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Booysen , Johnny Alvern (J A)

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No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
29329
Service No.
79694212
Last Name
First Name
Johnny Alvern
Initials
J A
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
21
Death Record
Cause code
DROW 1,200
Drowned
Cause of Death
Drowned, at Rundu (Sec 20) Walked into the Okavango River and was swept away by the river flow, during an off-duty excursion
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Lance Corporal
Corps
South African Cape Corps
Defence Force
SADF 3,821
South African Defence Force
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Notes

Husband of Mrs. D. E. Booysen, of Grassy Park.

Research notes


4 Sep 2026: reverted Corps->Regiment for Cape Corps. John, citing SA History Online (sahistory.org.za/article/cape-coloured-corps-and-first-world-war), identified Cape Corps as a combat/recruiting identity with numbered battalions beneath it (like King's Royal Rifle Corps or the Machine Gun Corps), not an administrative branch grouping multiple distinct regiments -- unlike e.g. South African Infantry Corps, which genuinely groups different named regiments (Transvaal Scottish, Durban Light Infantry, etc).
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.
14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added earlier today REVERTED -- John obtained the actual Government Gazette (GG 5171/5575); the "died before completing the qualifying period" provision relied on does not exist in the primary text (it was a secondary-source claim). Actual Rule 5 requires (a) combat/enemy-caused incident, (b) a Ministerially-acknowledged operation (clasp), or (c) 55+ continuous/90+ non-continuous days in an operational area -- none of which this record's cause of death clearly demonstrates.
Mike Sandham's research log ("List 1"), imported 16 Sep 2026, credited to The South Africa War Graves Project unless his entry says otherwise: filled Corps -- each of these was EMPTY on this record and no existing value was changed. Derived fields recomputed inline where applicable.

Citations
Unknown
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