Koopman, Nicolaas

Identity

Person No.

31130

Old ROH no.

725

Service No.

85957013CK

Last Name

Koopman 5

First Name

Nicolaas

Initials

N

Date of Birth

Unknown

Est. Birth Year

1969 (±1 yr) 301

Age at Death

18

Death Record

Date of Death

30 April 1987 118

Cause code

MVA 2,628

Motor vehicle accident

Cause of Death

Died in motor vehicle accident 1,761

Died in Military Vehicle Accident, at Ondangwa

Military Service

Branch

Army

Rank

Private

Regiment

Unknown

Corps

South African Ordnance Services Corps 95

Later renamed South African Ordnance Service Corps

Unit

5 Maintenance Unit 20

Defence Force

SADF 3,825

South African Defence Force

Location

Country

South Africa 23,866

Locality

Gauteng 9,374

Cemetery

SADF WALL OF REMEMBRANCE, VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA 1,926

Grave Reference

Alternative Commemoration until grave found 1,612

Memorial

SADF Wall of Remembrance

Location

On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria

Address

Voortrekker Monument, Eeufees Road, Groenkloof, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa

Coordinates

-25.77639, 28.17583 · OpenStreetMap

Panel

Not listed against a numbered panel

On the panel

Position on the panel will be added with photographs

Notes

Son of Mrs. van Wyk

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 30 Apr 2026: 85957013CK Private Nicolaas Koopman, 5 Maintenance Unit, Three 5 Maintenance Unit members killed in a military vehicle accident at Ondangwa. Same incident as Julies, Koopman and Oosthuizen. He was 18.
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.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Navy" 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

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 30 Apr 2026: 85957013CK Private Nicolaas Koopman, 5 Maintenance Unit, Three 5 Maintenance Unit members killed in a military vehicle accident at Ondangwa. Same incident as Julies, Koopman and Oosthuizen. He was 18.
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 105-106 of 143: confirmed, no changes.

Stories

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Dedications

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Koopman , Nicolaas (N)