PDF
« Previous

Strydom , Stephanus Rudolph (S R)

Next »
No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
33154
Old ROH no.
1370
Service No.
74287186BG
Last Name
Strydom 62
First Name
Stephanus Rudolph
Initials
S R
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1958 (±1 yr) 437
Age at Death
20
Death Record
Date of Death
28 May 1978 114
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died in Shooting Accident 18
Died in Shooting Accident, struck by a bullet resulting from an accidental discharge of a fellow soldier's rifle while at Grootfontein
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Candidate Officer
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Infantry School Oudtshoorn, Instructor Group 4
Defence Force
SADF 3,839
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Northern Cape 808
Cemetery
KIMBERLEY (WEST END) CEMETERY 425
Grave Reference
Sec DD (Gate 6), Row G, Grave 10 1
Coordinates
-28.73608, 24.73764 OSM
Memorial
1978 SAA (Castle–Havenga, Mennigke–Wolfgang)
Names on 1978 SAA Castle-Wolfgang
Memorial
SADF Wall of Remembrance
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Voortrekker Monument, Eeufees Road, Groenkloof, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa
Coordinates
-25.77639, 28.17583 · OpenStreetMap
Panel
1978 SAA Castle-Wolfgang
On the panel
1978 Army. Right column. 25th name from the top (Strydom S.R.)
Notes

Son of Mr. P. J. Strydom, of Hadison Park, Kimberley.

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 28 May 2024: 74287186BG Candidate Officer Stephanus Rudolph Strydom, Infantry School Instructor Group, killed at Grootfontein by an accidental discharge of a fellow soldier's rifle, age 20. Cause had HTML entity ' — corrected to an apostrophe.
SADF Wall of Remembrance (Voortrekker Monument): named on photograph "1978 SAA (Castle–Havenga, Mennigke–Wolfgang)". 1978 Army. Right column. 25th name from the top (Strydom S.R.).
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
on 17 November 2009 · via source
On 28 May 1978 in the area between old Etali base and St. Mary's Mission Station, ... S.R. Strydom, was accidently shot by a fellow platoon member. A casevac/medivac chopper with medical personnel was immediately requested by radio. While the platoon medic helped him, Strydom requested that the Platoon Commander say a prayer. At this stage it was apparent that he was slipping away, but the medic tried his utmost best and everybody tried to assist, either by preparing a LZ, stand guard in all-round defense or to comfort Strydom, until the dust-off chopper arrived to take him away. The personnel aboard the chopper took over and a few minutes after take off, the pilot radioed back to the platoon that their comrade had passed away. A sad loss, he was young, bright, had a future ahead of him and could still have contributed much to society and his country. May his soul rest in peace. Information extracted from www.moth.org.za Peter
Dedications

No dedications have been added yet.