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Rautenbach , Andries Jacobus (A J)

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Photo of Rautenbach
Identity
Person No.
32643
Old ROH no.
1193
Service No.
73437568BA
Last Name
Rautenbach 24
First Name
Andries Jacobus
Initials
A J
Date of Birth
27 March 1957 118
Age at Death
18
Death Record
Date of Death
10 January 1976 82
Cause code
SHOT 546
Shot
Cause of Death
Died in Shooting Incident 289
Died in Shooting Incident, at Rundu
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
8 South African Infantry Battalion 71
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,852
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Limpopo 190
Cemetery
WARMBATHS (BELA BELA) CEMETERY 21
Grave Reference
A31 1
Unit History
Part of
Infantry Formation (SAAIF) — Mechanised Infantry — Regular
Notes

No additional information known at this time | Parents lived near Warmbaths, on the Springbok Vlakte, at the time of his death (per Andre van der Merwe, 2015).

Research notes

DATE DISCREPANCY 25 Aug 2026: pantser.cmvo.org.za's SADF deaths PDF gives this person's Sterf (date of death) as "11 01 76" (DD MM YY) against the same ServiceNo (73437568BA) and name -- differs from this record's DateDeath (1976-01-10). Not overwritten, flagged for reference.
Andre van der Merwe (eyewitness, in the room, ROH stories 13 & 16 Oct 2015): confirms the death date as 10 Jan 1976, corroborating this record's own DateDeath over the pantser.cmvo.org.za PDF's conflicting '11 01 76' already flagged here 25 Aug 2026 -- treat this record's 10 Jan as the better-supported date. Gives exact DOB (27 Mar 1957, added) and sub-unit (8 SAI, B Company); narrates the accidental discharge (L/Cpl "Wimpie" handling an unfamiliar, loaded R1) in the Ovambo bunker.
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 1
by Andre v d Merwe on 13 October 2015
A J Rautenbach, Andre, died in January 1976 in Rundu base, as a result of a shooting accident. I think it was the 10th. We were three riflemen and one lance coporal who sat and chat in the Ovambo bunker at Rundu. Rauties was sitting next to me on my bed when the Lance corporal, Wimpie, shot him by mistake. Wimpy, who sat right opposit Rauties, had a brand new R1, from one of the other guys, in his hands and was checking through the sights when Rauties made a joke and told Wimpie to line it up on him, Rauties. Whithout knowing that the rifle was loaded, he did so and pulled the trigger. Rauties was hit in the mouth and died immediately. We ran out of the tent and summoned for help, but it was to late. It was a very traumatic experience for all of us.
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.