Identity
Person No.
29937
Old ROH no.
2123
Service No.
P1/17749
Last Name
First Name
John Frederick Oliver
Initials
J F O
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
31
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,781
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, in North American F-51 Mustang #321. Four aircraft piloted by Capt J.F.O. Davis, Maj Blaauw, and Lts Cooke and McDonald were on a close support mission, their target being enemy troops in a valley near Yangdogwoni-ni, between the Han and Pukham Rivers. A mosquito control aircraft dived into the valley and fired a phosphorous rocket at the target area he wished the Mustangs to attack, his rocket striking a building and causing a number of enemy troops to run out into the open. Capt Davis and Lt McDonald then went in to the attack, while Maj Blaauw and Lt Cooke flew top cover for them. On the final turn into the attack, Capt Davis' aircraft rolled onto its back at about 1200 feet and appeared to go into a spin. Both napalm bombs then came off, but the aircraft did not recover, continuing to spin until it crashed, together with the falling napalm, into a gully on the side of a hill. Maj Blaauw took over command of the flight and completed the attack
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Captain
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
UDF 24,808
Union Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Tanggok, Nam District, Busan, South Korea
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Plot I, Grave 627
Unit History
Part of
Notes
Son of Major J. G. Davis of Waterkloof Air Station, Pretoria. ref. 85 years of SAAF
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "2 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
Citations
Unknown
External References
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea
open source ↗
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK), Busan — South African Korean War dead.
Stories 1
Four aircraft piloted by Capt J.F.O. Davis, Maj Blaauw, and Lts Cooke and McDonald were on a close support mission, their target being enemy troops in a valley near Yangdogwoni-ni, between the Han and Pukham Rivers. A mosquito control aircraft dived into the valley and fired a phosphorous rocket at the target area he wished the Mustangs to attack, his rocket striking a building and causing a number of enemy troops to run out into the open. Capt Davis and Lt McDonald then went in to the attack, while Maj Blaauw and Lt Cooke flew top cover for them. On the final turn into the attack, Capt Davis' aircraft rolled onto its back at about 1200 feet and appeared to go into a spin. Both napalm bombs then came off, but the aircraft did not recover, continuing to spin until it crashed, together with the falling napalm, into a gully on the side of a hill. Maj Blaauw took over command of the flight and completed the attack.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.