Identity
Person No.
30858
Old ROH no.
640
Service No.
05128004E
Last Name
First Name
Olaf Volmer
Initials
O V
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
44
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died of multiple shrapnel wounds in the Walvis Bay Hospital sustained after he had dived onto an activated hand grenade that had been accidentally dropped in order to shield other soldiers standing around nearby from the shrapnel when the grenade exploded
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Warrant Officer Class II
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,830
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Unit History
Notes
Husband of Mrs. A. M. Jensen
Research notes
11 Sep 2026 Graham Last Post: cause enriched (Walvis Bay Hospital / dived on grenade detail). Cited graham-last-post.
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
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 11 Sep 2026
-
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 134-135 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 2
We were training with the no 7/8 handgrenade in Walvis Bay and were throwing in pairs. Jack Lovell and another trooper Hazell were up next. When they pulled the pin out the detonator came out and Jack was told to "Gooi die f......n ding!" But before he could do this it exploded in his hand and the other handgrenade droppedout of Hazell's hand and fell on the floor. Sgt Major Jensen fell on the grenade with a steel helmet to protect the others. Helater died that night of his injuries. Jack lost his hand and a Lt lost an eye.
11 Sep 1974: 05128004E Warrant Officer Class II Olaf Volmer Jensen from 2 SAI Died from shrapnel wounds sustained in an accidental hand grenade explosion at Walvis Bay. He was 44.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.