Identity
Person No.
30365
Old ROH no.
471
Service No.
76267160BG
Last Name
First Name
Johannes Jacobus
Initials
J J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
Unknown
Cause of Death
Killed by mortar round during SWAPO ambush
Military Service
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Notes
Brother of Mr. P. J. Fourie
Research notes
DATE DISCREPANCY 25 Aug 2026: pantser.cmvo.org.za's SADF deaths PDF gives this person's Sterf (date of death) as "17 12 79" (DD MM YY) against the same ServiceNo (76267160BG) and name -- differs from this record's DateDeath (1979-12-12). Not overwritten, flagged for reference.
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Lys van Weermaglede wat aan diens gesterf het (SADF deaths, pantser.cmvo.org.za)
open source ↗
SADF deaths PDF cross-check, 25 Aug 2026 -- date discrepancy noted
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
Stories 2
I knew "Mannetjies" well as he was in my section. He died when we were ambushed on the 16th December 1979 near Nkongo. We knew it was coming as another platoon had been ambushed on the 14th December and we were doing a follow up. Just before going into the TB on the 15th, Aubrey Riley and I went back on our tracks and saw that our ttracks had been trodden on with Sargent stripe boots. We headed out from our TB on the morning of the 16th (DingaansDay) and followed the Swapo tracks. After about 10 minutes we heard a noise to our left flank, the flank we were on. We went down for a while and listened and then decided to go on. After a few feet all hell broke loose. We received heavy fire from the left flank and then the mortars began to fall. According to the 32Bn folks nearby, the contact lasted about 20 minutes. At the end of the contact we tried to revive "Mannetjies" who had a mortar land a little way in front of him but were unable to revive him, a tragic loss of a great friend and rugby player. Of the 33 of us who went into the battle, we had two dead and 16 wounded. We are told that there were approx three platoons that smacked us. They left one wounded Swapo behind who did not survive .... who knows what they dragged away and buried. Mark McKay 75300087
i remember this day so well, i was also there and remember.
Dedications 1
I will never forget the time leading up to this sad loss of a fellow troepie. Mannetjies Ari was a great guy, a great rugby player, and a good friend. We knew we were going to be ambushed because on the afternoon of the 15th, Aubrey Riley and I went to back track to see if we were being followed and we saw sargent tracks over where we had just walked. The dogs barked all night and we cleaned our weapons knowing what was coming. The morning of the 16th there were lots of tracks and we walked in 3 single files following the Swapo tracks. Our section was on the left flank, the side that the enemy was on. It was one hell of a skirmish with small arms fire, RPGs and worst of all it rained mortars for an eternity. 32Bn nearby said this went on for 20 minutes. Firing would stop and then hit us from a slightly different angle. Ari died before the end of the skirmish. A mortar landed in front of him and we were unable to revive him. I will never forget you buddy. i think about you and Ari Greyling who also died that day. For the record, we were told there were around 100 enemy dug in, they dragged all but one of their casulaties away. The left enemy was alive and shot through the hip and he had a stoppage in his AK47 ... he was shotand killed after he was found !.