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Wessels , Edgar Sydney (E S)

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Photo of Wessels
Identity
Person No.
33836
Old ROH no.
1646
Service No.
79435277BG
Last Name
Wessels 53
First Name
Edgar Sydney
Initials
E 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 1,585
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
Lance Corporal
Regiment
1 South African Infantry Battalion 111
Corps
South African Infantry Corps 10,347
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,852
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Free State 737
Cemetery
KROONSTAD GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE 2
Grave Reference
A7 1
Unit History
Part of
Infantry Formation (SAAIF) — Mechanised Infantry — Regular
Notes

Son of Mattheus Gerhardus and Hermina Magdalena Wessels, of Kroonstad.

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 11 Oct 2024: 79435277BG Lance Corporal Edgar Sydney Wessels, 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 "Air Force" was CLEARED. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word, and it CONTRADICTED this record's own Branch, "Army". Across the roll 787 records carried such a contradiction; judged against Corps and Regiment -- independent of both columns -- the evidence backed Branch 744 times and Unit2 not once. Branch is therefore kept and the contradicting word removed. Nothing is guessed: this man's branch of service is already recorded, and his sub-unit, if any, is simply not known.

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories 1
on 14 February 2013 · via source
Edgar was at MLW (Mechanised Leadership Wing) with me at 1SAI. On the 11 October 1982, at Oshivello, during a familiarization with weapons used by PLAN, one of the soldiers pressed a button on a Russian grenade that exploded killing 4 soldiers. Candidate Officer CASPER WILLEM JOHANNES GEUSTYN Lance Corporal ALAN RODGER JONES Lance Corporal JACOBUS THEODORUS MEYER Lance Corporal EDGAR SYDNEY WESSELS Doug Beveridge
Dedications

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