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Kotze , Christiaan Rudolf (dugga) (C R)

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Identity
Person No.
31140
Old ROH no.
730
Service No.
70499553KT
Last Name
First Name
Christiaan Rudolf (dugga)
Initials
C R
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
23
Death Record
Cause code
KIA 14,779
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, during a contact with insurgents when their patrol walked into a PLAN ambush near Ruacana
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Lance Corporal
Defence Force
SADF 3,828
South African Defence Force
Unit History
Role at time of death
Infantry (area defence)
Status
Commando (Area Bound Reserve)
Part of
Generic Regiment-field text used across hundreds of records whose actual unit is a specific local Commando (e.g. Rustenburg Commando, Boksburg Commando -- captured in Unit). Post-WWII, "Commando" is its own force-component category alongside Regular/Permanent Force and Active Citizen Force -- area-bound, part-time reserve units tied to a specific district, mobilised for local counter-insurgency/area protection duties during the Border War era. Not a single regiment; this Status applies to the whole category.
Awards
Pro Patria Medal
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 Mr. F. H. Kotze. He was a prominent rugby player and under captain of the Boland rugby team

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 08 Dec 2017: 70499553KT Lance Corporal Christiaan Rudolf Kotze, West Coast Commando, Three Citizen Force / Commando members KIA when their patrol walked into a SWAPO/PLAN ambush near Ruacana. Same incident as Badenhorst, Kotze and Kruger. He was 23.
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
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