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Labuschagne , Barend Johannes (B J)

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Identity
Person No.
31203
Service No.
71504898
First Name
Barend Johannes
Initials
B J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
32
Death Record
Cause code
SUIC 384
Suicide
Cause of Death
Committed suicide, shot himself, with an R4 rifle, at Lomba. He was stationed at the Base Admin Area at Lomba, Angola, where he contracted malaria. Although he received treatment at Rundu, he returned to the Operational Area too soon. The base was subjected to an aerial attack and the stress, as well as depression, caused him to shoot himself. His death was officially regarded as a war casualty
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Warrant Officer Class II
Regiment
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Notes

Husband of Mrs. K. J. Labuschagne, of Luttig Street, Pretoria West. Father of Carel Pieterse (born Labuschagne) and Yolande Pieterse (born Labuschagne)

Research notes


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
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