Identity
Person No.
30528
Old ROH no.
523
Service No.
75573576BG
Last Name
First Name
Arie Zagarias
Initials
A Z
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Navy
Defence Force
SADF 3,822
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Coordinates
Unit History
Awards
South Africa
Pro Patria Medal warrant, Government Gazette No. 5171 (25 Jun 1976), Rule 5, as amended by GG No. 5575 (3 Jun 1977); discontinued by GG No. 25213 (25 Jul 2003, Schedule corrected by GG No. 26778, 17 Sep 2004) for service on/after 27 Apr 2003. Gazette extracts: https://rohsa.co.za/award.php?id=24
Notes
Son of Mr. G. W. Greyling
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 36-41 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 1
Rfn Ari Greyling was killed on 16th December 1979 along with Mannetjies Fourie in a fierce gun and mortar battle lasting approximately 20 minutes. There was nothing we could do for him as he had been shot and a mortar landed on his back. He died with a bible in his shirt pocket. I will always remember him fondly, he was a good guy and he even lied us Souties. I remember him killing and cutting up a locals goat when we got so hungry. The meat was still warm when we put it on the fire ... without salt it was awful, but the butcher job he did was awesome. RIP Buddy ...
Dedications 1
I was in Ari's section and will never forget the time leading up to this sad loss of a fellow troepie. Ari was a great guy, a good butcher, I remember us being so hungry one day we stole a goat and Ari took care of the rest ... no more than an hour later we were eating it ... tasted awful but he cut it up well !. 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. He was hit by a mortar on his back. We were later told that he was shot through the heart before the mortar hit him on the back. I know he was a religious man as he died with a bible in his pocket. I will never forget you buddy. i think about you and Mannetjies Fourie 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 !.