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Minnie , Jan Jacobus (J J)

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Photo of Minnie Photo of Minnie
Identity
Person No.
31907
Old ROH no.
1989
Service No.
78492576PE
Last Name
Minnie 13
First Name
Jan Jacobus
Initials
J J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1963 (±1 yr) 330
Age at Death
18
Death Record
Date of Death
21 August 1981 115
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died in training 8
Died in training, accidentally killed while setting up a roadblock. While erecting a tent he picked up a dud high-explosive mortar bomb on the firing range and used it to hammer in a tent peg; it exploded in his face, killing him instantly
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Infantry School Oudtshoorn 20
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,874
Locality
Western Cape 2,137
Cemetery
BELLVILLE (STIKLAND) CEMETERY 91
Grave Reference
HA2 1
Notes

Son of Mr. J. A. Minnie

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 21 Aug 2026: 78492576PE Rifleman Jan Jacobus Minnie, Infantry School, killed instantly when a dud high-explosive mortar bomb used as a tent-peg hammer exploded in his face while setting up a roadblock, age 18. ROH already had undetonated ordnance used as a hammer — mortar / roadblock / tent-peg detail filled. CauseCode was UNK — set to ACC. DATE DISCREPANCY 25 Aug 2026: pantser.cmvo.org.za's SADF deaths PDF gives this person's Sterf (date of death) as "26 08 81" (DD MM YY) against the same ServiceNo (78492576PE) and name -- differs from this record's DateDeath (1981-08-21). Not overwritten, flagged for reference.
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 2
by de Bruin on 21 June 2001 · via source
In memory of Minnie In late 1981, at Umathiya, various Infantry School companies were undergoing the normal strict Infantry School evaluation prior to being deployed in an operation that we were being prepared for. It turned out to be Ops Daisy where we were to provide search and destroy operations in support of 61 Mech. HQ company had an awesome record of performance possibly due to a much feared Staff Sergeant James. While they were undergoing evaluation Minnie's platoon were informed that they were about to break an Infantry School record in setting up an "ala-Infantry School" road block. Minnie was as dedicated as they come and needed to plug two tent pegs in quick so as not to miss the record. The hammer was on the other side of the roadblock so he found what seemed to be an old piece of metal. He struck the peg and the piece of metal exploded. The piece of metal turned out to be a very old 90mm (DUD) mortar of some sort. My closest friend at the time, Roland Miller, was in his platoon and was instructed to collect Minnie's remains by spade and place them in a body bag. At the time of the explosion, we (Alpha company) who had completed our evaluation for the day were enjoying a siesta in our tent when shrapnel tore through our tent which was barely 60 metres from the point of explosion. Miller who was was also a good buddy of Minnie later said that the incident, as sad as it was, was purely accidental on Minnie's part with no one else due any blame. I am sure that even today Umathiya is infested with un-detonated hardware. L.M. de Bruin ldebruin@icon.co.za Infantry School (1981) L.M.
by Paul Oxley on 05 July 2010 · via source
I am the only eye witness to what happened. Minnie and I were in Platoon 6, HQ Coy, Inf School. The platoon was tasked with establishing a formal roadblock facility as part of our TEINOPS. This facility comprised 16X32?tents and toilet areas. Minnie and I were establishing the toilet (a pisslelie and gokart) with 1.8m screening surrounds. We had hoped to kick the pegs for the guy-ropes for the screens in with our boots, but had hit a hard patch of ground (at Oshivello... Who woulda thunk?). Minnie was holding the screen upright whilst I ran around the 16X32 to find a hammer from the other guys. When I came back around the tent with the hammer I saw Minnie about 10m in front of me hitting one of the poles the screen was attached to into the ground with a green/brown pipe. It turned out to be the tail section of a 3 and a half inch bazooka missile. There was a blinding flash (but no sound that I can recall) and the screen and everything above Minnie's web-belt disappeared. Gone! As I recall we struck the tents, packed the equipment and returned to our lines. I then had to report to the HQ area where I was quizzed by the brass, and the intel okies produced drawings to identify the UXO. Done and dusted. I had to give a statement to the SAP when next I was in the States, but never heard anything further about JJ. We deployed shortly thereafter on Ops Protea where lots of other stupid shit happened so it wasn't as if we were given time to dwell or anything...
Dedications 1
by Johan Minnie on 16 May 2004 · via source
Wrn Minnie was die oudste Minnie kleinseun, en my neef gewees. Dit was vir die hele familie 'n geweldige slag toe ons hoor van sy dood. Na al die jare dink ons nog dikwels aan Kleinjan, en is ons baie trots op hom.