Identity
Person No.
33170
Old ROH no.
1378
Service No.
88472451BG
Last Name
First Name
Michael
Initials
M
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died in Freak Accident, at Bourkes Luck, was busy helping to extinguish a veld fire when he burned to death
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Lance Corporal
Regiment
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,832
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Notes
No additional information known at this time
Research notes
Christine Dalzell ROH story 30 Apr 2018 (same Bourkes Luck fire as Juskiewicz 30951; story text is about her brother Adrian).
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 16 Sep 2026: 88472451BG Lance Corporal Michael Swanepoel, SADF Dog Training Centre, same veld-fire smoke-inhalation incident at Bourkes Luck, age 19. Exact match.
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
-
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post
Graham Last Post 16 Sep 2026
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), page 23 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories 2
This boy wasn't killed on the border, I watched him burn to death in Bourke's Luck along with 6 other boys. We had just come back from active duty in Kwa-Zulu Natal, and were called out to assist with a forest fire on Erasmushoop farm.
16 Sep 1991: Two members form the SADF Dog Training Centre died from smoke inhalation at Bourkes Luck while assisting to extinguish a veld fire. The casualties were: 89280580BG Lance Corporal Adrian Marcel Juskiewicz. He was 18. 88472451BG Lance Corporal Michael Swanepoel. He was 19.
Dedications 1
Sorry it has taken so many years to say good bye, but you freaked me out when we were talking about the way in which we were scared of dying, only to have you burn to death 24hrs later. I am sorry I didnt make your funeral, I never went to any of them. Lt Duppie and me were really hurt about this whole story, Capt Ben was really good to us.