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Steenkamp , Thomas Ignatius Jacobus (T I J)

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Photo of Steenkamp
Identity
Person No.
30064
Service No.
75359992
Last Name
Steenkamp 44
First Name
Thomas Ignatius Jacobus
Initials
T I J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1959 (±1 yr) 444
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
01 May 1979 106
Cause code
SUIC 388
Suicide
Cause of Death
Suicide 350
Committed suicide, gassed himself at home. He was AWOL at the time
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Trooper
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Armoured Corps 438
Unit
2 Special Service Battalion 51
Defence Force
SADF 3,852
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
HEIDELBERG (RENSBURG) CEMETERY 1
Grave Reference
Alternative Commemoration until grave found 1
Unit History
Role at time of death
Armour (Armoured Car)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Other listed units (not nested under a brigade above) › Units
Re-established 1 October 1973 out of C Squadron 1 SSB, itself formed as C Squadron of 2 Armoured Car Regiment in February 1962 and renamed 22 December 1966. Regimental HQ and C Squadron at Zeerust; D Squadron detached to 2 SAI at Walvis Bay. Squadrons served in Namibia and Angola from 1974: B, C and D Squadrons on Operation Savannah, 8 October 1975 to 31 January 1976, and later Operations Protea, Daisy, Hooper and Modular. On 25 January 1988 it became the first unit in South Africa granted the Right of Free Admission to a coloured community, Henryville. Most of the men on this roll who point at 2 SSB belong to this period. Also took part in Operation Adding on 10 February 1988, the intervention restoring the Bophuthatswana government after the coup attempt against President Mangope. Equipped with the Ratel IFV and, from May 1990, the Rooikat; received national colours 30 June 1990.
Notes

Son of Mrs. J. F. Steenkamp, of Heidelberg.

Research notes


Mike Sandham's research log ("List 1"), imported 16 Sep 2026, credited to The South Africa War Graves Project unless his entry says otherwise: dates of death differ -- 1 day(s) apart: Mike 1979-05-02 this record 1979-05-01. A gap of a few days commonly separates wounding from death, or a burial date from a death date. Flagged, not changed.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Air Force" was CLEARED. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word, and it CONTRADICTED this record's own Branch, "Army". Across the roll 787 records carried such a contradiction; judged against Corps and Regiment -- independent of both columns -- the evidence backed Branch 744 times and Unit2 not once. Branch is therefore kept and the contradicting word removed. Nothing is guessed: this man's branch of service is already recorded, and his sub-unit, if any, is simply not known.

Citations
Unknown
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