 CEMETERY_smuts_ws.jpg)
Identity
Person No.
33030
Old ROH no.
1323
Service No.
75477661BG
Last Name
First Name
Willem Stephanus
Initials
W S
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Military Service
Rank
Trooper
Regiment
Secondary Unit
attd. 53 Battalion
Defence Force
SADF 3,290
South African Defence Force
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
KIA 14,311
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action, during the early hours of the morning when the bungalow in which they were sleeping at Katima Mulilo received a direct hit from a Soviet GRAD-P 122mm High Explosive Katyusha Rocket. SWAPO/PLAN insurgents operating from Zambia fired 20 x 122mm GRAD-P Katyusha Rockets into the town. 18 rockets exploded harmlessly in the veld, one struck a school in the Katima Mulilo Township and the other demolished the Bungalow in which the soldiers were sleeping
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Coordinates
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
On the panel
1978 Army. Right column. 23rd name from the top (Smuts W.S.)
Notes
No additional information known at this time
Research notes
SADF Wall of Remembrance (Voortrekker Monument): named on photograph "1978 SAA (Castle–Havenga, Mennigke–Wolfgang)". 1978 Army. Right column. 23rd name from the top (Smuts W.S.).
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project
Stories 1
Killed in action during a SWAPO rocket attack on the SADF base at Katima Mulilo.
Dedications
No dedications have been added yet.