Identity
Person No.
29260
Old ROH no.
21
Service No.
76293679BG
Last Name
First Name
Willie Jacobus
Initials
W J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
DOW 2,733
Died of wounds
Cause of Death
Died of wounds, near Nkongo Ovamboland. After passing a waterhole near a village his platoon was ambushed. Some soldiers were still drawing water. Appelgryn and Victor where hit. Recoilless rifles were used and vehicles, so this was no small enemy force. Three quarters of the platoon were wounded. Appelgryn was hit in the shoulder and the round hit his shoulderblade and went into his lungs. When his mate got to him he told him to leave him and to help the more badly wounded chaps. He died shortly after
Military Service
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Unknown
Coordinates
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
1979 Army. Left column. 2nd name from the top (Appelgryn W.J.)
Unit History
Awards
South Africa
Pro Patria Medal warrant, Government Gazette No. 5171 (25 Jun 1976), Rule 5, as amended by GG No. 5575 (3 Jun 1977); discontinued by GG No. 25213 (25 Jul 2003, Schedule corrected by GG No. 26778, 17 Sep 2004) for service on/after 27 Apr 2003. Gazette extracts: https://rohsa.co.za/award.php?id=24
Notes
Stepson of Mr. R. B. Seymis
Research notes
SADF Wall of Remembrance (Voortrekker Monument): named on photograph "1978 SAA (Hitchens–Human, Wolmarans) to 1979 SAA (Akaando–Djolomien, Maarman–Saal)". 1979 Army. Left column. 2nd name from the top (Appelgryn W.J.). DATE DISCREPANCY 25 Aug 2026: pantser.cmvo.org.za's SADF deaths PDF gives this person's Sterf (date of death) as "15 12 97" (DD MM YY) against the same ServiceNo (76293679BG) and name -- differs from this record's DateDeath (1979-12-14). Not overwritten, flagged for reference.
14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added -- database-wide sweep for SADF Border War operational-area deaths within the medal's gazetted window (25 Jun 1976 - 27 Apr 2003), per the warrant's died-before-qualifying-period provision. See PersonAward.Citation for the gazette references.
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Lys van Weermaglede wat aan diens gesterf het (SADF deaths, pantser.cmvo.org.za)
open source ↗
SADF deaths PDF cross-check, 25 Aug 2026 -- date discrepancy noted
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 36-41 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 2
Near Nkongo Ovamboland. After passing a waterhole near a village his platoon was ambushed. Some soldiers were still drawing water. Appelgryn and Victor where hit. Recoilless rifles were used and vehicles, so this was no small enemy force. Three quarters of the platoon were wounded. Appelgryn was hit in the shoulder and the round hit his shoulderblade and went into his lungs. When his mate got to him he told him to leave him and to help the more badly wounded chaps. He died shortly after. Unknown Unknown
This incident was 54 battalion which was 5 SAI BN. We operated from Nkongo, Elundu and Eenhana. Ops Intel was over 45 enemy attacking divided into 3 flanks. A very bad day. S.M.Cronje
Dedications 1
I remember Appies as we called him well. He was in my platoon during basic training. If I remember correctly, he was from the Bluff in Durban. I remember that he was a good guy. We ended up in different platoons after basics. I recall the day of 14th December well both Appies and Victor were killed in the ambush. Our platoon was patrolling a different area the day they were ambushed. We heard the news over the radio and were told to head to where they were to engage the enemy and get even I guess. We walked like hell the day of the 14th and 15th of December to get to that area. On the morning of the 16th December we walked into a huge ambush but that is another story. The local Translator (Tolk), Elijakum (spelling) was working with Swapo as he lead them to the waterhole, he left their section before they got to the waterholeso they turned back and got him again. Once again he dissapeared so the guys cointinued to the watyerhole and then got ambushed. A few weeks ago we wnet to arrest Eli at his house but he had left his wife and kids where they stayed and we never saw him again ... he had figured we were on to him and had gone. We ended up shooting and killing one guy in overalls on the way to get Eli as he would not stop running when we asked him to.