Van Der Westhuizen, Christiaan Hendrik

Identity

Person No.

33483

Old ROH no.

1568

Service No.

71440051BT

Last Name

Van Der Westhuizen 55

First Name

Christiaan Hendrik

Initials

C H

Date of Birth

Unknown

Est. Birth Year

1956 (±1 yr) 385

Age at Death

21

Death Record

Date of Death

26 June 1977 102

Cause code

ACC 1,585

Accident

Cause of Death

Died in Freak Accident 255

Died in Freak Accident, fell from Unimog, at Ovambo

Military Service

Branch

Army

Rank

Rifleman

Regiment

Unknown

Corps

South African Infantry Corps 10,347

Unit

Witwatersrand Rifles 2

Secondary Unit

United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur

Defence Force

SADF 3,852

South African Defence Force

Location

Country

South Africa 23,872

Locality

Gauteng 9,374

Cemetery

SADF WALL OF REMEMBRANCE, VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA 1,926

Grave Reference

Alternative Commemoration until grave found 1,612

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

Not listed against a numbered panel

On the panel

Position on the panel will be added with photographs

Unit History

Part of

German South West Africa Campaign 1915 › Units

Notes

No additional information known at this time

Research notes

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.

Citations

Unknown

External References

South African War Graves Project open source ↗
The War in Angola open source ↗
War in Angola Member Dedications forum (www.warinangola.com), Excel export supplied by Johan Schoeman, 1 Sep 2026. Forum post(s): 16216.

Stories

No stories have been added yet.

Dedications 2

by Crystal on 24 August 2009 · via source

Tot vandag toe weet ons nie regtig wat gebeur het nie, net dat jy van 'n Unimog afgeval het - as iemand dalk weet wat hier gebeur het met Chris van der Westhuizen, epos my asb. Dalk kan iemand wat in WITS RIFLES was en weet wat gebeur het help om te verstaan en te berus.

by undefined:undefined on 05 October 2016 · via War in Angola

Rest in peace Chris we shall never forget you

Van Der Westhuizen , Christiaan Hendrik (C H)