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Van Den Heever , Robert John De Wet (R J D)

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Identity
Person No.
39007
Service No.
65421513BT
First Name
Robert John De Wet
Initials
R J D
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
28
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
ACC 1,585
Accident
Cause of Death
Died in a parachute accident, at Welkom. Chute did not open
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Lance Corporal
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,848
South African Defence Force
Location
Grave Reference
Unknown
Unit History
Role at time of death
Airborne light infantry (paratroops)
Status
Regular Force
Part of
Raised 1 April 1961 at Tempe. First battalion of 44 Parachute Brigade from 1978.
Notes

Husband of Mrs. F. van den Heever, of Welkom.

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 21 Aug 2026: 65421513BT Lance Corporal Robert John De Wet van den Heever, 1 Parachute Battalion, killed when his parachute failed during a practice jump at Welkom, age 28. FirstName casing tidied from ROBERT JOHN DeWET. ServiceNo suffix BT filled. CauseCode was UNK — set to ACC.
6 Sep 2026: GraveRef was corrupted with the Mapai Puma 164 crash-site text ("Body not recovered - crash site coordinates are: S22 06' 48.2\" E31 39' 12.1\"") -- discovered while fixing that text's encoding on the genuine 17 Puma 164 casualties. This record's own DateDeath has nothing to do with that 6 Sep 1979 incident; the crash-site text does not belong here. Cleared rather than guessed -- the real GraveRef value is unknown. This record's own Cemetery/CemeteryLat/CemeteryLong were not affected and are unchanged.
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

***Not yet accepted for War Grave Status by CWGC, need service file

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