Identity
Person No.
31282
Old ROH no.
798
Service No.
84592641BG
Last Name
First Name
Marius Johann
Initials
M J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died in Freak Accident, as crew commander of a Ratel 90, the command came to visgraad (take cover under trees) when enemy Migs were overhead. A branch from the tree caught the browning mounting which came loose and hit Marius in the head, killing him. Ops Hooper
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Lance Corporal
Regiment
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Cuito Cuanavale, Cuando Cubango province, Angola
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Operation Hooper
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Operation
Operation
Dates
1987-12-01 to 1988-02-29
About
Follow-on operation after Moduler: SADF/UNITA forces pursued the retreating FAPLA brigades toward Cuito Cuanavale, engaging in heavy fighting east of the town (including the ZSU-23 and mine losses recorded against several ROH names here) as FAPLA dug in behind the Cuito River with strong Cuban-reinforced air defence and armour support.
Unit History
Role at time of death
Armour (Armoured Car)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Re-established 1 October 1973 out of C Squadron 1 SSB, itself formed as C Squadron of 2 Armoured Car Regiment in February 1962 and renamed 22 December 1966. Regimental HQ and C Squadron at Zeerust; D Squadron detached to 2 SAI at Walvis Bay. Squadrons served in Namibia and Angola from 1974: B, C and D Squadrons on Operation Savannah, 8 October 1975 to 31 January 1976, and later Operations Protea, Daisy, Hooper and Modular. On 25 January 1988 it became the first unit in South Africa granted the Right of Free Admission to a coloured community, Henryville. Most of the men on this roll who point at 2 SSB belong to this period. Also took part in Operation Adding on 10 February 1988, the intervention restoring the Bophuthatswana government after the coup attempt against President Mangope. Equipped with the Ratel IFV and, from May 1990, the Rooikat; received national colours 30 June 1990.
Notes
Son of Mr. L. J. O. Lecouna
Research notes
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
-
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), page 22 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 3
Maruis was a crew commander of a Ratel 90 belonging to 61Mech in Angola during Op Hooper. Trained in 2SSB Zeerust. Marius was commanding his Ratel when the command came to visgraad (take cover under trees) when enemy Migs were overhead. A branch from the tree caught the browning mounting which came loose and hit Marius in the head. Marius was a great guy, always the centre of any fun. Unknown Unknown
I knew Marius - I was in Bravo company - 90mm Ratels, He was a really good friend. :/ - I remember the asccident, it still saddens me.
I trained with Marius in Zeerest, he was really an exceptional character - for his team leading, and fortitude. We got separated early in training, but stayed in touch, he always maintained I was the only gunner to hit a target cleanly at 1.3 clicks - he was right.
Dedications 1
Vito Jy was die burgemeester van "Angola Sun". Ons super bivvie net buite Mavinga. Ek onthou ons o/kpl kurses by 2SDB - Zeerust, ons vlug na Rundu, ons "nuwe Ratels" en die opfok in die bos. Jy het ons moraal hoog gehou met jou grapgat se-goed. En vir die wat nie daar was nie, ons het hulle seergemaak! Rus in vrede! Buys JW Buys (kpl)