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Grobler , Daniel Heinrich (D H)

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Identity
Person No.
30544
Old ROH no.
1727
Service No.
76466374PF
Last Name
First Name
Daniel Heinrich
Initials
D H
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, by a booby trap in an enemy bunker (Operation Vastrap)
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Corporal
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,825
South African Defence Force
Location
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Within the Voortrekker Monument heritage precinct, Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
No. 63
Operation
Operation
Dates
1980-07
About
Border-area operation.
Awards
Pro Patria Medal
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. and Mrs. D. C. Grobler. ref "Die Buffel Struikel" by LJ Bothma

Research notes

Locality was wrongly set to "Gauteng" -- corrected 28 Aug 2026 (second pass, this time verified against Cemetery rather than AddInfo text, after the first AddInfo-based pass was found to be unreliable and reverted). This person's own Cemetery is unambiguously outside South Africa; several other people at the same cemetery already correctly show a blank Locality. Cleared rather than guessed at a specific region.
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 08 December 2010 · via source
As part of Operation Vastrap, a platoon was in the vicinity of Cuamato in Angola, where there were reports of increased SWAPO activity in the area. During the sweeps conducted in late July, a number of SWAPO bases were found, and it was during one such find that disaster struck. Whilst attempting to destroy a bunker filled with food, platoon sergeant Corporal D.M. Grobler entered the bunker to plant a schrapnel mine in the roof, three M26 grenades having earlier failed to complete the task. The bunker proved to be booby-trapped, and the ensuing explosion killed both Corporal Grobler and Corporal M.C. Coetzee, who was standing in the doorway of the bunker. Also wounded were 2nd Lieutenants A.G. Slabber and J. Smith, as well as Corporals H.J. Botha, P.F. Brink and A.J. Vlok. Information extracted from 32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit ,
Dedications 1
by Gunther Schulz on 04 August 2014 · via source
Gunther Schulz agschulz@bigpond.com 2014-08-04 23:13:36