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De Villiers , Anthony Wayne (A W)

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Photo of De Villiers
Identity
Person No.
30010
Old ROH no.
323
Service No.
83471490BG
Last Name
De Villiers 91
First Name
Anthony Wayne
Initials
A W
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1967 (±1 yr) 289
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
08 October 1987 204
Cause code
MVA 2,626
Motor vehicle accident
Cause of Death
Died in motor vehicle accident 1,759
Died in Military Vehicle Accident. The battery was busy in Ops Modular just north of the Lomba river. AW De Villiers was sent out to find a suitable alternate site for the battery early in the day. The battery was involved with artillery support until late in the night when eventually it packed up and moved. Unfortunately AW De Villiers had fallen asleep next to a tree that was in the path of the oncoming trucks and guns, AW Deviliers was found later in the tracks left by the convoy
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Gunner
Regiment
4 South African Infantry Battalion 97
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,343
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
"Q" Bty.
Defence Force
SADF 3,821
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,859
Locality
Free State 737
Cemetery
WELKOM CEMETERY 19
Grave Reference
A26 1
Memorial
Memorial
Battle of Cuito Cuanavale Virtual Memorial
Location
Cuito Cuanavale, Cuando Cubango province, Angola
Coordinates
-15.163, 19.173 · OpenStreetMap
Panel
Moduler
On the panel
Operation Moduler
Memorial
Memorial
National Gunners' Memorial, Potchefstroom
Location
Potchefstroom, North West province, South Africa
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Operation
Operation
Moduler
Dates
1987-08-01 to 1987-11-15
About
Operation launched to support UNITA against a major FAPLA offensive aimed at capturing UNITA's stronghold of Mavinga. Culminated in the Battle of the Lomba River (September-October 1987), where SADF mechanised and artillery forces, fighting alongside UNITA, halted and largely destroyed FAPLA's 47 Brigade attempting to cross the river — the action in which several ROH records on this site (Alves, De Klerk, Kuyler, McCallum, Mananza, Tchipango and others) were killed when their Ratel 90 was destroyed at point-blank range by a T-55 tank.
Unit History
Part of
Infantry Formation (SAAIF) — Motorised Infantry — Regular
Notes

Son of Mr. and Mrs. E. L. De Villiers, of Welkom.

Research notes

Gunners Association RoH lists them (South African Border War 1987 Gunner A.W. de Villiers) - https://www.gunners.org.za/home-2/roll-of-honour/
National Gunners' Memorial, Potchefstroom (photograph supplied by John, 16 Sep 2026): listed on the 1987 panel as "GNR A.W. DE VILLIERS", confirming Gunner (Artillery). CONFLICT flagged, not changed: the stored Regiment is "4 South African Infantry Battalion" -- an infantry unit -- which sits oddly with an Artillery rank and a place on the Gunners' Memorial. Could be an artillery attachment to 4 SAI rather than an error; not resolved here. (Deliberately NOT inferring a change from unit type -- that reasoning produced a wrong 'correction' on Ellis 30222 the same day.)
Mike Sandham's research log ("List 1"), imported 16 Sep 2026, credited to The South Africa War Graves Project unless his entry says otherwise: gives ServiceNo 837771490BG against this record's 83471490BG. The two numbers differ by only 2 digit(s), so one is a transcription slip -- but nothing here says which, and this record is not part of any shared-number run. Not resolved. Flagged, not changed.

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories 1
on 06 August 2002 · via source
AW De Villiers used to be a member of Quebec battery 62 mechanised battalion (G5's),The battery was busy in ops Modular just north of the Lomba river. AW De Villiers was sent out to find a sutable alternate site for the battery early in the day. The battery was involved with artilery support until late in the night when eventualy we packed up and moved. Unfortunately AW De Villiers had fallen asleep next to a tree that was in the path of the oncoming trucks and guns, AW Deviliers was found later in the tracks left by the convoy.
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.