Identity
Person No.
29816
Old ROH no.
243
Service No.
71322556BT
Last Name
First Name
Donald Norman
Initials
D N
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
27
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, in a contact with the enemy. While on patrol near Vinticette, he was hit by machine gun fire during an ambush
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SADF 3,817
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Coordinates
Unit History
Part of
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
Husband of Mrs. E. D. Coleby, of Sydney-on-Vaal
Research notes
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 12 Jun 2024: 71322556BT Staff Sergeant Donald Norman Coleby, Regiment Groot Karoo, Died of multiple shrapnel wounds 10 km south of Cuvelai. Company lured into a well dug-in ambush by SWAPO/PLAN Typhoon Brigade; while withdrawing across the Cuvelai River a Soviet 82 mm mortar exploded near him; succumbed while being evacuated to the Medical Aid Point just north of Mupa, age 27. ROH is KIA by machine-gun fire in an ambush near Vinticette — not overwritten.
Lance Graven, ROH story 16 Aug 2017: independently corroborates S. Porter's 2010 mortar-bomb correction (retreating from an ambush when a mortar bomb landed among them).
4 Sep 2026: Unit leftover "Regiment Groot Karoo" (a named regiment, not a sub-unit) moved to Regiment. Corps unchanged.
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 12 Jun 2024: 71322556BT Staff Sergeant Donald Norman Coleby, Regiment Groot Karoo, Died of multiple shrapnel wounds 10 km south of Cuvelai. Company lured into a well dug-in ambush by SWAPO/PLAN Typhoon Brigade; while withdrawing across the Cuvelai River a Soviet 82 mm mortar exploded near him; succumbed while being evacuated to the Medical Aid Point just north of Mupa, age 27. ROH is KIA by machine-gun fire in an ambush near Vinticette — not overwritten.
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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 54-56 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 3
In 1983 Donald was on patrol in the operational area. His unit was ambushed and Donald was hit across the body by a burst of RPD machine gun fire. My heart breaks for those that died and those that lived. Our youth was wasted. S.Porter
this is a correction as to the facts of Donalds death.Donald took a hit from a mortar bombwhile moving out of an ambush zone s.porter
I knew Don from basics.He was always going to be in the thick of the fighting. From the first 3 months in ETALI camp he proved this.His section was very dedicated to him and there was always an aura of comraderie within it.They all came from Natal if I can recall. In 1978 I went up to operation Askari with Fighting group Delta. On the way up I met with one of the men in that section. It was here where I heard of Dons passing. If I have the story straight this is how he felt it unfolded. Dons platoon had been ambushed. In the initial fighting he sustained a wound and had to himself retreat for medical assistance. This entailed leaving his men and going through a dry river bed to medical assistance. Once patched up he started to make his way back to his men on the other side of the dry river. He met his men retreating and at precisly this moment a motor landed amongst them. Apparently there were 2 more men from the original 1978 section that were also killed and there wounded.I have never been able to verify the story or who were the other men. Don was in my eyes a true leader and somebody we all looked up to.God Bless his soul and those of the rest of the old section. I know for them that survived the scars will never heal. Having served with them was a proud moment.
Dedications 1
I remember a cousin and fellow soldier. Our lives were wasted in a dirty forgotten little war that had no meaning or moral ground to stand on. We did our duty. Slumber on Donald. Some of us will not forget. S,Porter Cpl