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Venter , Paul Stephanus (P S)

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Photo of Venter Photo of Venter
Identity
Person No.
33696
Old ROH no.
1587
Service No.
79547634BG
Last Name
Venter 145
First Name
Paul Stephanus
Initials
P S
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1963 (±1 yr) 331
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
11 October 1982 146
Cause code
ACC 1,584
Accident
Cause of Death
Died of accidental injuries 71
Died of accidental injuries, at Oshivello, during a weapons familiarisation accident. A supposedly "safe" foreign grenade exploded and killed several men
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Candidate Officer
Regiment
1 South African Infantry Battalion 111
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,838
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,873
Locality
Free State 737
Cemetery
BLOEMFONTEIN (SOUTHPARK) CEMETERY 50
Grave Reference
Alternative Commemoration until grave found 18
Unit History
Part of
Infantry Formation (SAAIF) — Mechanised Infantry — Regular
Notes

Son of Hendrik Stephanus and Helena Jacoba Christina Engels Venter, of Bloemfontein.

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 11 Oct 2024: 79547634BG Candidate Officer Paul Stephanus Venter, 1 SAI Mechanised Leadership Wing, Oshivello: during familiarisation training on foreign weapons a Soviet hand grenade was accidentally detonated, killing five. Same incident as Geustyn, Venter, Jones, Meyer and Wessels. He was 19.
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 28 July 2013 · via source
On the 11 October 1982 while serving with Mechanised Leadership Wing. Died of accidental injuries, at Oshivello, during a weapons familiarisation accident. A supposedly "safe" foreign grenade exploded and killed several men. CO Casper Willem Johannes GEUSTYN CO Paul S VENTER LkPL Alan Roger JONES LkPL Jacobus Theodorus MEYER LkPL Edgar Sydney WESSELS Doug Beveridge
Dedications 2
by Brother on 07 July 2004 · via source
Sal nooit jou glimlag vergeet, Ouboet Sal weer eendag almal saam wees.
on 13 April 2012 · via source
Diensplig vriend, saam in MLV ,baie in my gedagtes Koos Potgieter