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Pietersen , Willem Johannes (W J)

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No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
32524
Old ROH no.
1149
Service No.
72512734KT
Last Name
Pietersen 24
First Name
Willem Johannes
Initials
W J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1957 (±1 yr) 431
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
05 May 1977 122
Cause code
DROW 1,204
Drowned
Cause of Death
Died in Freak Accident 255
Died in Freak Accident, drowned. Part of a 4-man squad on O.P. duties on the Kavango River, on a piece of land that formed a peninsula. During the night the river rose, cutting that piece of land off from the river-edge. The river flowed very strongly and, in the squads' attempts to get back, Pietersen drowned
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
South African Commandos 98
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Boksburg Commando 3
Defence Force
SADF 3,848
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
BOKSBURG CEMETERY 96
Grave Reference
Block C, Grave 2209 1
Coordinates
-26.21977, 28.27423 OSM
Unit History
Role at time of death
Infantry (area defence)
Status
Commando (Area Bound Reserve)
Part of
SADF Commando System category
Generic Regiment-field text used across hundreds of records whose actual unit is a specific local Commando (e.g. Rustenburg Commando, Boksburg Commando -- captured in Unit). Post-WWII, "Commando" is its own force-component category alongside Regular/Permanent Force and Active Citizen Force -- area-bound, part-time reserve units tied to a specific district, mobilised for local counter-insurgency/area protection duties during the Border War era. Not a single regiment; this Status applies to the whole category.
Notes

Son of Mr. W. J. Pietersen, of Boksburg.

Research notes


14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added -- database-wide sweep for SADF Border War operational-area deaths within the medal's gazetted window (25 Jun 1976 - 27 Apr 2003), per the warrant's died-before-qualifying-period provision. See PersonAward.Citation for the gazette references.
14 Sep 2026: Pro Patria Medal added earlier today REVERTED -- John obtained the actual Government Gazette (GG 5171/5575); the "died before completing the qualifying period" provision relied on does not exist in the primary text (it was a secondary-source claim). Actual Rule 5 requires (a) combat/enemy-caused incident, (b) a Ministerially-acknowledged operation (clasp), or (c) 55+ continuous/90+ non-continuous days in an operational area -- none of which this record's cause of death clearly demonstrates.
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

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Dedications 1
by Porter on 04 October 2002 · via source
Willie served with Boksburg Commando from March to June 1977. On 12 May (if I remember correctly) he was part of a 4-man squad on O.P. duties on the Kavango River, on a piece of land that formed a peninsula. During the night the river rose, cutting that piece of land off from the river-edge. The river flowed very strongly and, in the squads' attempts to get back, our comrade drowned. It was his squad-leader, Dave Clench's 21st Birthday. We Will Remember You. B.