Identity
Person No.
31388
Old ROH no.
830
Service No.
72428725BC
Last Name
First Name
Thom Du Toit
Initials
T D T
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,779
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, in a contact with the enemy. He was part of a patrol sent out to clear a road which ran parallel to the Nhia River in Angola. While busy with this, they encountered an enemy patrol and a firefight ensued, during which he was killed
Military Service
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Awards
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
Brother of Mrs. J. Snyman, of Cape Town.
Research notes
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Air Force" was CLEARED. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word, and it CONTRADICTED this record's own Branch, "Army". Across the roll 787 records carried such a contradiction; judged against Corps and Regiment -- independent of both columns -- the evidence backed Branch 744 times and Unit2 not once. Branch is therefore kept and the contradicting word removed. Nothing is guessed: this man's branch of service is already recorded, and his sub-unit, if any, is simply not known.
Citations
Unknown
External References
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 26-28 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 1
Tom was from 2 SAI Walvis Bay and in my section & one of my best friends, we always talked about having a holiday at his farm after this war. I was second in command of the section & worked with him and the bren gunner. He was the strongest in our platoon. The day he was killed along with a fellow soldier, we were playing Bridge. Another section corporal who had lost men came up to me & asked who our best soldier was. I immediately said Tom. He went with them to the other side of Bridge 14. An hour later we heard a radio message. One dead, One wounded. I just knew it was him. It should have been me. He was a brave man and volunteered with a couple of us to walk 12 hours through Cuban lines to plant land mines. To this day I think of him daily. My heart goes out to his fiance who never new what happened to him. We recovered his body the next day after one of the biggest battles of Operation Savannah at bridge 14. I'll never forget you Tom we went through hell and you were a comrade in arms. It wasn't our war!
Dedications 1
To dear Tom Lotz. Much remembered by one of his school pals from Worcester. He paid the highest price - and for what? Remember the old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori Andre' Hull