Identity
Person No.
32648
Old ROH no.
1195
Service No.
81233033BG
Last Name
First Name
Riaan Jakob
Initials
R J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
20
Military Service
Death Record
Date of Death
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
Grave Reference
Location
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.
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 05 Aug 2026: 120mm M5 mortar-pipe burst, Omuthiya.
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project
Stories 1
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
No dedications have been added yet.