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Fhilipus , Elias (E)

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No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
30313
Service No.
Unknown
Last Name
Fhilipus 1
First Name
Elias
Initials
E
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1959 (±1 yr) 442
Age at Death
21
Death Record
Date of Death
27 December 1980 92
Cause code
SHOT 546
Shot
Cause of Death
Died in Shooting Incident 289
Died in Shooting Incident, accidentally shot dead in Northern Owamboland (Sector 10) by members of a 53 Battalion patrol who mistook them for SWAPO/PLAN insurgents
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
101 Battalion 97
Formerly 35 Battalion (1980)
Corps
South West African Territory Force 376
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,828
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
SADF WALL OF REMEMBRANCE, VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA 1,926
Grave Reference
Alternative Commemoration until grave found 1,612
Memorial
Memorial
SADF Wall of Remembrance
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Voortrekker Monument, Eeufees Road, Groenkloof, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa
Coordinates
-25.77639, 28.17583 · OpenStreetMap
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Part of
SWATF (1977–1989) — Regular Infantry Battalions
Notes

No additional information known at this time

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 27 Dec 2022: Rifleman Elias Fhilipus, 101 Battalion SWATF, accidentally shot dead in Northern Owamboland by a 53 Battalion patrol who mistook them for SWAPO/PLAN insurgents, age 21. Graham gave no service number. Same incident as Elifas P. PN 30216. Record had FirstName Hans Dieter, age 30, SN 69358497, motorcycle Diskobolos Kimberley, and NOK Fetzer — copied from neighbour Fetzer H.D. PN 30312. Reset to Graham's Elias Fhilipus age 21; SN cleared (belongs to Fetzer). Did not invent a force number.
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
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