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Devereaux , Stephen Victor Paul (S V P)

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Identity
Person No.
30053
Old ROH no.
347
Service No.
76690213BG
Last Name
First Name
Stephen Victor Paul
Initials
S V P
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
18
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
SUIC 384
Suicide
Cause of Death
Committed suicide, (suspected), gunshot wound, while serving with 101 Spes Unit, at Okankolo in Northern Owamboland
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Notes

Stepson of Mr. D. P. and Mrs. C. Thirtle, of Vryheid. Born Que Que, Rhodesia.

Research notes


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.
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
Stories 2
by Mark Steel on 15 December 2009 · via source
Steve was in the equestrian section. He was a nice guy and we met at 1SAI during basics.
by William Currie on 02 May 2013 · via source
In 1977, Steve Devereaux died of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He had some personal issues and was affected by the loss of his horse to colic. I never knew him personally as he was the intake after me, however I saw that his interaction with his fellow troops was always jovial. The incident took place in December at Oshigambo. Steve suffered the loss of fellow platoon member, Lance Corporal Paul Dossena earlier in the year at Okongo, ( a volunteer from the USA killed in a land mine explosion). In addition, Lance Corporal Cias Malan, who was with Steve at Okongo, lost his legs in an ambush near Oshigambo on November 17, 1977.
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.