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Rautenbach , Riaan Jakob (R J)

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Photo of Rautenbach
Identity
Person No.
32648
Old ROH no.
1195
Service No.
81233033BG
Last Name
Rautenbach 24
First Name
Riaan Jakob
Initials
R J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1965 (±1 yr) 279
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
05 August 1985 80
Cause code
Unknown
Cause of Death
Killed in a mortar accident when the 120mm mortar tube exploded while engaged in shooting a fire plan in the training area to the North of 61 Mech's Ops base at Omuthiya 1
Killed in a mortar accident when the 120mm mortar tube exploded while engaged in shooting a fire plan in the training area to the North of 61 Mech's Ops base at Omuthiya
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Gunner
Regiment
61 Mechanised Battalion Group 23
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,839
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
KwaZulu-Natal 1,589
Cemetery
RICHARDS BAY CEMETERY 1
Grave Reference
A21 1
Unit History
Role at time of death
Mechanised Infantry (combined-arms battalion group)
Status
Regular Force
Part of
South African Defence Force (1957–1994) — I South African Corps (1 SA Corps) — Battlegroups
Formed 1978 as Battle Group Juliet (SWAPO counter-insurgency, Ovamboland); formally named 61 Mechanised Battalion (Group) January 1979; disbanded 2005 at Lohatla. "Battalion Group" reflects its integral combined-arms structure: two Ratel-20-mounted infantry companies, an armoured car/tank squadron (Eland/Ratel-90, later Olifant), an integral G5 howitzer artillery battery, an 81mm mortar platoon, an anti-tank platoon, and an anti-aircraft troop -- not merely units attached for one operation. Fought at the Battle of the Lomba River, 1987. No evidence found that it was ever subordinated to or redesignated as a "61 Mechanised Brigade" -- see the note on that separate OrgEntity record.
Notes

Son of Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Rautenbach, of Richards Bay. | 120mm M5 live-firing at Omuthiya. Tail of the bomb broke off inside the pipe; pipe burst; mortally wounded by shrapnel, died a few minutes later.

Research notes

Gunners Association RoH lists them (South African Border War 1985 Gunner R.J. Rautenbach) - https://www.gunners.org.za/home-2/roll-of-honour/
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 1
by RIP Lynton Hiles on 19 May 2007 · via source
I believe this guy was on the border with me at 61 Mechanised Battalion, at a place known as Omathiya, just north of the Oshivelo gate in sector 10. We were from 4 field Artillery in Potch and were sent to the border from Dec 1984 to Dec 1985. The guys were on a training shoot with 120mm mortars when his mortar tube exploded after dropping a mortar into the device. Apparantly there was a hairline crack in the tube which caused it to blow up killing him instantly.
Dedications 2
by undefined:undefined on 27 June 2016 · via War in Angola
RIP brother gunner
by Johan Schoeman on 05 August 2019 · via War in Angola
Feedback from Chris Schutte: R J Rautenbach - Charlie gun. He was standing next to me and Henk Bothma and Wimpie Snyman. Tail fin broke off according to results of inquiry. Blast of the mortar killed him. Shrapnel caught Henk and Wimpy. Rauties died with a smile on his face. Shared a joke beforehand. Fingers still in his ears. After the explosion a fire started in between the ammo and ladings around the mortar. We threw sand on the fire and rolled over the fire to kill it. A scary few seconds later we managed to kill it. Wasn't a nice experience. The next time we fired the mortar was scary to say the least. Still miss my friend. His father was a big strong bloke. When the coffin went down in the grave he ran forward and almost lifted it out of the grave and screamed for his son. Will never forget it.