Brother of Mrs. P. J. Winchester
War in Angola forum inquest clipping (Johan Schoeman Excel export, 1 Sep 2026): Tsumeb magistrate A. H. Coetzer described the death as a 'tragic mistake' and 'bona fide accident'; Rfn Daniel Potgieter (19) said he accidentally shot three comrades, killing Golden, mistaking them for terrorists while a 10-man section under L/Cpl Johannes de Wet waited in a half-moon ambush near Otavi; Rfn Johann Dryer said the group was hit when changing position at first light. Newspaper spelling Dennis Cohn Golden of Regents Park, Johannesburg. Record keeps FirstName Dennis Colin and the parachute-drift friendly-fire narrative (1 Parachute Battalion). Two different mechanisms for the same date/place/age — neither overwritten; both retained.
25 Sep 2026, Unit forward-fill sweep: the stored Unit "Air Force" was CLEARED from Unit and Secondary Unit alike. It was not a reading of this man's record. PersonNumber 30481, the record immediately above this one, is Golan, Guy (G), an Israeli Defence Forces major, and carries the identical value; a value repeated onto the next record in PersonNumber order is an import artefact, the same one already cleared out of ServiceNo across this roll in September. This man is an SADF rifleman of 1 Parachute Battalion and the South African Infantry Corps, with Branch "Army"; his recorded death is a friendly-fire shooting on the ground near Otavi, by a fellow paratrooper, after a jump. Nothing about the record is an air force posting, and "Rifleman" is not an air force rank. No replacement is guessed: his unit is already recorded in Regiment and Corps, and a blank Unit says honestly that no separate sub-unit is known.
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SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
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The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 125-128 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
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The War in Angola
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War in Angola Member Dedications forum (www.warinangola.com), Excel export supplied by Johan Schoeman, 1 Sep 2026. Forum post(s): WINDHOEK - A Tsumeb magistrate yesterday described the death of a national serviceman, who was shot by one at his comrades in the operational area this year, as "a tragic mistake" and a "bona fide accident" and said nobody could be held responsible for his death.
Rifleman Dennis Cohn Golden (19) of Regents Park, Johannesburg, died of shock and loss of blood from a gunshot wound in the Tsumeb district on March 28.
The inquest Magistrate, Mr. A. H. Coetzer, found that nobody had committed a wrongful act.
Nor had there new any negligence on the part at anybody which had contributed to Rifleman Golden's death.
Rifleman Daniel Potgieter (19) said in a statement to the Court he was horrified when he discovered that he had accident[al]ly shot three of his comrades, killing rifleman Golden, alter mistaking them for terrorists.
Terrorists
Rifleman Potgieter said Rifleman Golden was shot while in the Otavi area tracking down terrorists. He would not have fired.
Soldier tells how he shot one of his mates
In front
The Court was told they took up their positions in dense bush and were unable to see one another and that Rifleman Golden and his group stationed themselves directly in front of two other members of the section.
One of the members of Rifleman Golden's group, Rifleman Johann Dryer, said that at "first light" they had decided to change positions and as they did so he heard a burst of fire.
He said three members to the group were hit, including Rifleman Golden - (Sapa)
No dedications have been added yet.