Higrunda , Ben (B)

14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added -- database-wide sweep for SADF Border War operational-area deaths within the medal's gazetted window (25 Jun 1976 - 27 Apr 2003), per the warrant's died-before-qualifying-period provision. See PersonAward.Citation for the gazette references.
14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added earlier today REVERTED -- John obtained the actual Government Gazette (GG 5171/5575); the "died before completing the qualifying period" provision relied on does not exist in the primary text (it was a secondary-source claim). Actual Rule 5 requires (a) combat/enemy-caused incident, (b) a Ministerially-acknowledged operation (clasp), or (c) 55+ continuous/90+ non-continuous days in an operational area -- none of which this record's cause of death clearly demonstrates.
21 Sep 2026: Regiment corrected 102 Battalion -> 37 Battalion. This man died on 1980-06-01, before the unit took the name 102 Battalion: it was designated 37 Battalion until the South West Africa Territory Force was established on 1 August 1980, a rename this roll already recorded in OrgEntityAlias. Prompted by Mike Sandham's correction of 20 Sep 2026 on Shangweni (32903), applied across every 1980 SWATF rename. The later name is not wrong as a way of identifying the unit today -- sources compiled afterwards routinely use it -- but it is not the name this man served under.
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.