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Biggs , Kevin John (K J)

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No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
48626
Service No.
76253871BG
Last Name
Biggs 5
First Name
Kevin John
Initials
K J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1960 (±1 yr) 418
Age at Death
18
Death Record
Date of Death
23 August 1978 133
Cause code
KIA 14,778
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action 14,654
Killed in action, during the early hours of the morning when the bungalow in which they were sleeping at Katima Mulilo received a direct hit from a Soviet GRAD-P 122mm High Explosive Katyusha Rocket. SWAPO/PLAN insurgents operating from Zambia fired 20 x 122mm GRAD-P Katyusha Rockets into the town. 18 rockets exploded harmlessly in the veld, one struck a school in the Katima Mulilo Township and the other demolished the Bungalow in which the soldiers were sleeping
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Trooper
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Armoured Corps 438
Unit
1 Special Service Battalion 51
Defence Force
SADF 3,852
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,872
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
Unknown
Grave Reference
Unknown
Unit History
Role at time of death
Armour (Armoured Car)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Armour Formation (SAAAF) — Armoured Car — Regular
Resuscitated as a Permanent Force unit in 1946, when the South African Armoured Corps was officially proclaimed and the Special Service Battalion was included in it as the corps's only full-time unit, its symbols and colours being incorporated. Same lineage as the Special Service Battalion (OrgEntityID 5278); "1 Special Service Battalion" is the specific numbered battalion within that Permanent Force unit. SOURCE CONFLICT, recorded rather than resolved: the 1 SSB article says the post-war reorganisation produced "1 Special Service Battalion and 1 South African Infantry Battalion", which would make 1 SAI the other battalion from the start. The Special Service Battalion and 2 SSB articles instead have the second battalion carrying the name 2 SSB until 26 January 1951, when it was renamed 1 SAI. The two accounts cannot both be right about when the name 1 SAI appeared. NO OrgEntityAlias is recorded for 2221 on the strength of either. Border War service falls in this era: South West Africa and Angola, with squadrons detached to battlegroups rather than the regiment deploying whole -- among them 63 Mechanised Battalion Group, on Operations Merlyn and Agree in 1989. Equipped with the Eland 60 and Eland 90. All but three of the men on this roll who point at 2221 died in this period. The Union Defence Force became the South African Defence Force in 1957, part-way through this era; no man on this roll attached to 2221 died before 1964, so the change affects none of them.
Awards
Pro Patria Medal
Pro Patria Medal
South Africa
Pro Patria Medal warrant, Government Gazette No. 5171 (25 Jun 1976), Rule 5, as amended by GG No. 5575 (3 Jun 1977); discontinued by GG No. 25213 (25 Jul 2003, Schedule corrected by GG No. 26778, 17 Sep 2004) for service on/after 27 Apr 2003. Gazette extracts: https://rohsa.co.za/award.php?id=24
Notes

One of ten men killed in the same Katima Mulilo rocket strike as PersonNumbers 29609, 30000, 30232, 30258, 31315, 32843, 32992, 33030, 33443 (all already on ROH with this SN pattern and narrative). Bushwar Books' given ServiceNo 76253871BG collides with an unrelated existing ROH record (PersonNumber 29445, Bigham R., 1985 MVA, 1 SSB) — likely a source transcription slip, not a real duplicate; not merged. No SAWGP record found under this name — new ROH record. Bushwar Books 23 Aug 2026: https://www.warbooks.co.za/posts/lest-we-forget-23-august/

Research notes

Willem Steenkamp, Borderstrike! South Africa into Angola 1975–1980, 3rd ed. (Just Done Productions, 2006, ISBN 978-1-920169-00-8): PLAN titled the 23 August 1978 stand-off bombardment of Katima Mulilo “Operation Revenge” (not an SADF operation name). One 122mm rocket into a prefabricated barracks killed 10 and wounded 10; Steenkamp does not name the dead. Attack began 1.15am; some occupants were sleeping, others had come in for coffee.
4 Sep 2026: Regiment leftover "South African Armoured Corps" (a branch/Corps, not a specific regiment) moved to Corps, matching the same organisation already correctly classified there elsewhere on the ROH.

Citations
Unknown
External References
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