Identity
Person No.
32654
Old ROH no.
1196
Service No.
83490110BG
Last Name
First Name
Johann
Initials
J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
ACC 1,585
Accident
Cause of Death
Died of injuries, received in Operation Modular. After the Rinkhals he was assigned to broke down, the medics (Redelinghuys and 2nd Lt Davis) stayed with their vehicle when it was recovered by a Withings Recovery vehicle. While being towed they were hit by a BM21 rockets salvo and Redelinghuys was critically wounded in the stomach and the Doctor, 2nd Lt Davis, was slightly injured. Using a damaged Ratel and after avoiding a T-54 tank, Redelinghuys was casevaced but died in Rundu
Military Service
Branch
Medical Health
Rank
Lance Corporal
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SADF 3,823
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
Cuito Cuanavale, Cuando Cubango province, Angola
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
Operation Moduler
Operation
Operation
Dates
1987-08-01 to 1987-11-15
About
Operation launched to support UNITA against a major FAPLA offensive aimed at capturing UNITA's stronghold of Mavinga. Culminated in the Battle of the Lomba River (September-October 1987), where SADF mechanised and artillery forces, fighting alongside UNITA, halted and largely destroyed FAPLA's 47 Brigade attempting to cross the river — the action in which several ROH records on this site (Alves, De Klerk, Kuyler, McCallum, Mananza, Tchipango and others) were killed when their Ratel 90 was destroyed at point-blank range by a T-55 tank.
Unit History
Role at time of death
Medical
Status
Mixed: Permanent Force (majority) + Reserve medical battalion groups
Predecessor South African Medical Service (SAMS) formally established 1 July 1979 (became SAMHS 1994). 2022-era structure shows most of the Mobile Military Health Formation as active/Permanent Force, with specific battalion groups (1, 3, 6 Medical Bn Gp) designated Reserve. Which component applied to a given Border War-era record is not determined by this source alone.
Awards
South Africa
Pro Patria Medal warrant, Government Gazette No. 5171 (25 Jun 1976), Rule 5, as amended by GG No. 5575 (3 Jun 1977); discontinued by GG No. 25213 (25 Jul 2003, Schedule corrected by GG No. 26778, 17 Sep 2004) for service on/after 27 Apr 2003. Gazette extracts: https://rohsa.co.za/award.php?id=24
Notes
Son of Mr. J. J. Redelinghuys
Research notes
26 Aug 2026: Unit leftover "8 South African Infantry Battalion" → South African Medical Service (SAWGP Regiment, no Unit); Regiment "South African Medical Health Service" → South African Medical Service (SAWGP Regiment).
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.
Mike Sandham's research log ("List 1"), imported 16 Sep 2026, credited to The South Africa War Graves Project unless his entry says otherwise: filled Regiment, RegimentID -- each of these was EMPTY on this record and no existing value was changed. Derived fields recomputed inline where applicable.
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 66-76 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 5
L/Cpl Redelinghuys was an Ops Medic who died after sustaining injury during Operation Modular. After the Rinkhals he was assigned to broke down, the medics ( Redelinghuys and 2nd Lt Davis ) stayed with their vehicle when it was recovered by a Wit Hings - While being towed they came upon a T54 that turned and attacked them - the driver of the Wit Hings - A Sgt close to Retirement and the doctor - 2nd Lt Davis - were slightly injured - Redelinghuys was cassavaced and died in Rundu - Date unknown
I served in the same group as Louis, having done basic training in Potch and then Ops training in Pretoria. Although I didn't know him well personally, his death affected us all deeply as he was the first person from our training group to be killed.
I was the crew commander of a Ratel 90 (Call sign T31) that casevaced L/Cpl Redelinhuys, Lt Davis and Staff Sargeant 'Blackie' Swart. I was ferrying T31 to the rear eschelon, as the main cannon had malfunctioned - T31A (my vehicle) was then swopped with T31, although I took my gunner (Trooper Bruwer) with me and used the original driver (Trooper Brits) - and I set off on the lone logistics run. We unexpectantly ran into a skirmish involving a T54 and a Stalins organ, both of which had opened up on a Withinks towing a Rinkals. We laid covering fire with the two Bowning 7.62'MG's and managed to scare the tank off, although the stalins organ managed to unleash its full load on us. We reversed when we came under fire and got stuck in a tree, when the driver promptly abandoned myself and my gunner . Staff Sargeant Swart run to us for help and took the drivers seat. We then drove to the Rinkals and casevacced both Lt Davis and L\Cpl Redelinhuys, then set off to find the nearest friendly position ASAP. I contacted my Squadron (C Squadron, 4SAI) on the radio and we were guided in by flare and radio directions, by our 2IC, Captain Steynberg. L/Cpl Redelinhuyswas still alive when we got back to the forward base, but died shortly afterwards. I believe that Staff Sargeant 'Blackie' Swart was later awarded the Honorus Crux for his part in the casevac.
Johan Redelinghuys was saam met my op skool in Randburg. Ek was ook gestasioneer in Rundu en toe op OPS(Moduler-1987) gestuur vir amper 3 maande in Angola tot so ver as Cuito Carnevale (approx 400km binne Angola). Henk Wybenga L/bdr AA (part of 62 mech) Henk
Adendum to my story above: It was Sergeant 'Lappies' Labuschagne that drove the vehicle and later received the HC for his actions on this days, not Staff Sergeant Swart. Also casevaced that day was Private Spencer, a member of Sergeant Labuschagne's recovery team.
Dedications 1
I did basics and OPS medic training with Johan and he shared the bed next to me during Ops Medic Training. He had a great sense of humour and was always smiling and reminding us all that we should not forget the gifts that god had given us - upojn refelction he was quite religous guy. At the time he was wounded he was with 61 mech when they were engaging the 21st cuban battalion - i was with 4 sai at the time and remember hearing he was hit over the radio. Another Ops medic D. Bessinger was the first to get to him before me and I recall that he was laughing about the fact that he was wounded (probably shock), he had a large piece of shrapnel from a BM 21 rocket shell that had hit the towbar between the Withings and the Rinkhals and exploded sticking out of his abdomen / hip. We managed to Casavac him but he died in Rundu from his wounds two/three days later. I was wounded on the same day and was also casavaced. Myself and another wounded ops medic in Rundu prepared Johans body for burial and i can clearly remeber not allowing anyone else touch him (after all he was our brother) before he was sent home. Rest in Peace my friend!