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Shilemba , Arau (A)

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Identity
Person No.
32922
Old ROH no.
2102
Service No.
Unknown
Last Name
First Name
Arau
Initials
A
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
33
Death Record
Cause code
KIA 14,780
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, in Angola
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Unit
Unknown
Secondary Unit
Army
Defence Force
SADF 3,823
South African Defence Force
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
1978 Army. Right column. 18th name from the top (Shilemba A.)
Unit History
Home Unit
Attached To
Role at time of death
Special Forces (Reconnaissance)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
5 Special Forces Regiment operates as one of the standing/permanent operational regiments of South African Special Forces, established from the same 1972 lineage as 1 Reconnaissance Commando. Special Forces are their own branch within the SANDF, not part of the Army.
Awards
Pro Patria Medal
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

First black man to be buried in the cemetery. Born in Bailundo - Angola. ref. "Rhodesian Roll of Honour" by P. Geldenhuys (Roll compiled by Dr. J. R. T. Wood)

Research notes

SADF Wall of Remembrance (Voortrekker Monument): named on photograph "1978 SAA (Castle–Havenga, Mennigke–Wolfgang)". 1978 Army. Right column. 18th name from the top (Shilemba A.).
SASFA In Memoriam (operators): confirmed Special Forces operator. SASFA: Shilemba A DOI 1978. https://www.recce.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/4.1.-Memoriam.pdf 26 Aug 2026: Unit was leftover ""D" Squadron Rhodesian SAS". SAWGP Regiment 5 Reconnaissance Regiment with no separate unit; Unit 2 attd. "D" Squadron Rhodesian Special Air Service recorded as attachment.
Geldenhuys, Prop. Rhodesian War Casualties. 3rd printing. JustDone / Lulu, 2009 (Rhodesia: Roll of Honour). (same name/date; record remains South African Force=SADF).
16 Sep 2026, ServiceNo contamination sweep: the stored ServiceNo '97274559' was CLEARED. It was not a reading of this man's record. PersonNumbers 32921 to 32928 -- 8 consecutive records -- all carried the identical number, which belongs to the record at the head of that run (32921, Shilajwe, Simeon (K J)). A value repeated down an unbroken block of PersonNumbers is a forward-fill import artefact, not men who shared a service number; the pattern holds across 850 such runs on this roll and is independently confirmed by Mike Sandham's research log, which attaches such numbers to the head of the run 167 times against 6 contradictions (all examined). No replacement is guessed: this man's real service number is simply not known, and a blank field says so honestly where another man's number did not.

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories 1
by Graham Du Toit on 04 September 2014 · via source
02 Sep 1978: Rifleman Arau Shilemba from 5 Reconnaissance Regiment was Killed in Mozambique while on operations when he accidentally walked into a helicopter tail rotor. He was serving with D-Squadron SAS (as the Reconnaissance Operators were designated when they operated as Rhodesian SAS) at the time of his death. He was 24.
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.