com/hennieheymans/docs/nongqai_vol_8_no_12/68|journal=Nongqai|volume=8|issue=12|page=68|title=Nongqai vol 8 no 12|date=December 2017|archive-date=8 April 2023|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408021535/https://issuu.com/hennieheymans/docs/nongqai_vol_8_no_12/68|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* {{MilAward Desc|ID|x25px}} * {{MilAward Desc|OBE|x25px}} * {{MilAward Desc|SSAS|x25px}} * {{MilAward Desc|ESM|x25px}}

==Personal life== Coster married Molly Stanley in 1941 and had two children, Steven and Judy, from the marriage. After the death of his first wife, he married Millie Aherin in 1995.

Coster died peacefully on 5 June 2012 in Somerset West, South Africa.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.rhodesianservices.org/user/image/publication06-2012.pdf|title=Obituaries|journal=Contact! Contact!|date=June 2012|access-date=2 February 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coster, Keith}} Category:1920 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Alumni of Maritzburg College Category:South African Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:South African prisoners of war Category:Rhodesian military leaders Category:People from Eshowe Category:South African World War II pilots Category:South African anti-communists Category:Foreign volunteers in the Rhodesian Security Forces Category:Shot-down aviators Category:South African expatriates in Southern Rhodesia Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany