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Geustyn , Casper Willem Johannes (C W J)

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Photo of Geustyn
Identity
Person No.
30412
Old ROH no.
497
Service No.
79446639BG
Last Name
Geustyn 2
First Name
Casper Willem Johannes
Initials
C W J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1962 (±1 yr) 352
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
11 October 1982 146
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died of accidental injuries 71
Died of accidental injuries, at Oshivello, during a weapons familiarization accident. A supposedly "safe" foreign grenade exploded and killed several men
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Candidate Officer
Regiment
1 South African Infantry Battalion 111
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,828
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Free State 737
Cemetery
BETHLEHEM (MORELIG) CEMETERY 4
Grave Reference
Cremated at Braamfontein. Ashes are on \\\"the wall\\\" 268/56 1
Unit History
Part of
Infantry Formation (SAAIF) — Mechanised Infantry — Regular
Notes

Son of Mr. C. W. J. Geustyn.

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 11 Oct 2024: 79446639BG Candidate Officer Casper Willem Johannes Geustyn, 1 SAI Mechanised Leadership Wing, Oshivello: during familiarisation training on foreign weapons a Soviet hand grenade was accidentally detonated, killing five. Same incident as Geustyn, Venter, Jones, Meyer and Wessels. He was 20.
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 1
on 14 February 2013 · via source
Casper was at MLW (Mechanised Leadership Wing) with me at 1SAI. On the 11 October 1982, at Oshivello, during a familiarization with weapons used by PLAN. One of the soldiers pressed a button on a Russian grenade that exploded killing 4 soldiers. Candidate Officer CASPER WILLEM JOHANNES GEUSTYN Lance Corporal ALAN RODGER JONES Lance Corporal JACOBUS THEODORUS MEYER Lance Corporal EDGAR SYDNEY WESSELS Doug Beveridge
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.