Ndiaombe (U)

Mike Sandham's research log ("List 1"), imported 16 Sep 2026, credited to The South Africa War Graves Project unless his entry says otherwise: gives Age 31 against this record's 20. This record has no date of birth, so there is nothing to adjudicate with. Flagged, not changed.
16 Sep 2026, ServiceNo contamination sweep: the stored ServiceNo '92712233' was CLEARED. It was not a reading of this man's record. PersonNumbers 32175 to 32180 -- 6 consecutive records -- all carried the identical number, which belongs to the record at the head of that run (32175, Ndawonde, Ndara (B 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.
Mike Sandham OMISSIONS: 19 SEPTEMBER (mailed 19 Sep 2026, credited The South Africa War Graves Project unless otherwise specified): CONTAMINATION CONFIRMED AND CLEARED. Mike asks "Person # 32179 to 32181 First name contaminated by 32178?" -- he is right, and 32183 is contaminated from 32182 the same way. This record's FirstName read "Theophillus", copied from PersonNumber 32178, while its own Initials are "U", which that forename cannot produce. The forename has been CLEARED rather than guessed at: the initials are the surviving evidence of this man's name and they are kept. Same forward-fill import artefact as the ServiceNo contamination swept on 16 Sep 2026.
Mike Sandham OMISSIONS: 19 SEPTEMBER (mailed 19 Sep 2026, credited The South Africa War Graves Project unless otherwise specified): also flagged by Mike as a duplicate -- "Person # 48807 Ndiamombe / Person # 32179 Ndiaombe, Special Constable, South West African Police, 1983/09/19. Same person?" The two differ by one letter and agree on rank, force and date of death. His own entry reads "Special Constable U Ndiaombe... Killed in action, during a contact with SWAPO/PLAN insurgents in Northern Owamboland. He was 31" -- note the AGE CONFLICT: 31 against this record's 20. Merge held pending John.
20 Sep 2026: MERGED duplicate PersonNumber 48807 into this record on John's instruction, after Mike Sandham's 19 Sep omissions mail identified the pair. Both were Special Constables of the South West African Police killed on 19 September 1983; the surnames differ by a single letter, 48807 reading "Ndiamombe" against this record's "Ndiaombe".
- ALTERNATE SPELLING PRESERVED: the surname is also recorded as "Ndiamombe".
- ALTERNATE UNIT FORM PRESERVED: 48807 gave his unit as "SAP Security Branch: Special Operations (K)", where this record spells out the South West Africa Police Counter-Insurgency Wing: Ops-K Division (Koevoet). The two name the same organisation.
- 48807 was created from the War In Angola Roll of Honour as its sole source; that citation has been moved here, so this record now carries SAWGP, the Koevoet Wall of Remembrance and War In Angola.
- AGE UNRESOLVED: this record gives 20; Mike's entry gives 31. 48807 carried no age at all, so the merge neither settles nor worsens it. Flagged, not changed.