PDF
« Previous

Gouws , Paulus (P)

Next »
No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
30510
Old ROH no.
519
Service No.
81561078PC
Last Name
First Name
Paulus
Initials
P
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
21
Death Record
Cause code
DOW 2,733
Died of wounds
Cause of Death
Died of wounds, received in a land mine explosion on 2 Oct 1984
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Corporal
Corps
South African Cape Corps
Defence Force
SADF 3,825
South African Defence Force
Notes

Son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Gouws

Research notes


4 Sep 2026: reverted Corps->Regiment for Cape Corps. John, citing SA History Online (sahistory.org.za/article/cape-coloured-corps-and-first-world-war), identified Cape Corps as a combat/recruiting identity with numbered battalions beneath it (like King's Royal Rifle Corps or the Machine Gun Corps), not an administrative branch grouping multiple distinct regiments -- unlike e.g. South African Infantry Corps, which genuinely groups different named regiments (Transvaal Scottish, Durban Light Infantry, etc).
Mike Sandham's research log ("List 1"), imported 16 Sep 2026, credited to The South Africa War Graves Project unless his entry says otherwise: filled Corps -- each of these was EMPTY on this record and no existing value was changed. Derived fields recomputed inline where applicable.
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
External References
Stories 1
on 30 August 2007 · via source
sappers cleared the road for a buffel convoy, did not pick up cheesemine.buffel in which Gouws travel went over mine, his head hit the rollbar of the buffel.He was declared brain dead.
Dedications 1
on 30 August 2007 · via source
We did JL's together at SACC 1982 - course no. 8227 He was killed when the buffel drove over a cheesemine. 82071085ck 2lt R.A.Kayster