Identity
Person No.
31945
Old ROH no.
970
Service No.
79524534BG
Last Name
First Name
William Francis
Initials
W F
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
FF 52
Friendly fire
Cause of Death
Died in Friendly Fire Incident, while in a Temporary Base, he walked out of the area one night and was accidentally shot by a guard when he returned
Military Service
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Unit History
Notes
Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Moag
Research notes
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
-
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 129-131 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 4
I think we replaced his unit. We were raced through to Nkongo base, 12 km from the Angolan border, where we replaced the drivers from Romeo Mike 16. The first team of drivers had been withdrawn, because one of them had died. The unit consisted of 27 Bushmen trackers, 6 drivers a sergeant and a lieutenant. The unit had been operating in Angola prior to our arrival, just above Nkongo. May he rest in peace!
We used to be good friends and I knew his family well. As far as I can remember Willie was shot by one of his own when he wandered out of the " TB " (temporary base) one night to have a leak. On his return he was shot when one of the soldiers in the platoon thought he was the enemy. Tragic story. At the time he was an OPS driver for Omega although he was from 7SAI. His sisters are Erma and Karen, can't remember his parents names. All very good people.
Cpl Moag joined us on an ops driving one of the Buffels of a Romeo Mike team.We were making our way out of the area following a contact had stopped the vehicle convoy overnight in a standard circular temporay base.Willie had been chatting with me and we had been talking about the Moon which was so distinct in the sky that night.Willie said good night and walked back to his vehicle where he had decided to sleep between the front and rear left wheels.I was just settling down to sleep when a shot was heard,Once we had established we were not under fire,the message went around the TB that Willie was shot.Willie had got up walked to the front of his vehicle passing the left front wheel ,had relieved himself directly in frontof his vehicle and was returning to his sleeping bag. A young tracker sleeping in line with Willies sleeping position woke, took fright seeing a person coming toward him and fired a single shot from an R1.I can only say that I believe the TB outlay was questionable that night.Willie had not wondered out of the temporary base.Technically the TB was not as it should have been in my opinion.Willie was a true friend and is always in my thoughts,I remember him so vividly when I hear Men at Work,"I come from a land down under".Gone but never forgotten my friend. Lionel Endersby ****.co.uk
we were at school best friends.when i was doing my national service i heard of his death but did not believe it.i always had it in the back of my mind and when i visited the voortreker monument i looked up his name on the wall of rememberance.it was difficult to come to terms with it.he was a good friend.i knew his younger sister as well leon du plessis
Dedications 2
Always remembered Lionel Endersby * ***.uk
Willie was our OPS driver while we operated with Omega (the bushmen) at Romeo Mike.