Identity
Person No.
31041
Old ROH no.
688
Service No.
71412837PE
Last Name
First Name
Gerrit
Initials
G
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
21
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, whilst on patrol in Henombe area of Southern Angola. At Henombe, approximately 200 cattle were found and driven towards the SWA border, the idea being to take these cattle to the cattle farm at Omauni. A small PLAN force led by Denga Ndaitwah (recently retired Chief of the Namibian Defence Force) spotted the 32 Battalion patrol and hastily laid an ambush south of Henombe. In the short firefight, Lieutenant Keulder was mortally wounded and the PLAN force immediately withdrew. His body was carried out of the contact area before being airlifted out back to SWA. The 32 Battalion Patrol abandoned the cattle and returned to South West Africa on foot
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Regiment
32 (Buffalo) Battalion 275
Later renamed
32 Battalion
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
111 Harbor Protection Unit
Defence Force
SADF 3,825
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Coordinates
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Within the Voortrekker Monument heritage precinct, Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
No. 9
Awards
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 Mrs. A. J. Keulder, of Zeerust
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 29-32 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 2
2Lt Keulder was killed in a SWAPO ambush south of Chana Henombe in Angola on 8 March 1977. He and his fellow 32 Bn soldiers tried to "liberate" some SWAPO cattle to Omauni for own use when the enemy opened fire on them. Information obtained from Louis Bothma's book, Die Buffel Struikel.
On 9 March, whilst on patrol, Lt Gert Keulder and his patrol located a SWAPO base in the vicinity of Nutalala, which they destroyed. Whilst withdrawing from the area however, they came under attack briefly from a 300-strong SWAPO force. Although heavily outnumbered, Lt Keulder's men inflicted five fatal casualties on SWAPO, after which they withdrew. Unfortunately, Lt Keulder was also mortally wounded in this brief clash. Information extracted from "32 Battalion - The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit " by Piet Nortje Peter
Dedications 1
Gerrit was a real Officer and GENTLEMAN amoungst MEN. I often think about Gerrit even now after 27 years such was his character that made us respect him so much. When Gerrit was killed several Kms inside Angola in a contact, the respect that his BLACK troops had for him was so great that they carried his body all the way back to the border. This was done while they were being constantly harrased by SWAPO/FAPLA troops, this was the greatest honour that any officer could receive. Rest in Peace my Honoured Brother Officer Barry. C.