Identity
Person No.
32434
Old ROH no.
1708
Service No.
77316404BG
Last Name
First Name
Timothy Simmons
Initials
T S
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
18
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,779
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, during special operation in support of UNITA at Savate, Angola, in a contact with the enemy. (Operation Tiro a Tiro). A phosphorus grenade on his webbing was struck and exploded
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Regiment
32 (Buffalo) Battalion 275
Later renamed
32 Battalion
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,828
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Within the Voortrekker Monument heritage precinct, Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
No. 46
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Savate, Cuando Cubango (Cubango) province, Angola
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Killed at Savate, 21 May 1980, Operation Tiro a Tiro
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
1980 Army. Right column. 37th name from the top (Patrick T.S.)
Awards
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
Son of the late Mr. P. E. Patrick and Mrs. D. Hindle, of Pietermaritzburg.
Research notes
SADF Wall of Remembrance (Voortrekker Monument): named on photograph "1980 Army (Abel–Ralikwatha). Photograph: South African War Graves Project.". 1980 Army. Right column. 37th name from the top (Patrick T.S.).
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 36-41 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 3
32 bn May 21 1980 Savate Angola cpl Andy falkus cpl engelbrecht capt Erasmus Lt patrick Capt C Muller (I think) This was a spec op in support of UNITA and the actual attack commenced at 09:21 Posted by : Dean Shelley dean@phoenix.idiscover.co.uk Dean Shelley
I (Peter de Kock) was the signalman at Omauni from where the attack on Savate was co-ordinated and launched. I met Patrick briefly the day before the attack when he asked me to look after his belongings. Then two or three days later his body was returned to Omauni and then forwared to Rundu. It may have been 22 years ago but I remember it like yesterday.
On 21 May, 32 Battalion were tasked to support a UNITA attack on the FAPLA base at Savate, Angola. Unknown to them, the FAPLA strength had been badly underestimated by UNITA and there was over 1000 heavily armed soldiers at Savate, rather than the 300 estimated. However, the assault went in as planned, and after a bloody day of fighting, Savate was captured and FAPLA routed with more than 550 dead and hundreds more wounded. Sadly, the battle cost 32 Battalion dearly, fifteen officers and men being killed in the fighting that day. 2nd Lieutenant T.C. Patrick was one of those who made the supreme sacrifice. Information extracted from 32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit ,
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.