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Kruger , Andries Johannes (A J)

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No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
31165
Old ROH no.
746
Service No.
70446117KT
Last Name
Kruger 143
First Name
Andries Johannes
Initials
A J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1954 (±1 yr) 318
Age at Death
23
Death Record
Date of Death
27 December 1977 92
Cause code
MVA 2,633
Motor vehicle accident
Cause of Death
Died in motor vehicle accident 1,765
Died in Military Vehicle Accident, on the Rundu-Bagani Rd. Unimog rolled in wet weather killing 3 members
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Sergeant
Regiment
South African Commandos 98
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Bronkhorstspruit Commando 2
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,874
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
SADF WALL OF REMEMBRANCE, VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA 1,926
Grave Reference
Alternative Commemoration until grave found 1,612
Memorial
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
Unit History
Role at time of death
Infantry (area defence)
Status
Commando (Area Bound Reserve)
Part of
SADF Commando System category
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.
Notes

Son of Andries Venter and Christina Maria Etrecia Kruger

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 27 Dec 2022: 70446117KT Sergeant Andries Johannes Kruger, Bronkhorstspruit Commando, killed when their Unimog skidded off the Rundu-Bagani road in wet weather, age 23. Same Unimog as Wiese B.F. PN 33863 and Myburgh L. PN 32139. Unit was Regiment Bloemspruit — corrected to Bronkhorstspruit Commando (Graham: the Commando member of the three). Regiment set to South African Commandos. Unit2 1st Bn (Bloemspruit) cleared to Army.
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 "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
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Source: https://rohsa.co.za/person.php?PersonNumber=31165&pdf=1

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South African Roll of Honour — Remembering those who served and fell. Lest We Forget.