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Identity
Person No.
31762
Old ROH no.
934
Service No.
74316175PK
Last Name
First Name
Alfred Desmond
Initials
A D
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
27
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Due to tactical circumstances, his troop got stuck in the mud of a shona near the Lomba River during a tank fight, and his Ratel 90 was destroyed at point blank by a T55 tank. 2Lt Alves, his crew as well as 32 Bn members such as Capt Mac McCallum was killed instantly. The tank round penetrated the Ratel through the side door, detonated in the main ammunition storage container and resulted in an explosion causing the vehicle to catch fire. (Operation Modular)
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Captain
Regiment
32 (Buffalo) Battalion 275
Later renamed
32 Battalion
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Within the Voortrekker Monument heritage precinct, Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
No. 124
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Cuito Cuanavale, Cuando Cubango province, Angola
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Operation Moduler
Operation
Operation
Dates
1987-08-01 to 1987-11-15
About
Operation launched to support UNITA against a major FAPLA offensive aimed at capturing UNITA's stronghold of Mavinga. Culminated in the Battle of the Lomba River (September-October 1987), where SADF mechanised and artillery forces, fighting alongside UNITA, halted and largely destroyed FAPLA's 47 Brigade attempting to cross the river — the action in which several ROH records on this site (Alves, De Klerk, Kuyler, McCallum, Mananza, Tchipango and others) were killed when their Ratel 90 was destroyed at point-blank range by a T-55 tank.
Notes
Son of James Frank William McCallum, of Vereeniging, Transvaal
Research notes
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 13 Sep 2026 / Bushwar Books Lest We Forget 13 September (https://www.warbooks.co.za/posts/lest-we-forget-13-september/ 74316175PK Captain Alfred Desmond McCallum, 32 Battalion (Foxtrot Coy OC), Ratel 90 destroyed point-blank by T-55 shell, Ops Modular, age 28. SN/unit/cause already matched. CONFLICT flagged, not changed: Graham+Bushwar age 28 vs stored Age 27.
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
-
Bushwar Books - Lest We Forget
open source ↗
Lest We Forget 13 September
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Graham Last Post 13 Sep 2026
-
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), pages 66-76 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 2
On 13 September 1987, during Operation Modular in southern Angola, a 32 Battalion anti-tank Ratel commanded by 2Lt J.R. Alves was engaged in combat with FAPLA T-55 tanks, and became bogged down in a muddy shona. Before the men could extricate themselves, their Ratel was hit and destroyed by a T-55 tank, killing all the crew and men aboard the Ratel, including 2Lt Alves and Capt A.D. McCallum, the commanding officer of Foxtrot Company. Information extracted from 32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit ,
13 Sep 1987: Six members of 32 Battalion were Killed in Action in a single incident during Ops Modular in Southern Angola. A 32 Battalion Anti-Tank Ratel 90, Callsign 13, Commanded by 2/Lieutenant Jose Raymond Alves became bogged down in a muddy shona while engaging FAPLA manned Soviet T-55 tanks. Before the men could extricate themselves, their Ratel 90 was hit and destroyed at point blank by a Soviet T-55 tank shell. The tank round penetrated the Ratel through the side door and detonated inside the main ammunition storage container. This resulted in an explosion within the Ratel causing the vehicle to catch fire. The Ratel crew and passengers were all killed instantly in the explosion. The burnt out Ratel was later destroyed by SADF Engineers to prevent its capture. Captain Alfred Desmond McCallum was the Commanding Officer of Foxtrot Company. Those Killed in Action were: 74316175PK Captain Alfred Desmond McCallum. He was 28 83502815BG 2/Lieutenant Jose Raymond Alves. He was 20. 83302422BG Lance Corporal Matthys Michael De Klerk. He was 20. 832441178BG Trooper Marthinus Johannes Kuyler. He was 20. 81533671SP Lance Corporal Joao Rodrigues Mananza. He was 33. 76928621SP Lance Corporal Waite Tchipango. He was 31
Dedications 4
Mac, Ek onthou nog met groot vreugde en plesier tye gedurende 1983. Ek onthou jou en Speedy se laatnag poefstories. Ek onthou keuring en die dankie-tannie pakkies. Ek onthou Big Daddy, Kallie Ilenveldt, Jan Hougaardt, Victor Pappa, Jagsper Brand en ander name. Hoop jy rus in vrede Stephan Pretorius Mor Komp 32Bn
Mac - hard gewerk en hard gespeel. Daai rooi GPZ1100 het sy kant gebring/ Rus in vrede.
I pay tribute to you, and I wish you a very Happy Birthday for today. You may not contribute anymore, but you are very far from forgotten. ...
Hy was 'n broer, 'n seun, 'n vriend, maar ongelukkig 'n soldaat in hart en siel. Hy was sterk, fun, humoristies en tog met tye so ernstig. Hy was iemand om na op te kyk en raad van te kry. Hy was maar net 28 jaar oud toe hy gesterf het op 13 September 1987, maar tog so ryk en wys vir sy ouderdom. More sy verjaarsdag 28 Desember 2008 en ons mis hom nog steeds so veel.