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Van Der Merwe , Abraham Daniel (A D)

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Photo of Van Der Merwe
Identity
Person No.
33443
Old ROH no.
1546
Service No.
75411140BG
Last Name
Van Der Merwe 128
First Name
Abraham Daniel
Initials
A D
Date of Birth
01 December 1959 151
Age at Death
18
Death Record
Date of Death
23 August 1978 133
Cause code
KIA 14,778
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action 14,654
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
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Trooper
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Armoured Corps 438
Unit
1 Special Service Battalion 51
Defence Force
SADF 3,838
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,873
Locality
Western Cape 2,137
Cemetery
VILLIERSDORP CEMETERY 5
Grave Reference
Alternative Commemoration until grave found 4
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. 35th name from the top (Van Der Merwe A.D.)
Unit History
Home Unit
1 Special Service Battalion
Attached To
53 Battalion
Role at time of death
Armour (Armoured Car)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Armour Formation (SAAAF) — Armoured Car — Regular
Resuscitated as a Permanent Force unit in 1946, when the South African Armoured Corps was officially proclaimed and the Special Service Battalion was included in it as the corps's only full-time unit, its symbols and colours being incorporated. Same lineage as the Special Service Battalion (OrgEntityID 5278); "1 Special Service Battalion" is the specific numbered battalion within that Permanent Force unit. SOURCE CONFLICT, recorded rather than resolved: the 1 SSB article says the post-war reorganisation produced "1 Special Service Battalion and 1 South African Infantry Battalion", which would make 1 SAI the other battalion from the start. The Special Service Battalion and 2 SSB articles instead have the second battalion carrying the name 2 SSB until 26 January 1951, when it was renamed 1 SAI. The two accounts cannot both be right about when the name 1 SAI appeared. NO OrgEntityAlias is recorded for 2221 on the strength of either. Border War service falls in this era: South West Africa and Angola, with squadrons detached to battlegroups rather than the regiment deploying whole -- among them 63 Mechanised Battalion Group, on Operations Merlyn and Agree in 1989. Equipped with the Eland 60 and Eland 90. All but three of the men on this roll who point at 2221 died in this period. The Union Defence Force became the South African Defence Force in 1957, part-way through this era; no man on this roll attached to 2221 died before 1964, so the change affects none of them.
Awards
Pro Patria Medal
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

Son of Mr. D. B. van der Merwe

Research notes

SADF Wall of Remembrance (Voortrekker Monument): named on photograph "1978 SAA (Castle–Havenga, Mennigke–Wolfgang)". 1978 Army. Right column. 35th name from the top (Van Der Merwe A.D.). | Bushwar Books 23 Aug 2026: confirms Van der Merwe A.D., 1 SSB, Katima Mulilo Katyusha rocket attack, age 18. MERGE 25 Aug 2026: PersonNumber 48690 ("Van der Merwe") deleted as a duplicate of this record -- identical ServiceNo (75411140BG) and DateDeath (1978-08-23), surname a spelling/OCR/case variant, confirmed via the pantser.cmvo.org.za SADF deaths PDF cross-check. Same class of error as the Sekonjela/Sekonyela merge earlier the same day. | Colyn Brookes, Mibisa: Volume One – Western Cape (Lulu, 2013, ISBN 9781447682523): Villiersdorp Cemetery 99. | Willem Steenkamp, Borderstrike! South Africa into Angola 1975–1980, 3rd ed. (Just Done Productions, 2006, ISBN 978-1-920169-00-8): PLAN titled the 23 August 1978 stand-off bombardment of Katima Mulilo “Operation Revenge” (not an SADF operation name). One 122mm rocket into a prefabricated barracks killed 10 and wounded 10; Steenkamp does not name the dead. Attack began 1.15am; some occupants were sleeping, others had come in for coffee.

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories 1
on 30 July 2011 · via source
My name is Bobby Thomson. I was in Katima Mulilo that night. I was a gunner and served at the mortar locating radar (32 Loc Battery) which was situated on a tower next to the heli pad. The second red eye landed between us and the heli-pad . We then directed fire onto pre-listed targets along the river and in Sesheke and the guns at golf wiped out all their long and medium range weapons within the first 10 - 15 minutes after the attack. I remember that we were in a direct line between Golf firebase and some of the targets in Zambia. We would see the firing of the guns, then hear the shells come overhead and hear the explosions when they landed. Lt Schalekamp gave mopping-up fire orders the next day. The next day we went to look at the bungalow and what we saw remained with me for many a
Dedications

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