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Littrell , Mark John (M J)

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Photo of Littrell
Identity
Person No.
31349
Old ROH no.
817
Service No.
82559279BG
Last Name
Littrell 1
First Name
Mark John
Initials
M J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1966 (±1 yr) 250
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
03 August 1985 110
Cause code
DOW 2,734
Died of wounds
Cause of Death
Died of wounds 2,436
Died of wounds, received in Freak Accident, accidentally sustained while based in the Northern Operational Area. While "C" Company 1 Parachute Battalion were out on Patrol, he remained behind at the base camp. It appears that a lit candle fell over inside a tent causing the tent to catch fire. While trying to extinguish the blaze, a mortar bomb in the tent exploded, critically wounding him in the stomach. He succumbed to his wounds a short while later
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Armoured Corps 23
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,874
Locality
Western Cape 2,137
Cemetery
CAPE TOWN (MAITLAND) CREMATORIUM 7
Grave Reference
Block 5 Row 6 Grave 7 1
Notes

Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Littrell

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
External References
Stories 1
on 02 November 2008 · via source
Mark died in a handgranade accident after a tent caught fire. The fire was caused by a candle that fell over. He tried to extinguish the fire when the handgranade exploded and he was hit by schrapnell in the abdomen. Undururundu Kaokoland Circa November 1985 Mark Harris
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.

Source: https://rohsa.co.za/person.php?PersonNumber=31349&pdf=1

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