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Potgieter , Ronald (R)

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Photo of Potgieter Photo of Potgieter
Identity
Person No.
32555
Old ROH no.
2095
Service No.
76519990BT
Last Name
Potgieter 112
First Name
Ronald
Initials
R
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1960 (±1 yr) 417
Age at Death
21
Death Record
Date of Death
17 December 1981 135
Cause code
DOW 2,734
Died of wounds
Cause of Death
Died of wounds 2,436
Died of wounds, resulting from an accidental mortar bomb explosion during a weapons demonstration in Northern Owamboland
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Sergeant
Regiment
Regiment De la Rey 20
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
"D" Squadron
Defence Force
SADF 3,848
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Eastern Cape 971
Cemetery
PORT ELIZABETH (FOREST HILL) CEMETERY 62
Grave Reference
Section 28, Row P, Number 30 1
Unit History
Role at time of death
Infantry, later Mechanised Infantry
Status
Active Citizen Force (Reserve)
Part of
82 Mechanised Brigade
Regiment de la Rey, established 1934 as one of the new Afrikaans-language Citizen Force units of the Union Defence Force. Renamed General de la Rey Regiment; one of only six mechanised units in the SANDF Reserve Force as of the post-1994 period.
Notes

No additional information known at this time

Research notes


4 Sep 2026: Unit leftover "Regiment De la Rey" (a named regiment, not a sub-unit) moved to Regiment. Corps unchanged.
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.

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories 1
by Marius Potgieter on 18 May 2009 · via source
Apparantly my brother died on 17th Dec 1981 on the border of SWA while demonstrating how to use a morter bomb. The army claimed he pulled the line himself. Does anybody have more info about what actually happened on that day as I find it hard to believe that he did not make the actual weapon safe before the demonstration.
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.