PLAYBOY South Africa’s July Playmate, Yolandi Malherbe, dropped in unexpectedly on about 700 US Marines holed up in an airport hangar in Cape Town last week, to thank them for their contribution to our country. Part of a larger contingent of US Marines returning home after a month of humanitarian work in the Eastern Cape, the soldiers were barred by local immigration officials from visiting the city while they were waiting for their return flight to the US about 18 hours later.
Stuck in a cold and dismal hangar overlooking Cape Town International airport, with only their ration packs for food and the cold cement floors to camp out, PLAYBOY decided to liven up their dreary day with a visit. For more than two hours, the Marines could not get enough of Yolandi – having their photos taken with her, the insides of berets signed, and getting personal messages from her written inside the first foreign edition of their favourite magazine that many of them had ever seen.
“These guys are so polite. They all called me ma’am, and it was all ‘yes ma’am and no ma’am.’ These are the kind of guys my dad would be so happy for me to bring home. And it is so awesome that they came out here to do the kind of work they were doing – building homes, setting up dental and medical clinics and a whole lot more. Thank you US Marines – you rock,” said Yolandi.
The invitation for Yolandi to visit the US, do all sorts of road trips and attend all of their favourite sporting events rolled in. Tweets were flying back home and between the Playmate and her new fans in no time, and she left as the proud owner of her very own US Marine cap.