Zeller , Michael James (M J)

5 Sep 2026: Unit "104 Squadron" (a squadron, SAAF's regiment-equivalent) promoted to Regiment, per John's decision. Corps (South African Air Force) unchanged.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" was CLEARED. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word, and it CONTRADICTED this record's own Branch, "Air Force". 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.
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 26 Sep 2026: "57195935KV Candidate Officer Michael James Zeller. He was 46." One of two men killed when their Piper PA-28, ZS-KFN, crashed at Venterskroon near Potchefstroom on an officially authorised SAAF air tasking.
- FORENAMES CORRECTED, on this record's own evidence. It read "Freddie Johannes" against its own Initials "M J", which those forenames cannot produce. PersonNumber 33927, immediately above, is Lieutenant Freddie Johannes Zeelie of 1 Reconnaissance Commando -- the value is his, forward-filled. Graham gives Michael James, which is exactly what "M J" encodes.
- UNIT CORRECTED: moved from "104 Squadron" to "104 Air Commando Squadron", which Graham names and which already holds two other SADF captains. The generic "104 Squadron" entity also holds two SANDF men of 1998 with no corps recorded, so it is a shared-name bucket rather than this unit.
- AGE CONFLICT, NOT CHANGED: Graham gives 46, this record holds 40.
Mike Sandham OMISSIONS: 26 SEPTEMBER (26 Sep 2026), quoting the South African War Graves Project independently raises the same contamination, under the heading "Contamination - First Name?": "Person # 33928 Zeller contaminated by 33927 Zeelie". That is precisely the finding acted on earlier today, reached here from the mismatch between this record's forenames and its own initials and from Graham naming Michael James. Two people arrived at it from different directions within hours of each other. The correction had already been applied when his mail arrived; this note records the independent agreement.