Identity
Person No.
30536
Old ROH no.
2071
Service No.
77372753BG
Last Name
First Name
Walter James
Initials
W J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
MVA 2,633
Motor vehicle accident
Cause of Death
Died in Military Vehicle Accident, in Sector 30 Otjovasandu. Buffel rolled and he was trapped underneath
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Signalman
Regiment
2 Signals Regiment 16
Later renamed
2 Signal Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
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
Role at time of death
Signals
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
South African Corps of Signals established 1923; 2 Signal Regiment listed under "Regular" (alongside 1, 3, 4, 5 Signal Regt), with 6 Signal Regt as the Reserve unit. Exact formation date for 2 Signal Regiment itself not given in the source.
Notes
Son of Warrant Officer Class I and Mrs. D. Griffen
Research notes
4 Sep 2026: Unit leftover "2 Signals Regiment" (a named regiment, not a sub-unit) moved to Regiment. Corps unchanged.
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
-
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 93-94 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories
No stories have been added yet.
Dedications 1
To my dear friend William he was of my closest friends at camp, we played snooker the evening before he died, after supper in the rec-room. The next day there were 2 Buffel's leaving for Otjivizandu on the west side of the Etosha Pan where we had a DF station run by two persons. William, who was in the DF (Direction Finding) section, was one of two that were going to aflos the two there. This was normally a jol there and back as we'd pile in and go for the ride. That trip I decided not to go said I'd see him shortly when they come back I'll do that trip. The sad thing is that The Griffins back home probably don't know what happened to their loving son. It is known, we knew when we saw the rolled Buffel that came back to camp. The one Buffel rolled and William was trapped under the side flap waist down. Others were flung off as they were perched all over and unstrapped in the back but survived with some injury. They managed to get a grader to lift the Buffel, then William a dignified soul closed his eyes bravely for the last time. R.I.P. my friend, you were loved by all, a sincere and gentle soul that did not deserve that.