Identity
Person No.
29453
Old ROH no.
97
Service No.
70495775BA
Last Name
First Name
Andries Johannes
Initials
A J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
21
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,779
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, he and his twin brother Pieter were members of an army patrol that had a brief encounter with a group of PLAN insurgents. The latter scattered and were followed up by the patrol. On approaching a kraal where they believed some of the insurgents might be hiding, the section dumped their excess kit and fanned out to search the kraal, leaving Andries and Pieter Blaauw to guard the kit. Apparently, while so deployed, a group of insurgents came upon the two brothers, having followed the army patrol's tracks to the kraal. Andries and Pieter spotted them when they were quite close and, taking cover as best they could either side of a tree, they opened fire on the insurgents. The fire fight lasted only five minutes before the insurgents once again fled, but Andries was mortally wounded during the exchange of fire
Military Service
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
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
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
Son of Mr. A. J. Blaauw. Of Aroab
Research notes
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" was CLEARED as a duplicate. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word repeating what the Branch column already says. Secondary Unit is for sub-units -- a company, a squadron, a commando -- and this record's branch of service is unchanged at "Army".
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
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 29-32 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 1
Andries Blaauw was from Aroab, South West Africa. In early July 1976 he and his twin brother Pieter were members of an army patrol that had a brief encounter with a group of PLAN insurgents. The latter scattered and were followed up by the patrol. On approaching a kraal where they believed some of the insurgents might be hiding, the section dumped their excess kit and fanned out to search the kraal, leaving Andries and Pieter Blaauw to guard the kit. Apparently, while so deployed, a group of insurgents came upon the two brothers, having followed the army patrol's tracks to the kraal. Andries and Pieter spotted them when they were quite close and, taking cover as best they could either side of a tree, they opened fire on the insurgents. The fire fight lasted only five minutes before the insurgents once again fled, but Andries was mortally wounded during the exchange of fire.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.