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Michael (B)

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Photo of Michael
Identity
Person No.
31894
Old ROH no.
2104
Service No.
Unknown
Last Name
Michael 4
First Name
Unknown
Initials
B
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1957 (±1 yr) 431
Age at Death
24
Death Record
Date of Death
15 October 1981 147
Cause code
KIA 14,778
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action 14,654
Killed in action, against terrorists in the operational area. Killed whilst apart of a small Special Forces team carrying out an operation against the Harare-Beira railway near Doeroi, in Mozambique, some 300 miles from the South African border. It would appear there was a premature detonation whilst they were laying their demolition charges, and he and three of his comrades were killed. FRELIMO found their bodies and equipment, but as per SOPs, nothing was being carried which would enable them to identify the men
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
5 Reconnaissance Regiment 72
Later renamed 5 Special Forces Regiment (1995)
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,836
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,873
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
SADF WALL OF REMEMBRANCE, VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA 1,926
Grave Reference
Body not recovered 79
Memorial
Memorial
SADF Wall of Remembrance
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Voortrekker Monument, Eeufees Road, Groenkloof, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa
Coordinates
-25.77639, 28.17583 · OpenStreetMap
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Role at time of death
Special Forces (reconnaissance)
Status
Regular Force
Each numbered Reconnaissance unit was renamed over time: "X Reconnaissance Commando" -> "X Reconnaissance Regiment" (1981) -> briefly a Parachute Battalion designation (1992/93, under "45 Parachute Brigade", a Special-Forces-only designation distinct from the real 44 Parachute Brigade) -> "X Special Forces Regiment" (1995). The parent formation itself changed name several times before 1995 (Special Forces Headquarters, then Directorate Reconnaissance(Forces)) with disputed exact dates between sources -- 1995 is the one date sources agree on. Corps classified as SAIC (South African Infantry Corps) per this site's own records; no independent source found confirms that for Special Forces units specifically -- treat as owner-asserted pending a better citation.
Awards
Pro Patria Medal
Pro Patria Medal
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

No additional information known at this time

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 15 Oct 2025: Rifleman B. Michael, 5 Reconnaissance Regiment, age 24. Graham: Reported Missing on the Harare-Beira railway near Doeroi, Mozambique; premature detonation while laying charges; bodies later found by FRELIMO; no known grave. ROH already records the Doeroi demolition incident. ROH name is Seth Lebakeng Michael (B); unit was 32 Battalion (regiment already 5 Recce). Names not overwritten.
SASFA In Memoriam (operators): confirmed Special Forces operator. SASFA: Michael B KIA 1981. https://www.recce.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/4.1.-Memoriam.pdf
5 Sep 2026, FirstName-contamination revisit (folding into the 31 Aug 2026 scan): Graham du Toit's own 15 Oct 2025 citation already names him "B. Michael" -- initial only, matching stored Initials "B" exactly; that citation left the name "not overwritten" pending confirmation, which this is. Cleared rather than guessed -- correct first name still unknown.
16 Sep 2026, ServiceNo contamination sweep: the stored ServiceNo '82733874SP' was CLEARED. It was not a reading of this man's record. PersonNumbers 31893 to 31894 -- 2 consecutive records -- all carried the identical number, which belongs to the record at the head of that run (31893, Mica, Seth Lebakeng (J M)). A value repeated down an unbroken block of PersonNumbers is a forward-fill import artefact, not men who shared a service number; the pattern holds across 850 such runs on this roll and is independently confirmed by Mike Sandham's research log, which attaches such numbers to the head of the run 167 times against 6 contradictions (all examined). No replacement is guessed: this man's real service number is simply not known, and a blank field says so honestly where another man's number did not.
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
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