Identity
Person No.
30563
Old ROH no.
2132
Service No.
P1/40574
Last Name
First Name
Martin Olckers
Initials
M O
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
23
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,781
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, in North American F-51 Mustang #342. 2Lt M.O. Grunder was leading a flight of four Mustangs to cut rail and other supply routes. After completing the primary sortie, they headed south, and over Youndong 2Lt Grunder spotted something on the ground, in a wooded area which he went to investigate. It was an anti-aircraft battery, and he proceeded to strafe this, followed by the rest of his flight. His No.2, Major Wiggett, lost sight of 2Lt Grunder in the sun as he pulled up from his strafing run. Shortly after this, Major Wiggett saw a Mustang canopy and some papers floating down at 1500 feet, but no sign of 2Lt Grunder's aircraft. A search revealed the aircraft wreckage on the ground, but no sign of 2Lt Grunder, and no parachute was found
Military Service
Branch
Air Force
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
"B" Coy.
Defence Force
UDF 24,808
Union Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Tanggok, Nam District, Busan, South Korea
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Panel 13
Unit History
Part of
Notes
Son of Mr. A. J. Grunder, of Durban. ref. 85 years of SAAF
Research notes
5 Sep 2026: Unit "2 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
Citations
Unknown
External References
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea
open source ↗
United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK), Busan — South African Korean War dead.
Stories 1
2Lt M.O. Grunder was leading a flight of four Mustangs to cut rail and other supply routes. After completing the primary sortie, they headed south, and over Youndong 2Lt Grunder spotted something on the ground, in a wooded area which he went to investigate. It was an anti-aircraft battery, and he proceeded to strafe this, followed by the rest of his flight. His No.2, Major Wiggett, lost sight of 2Lt Grunder in the sun as he pulled up from his strafing run. Shortly after this, Major Wiggett saw a Mustang canopy and some papers floating down at 1500 feet, but no sign of 2Lt Grunder's aircraft. A search revealed the aircraft wreckage on the ground, but no sign of 2Lt Grunder, and no parachute was found.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.