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Berry , Peter David (P D)

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Photo of Berry
Identity
Person No.
29413
Old ROH no.
78
Service No.
80016298PN
Last Name
Berry 26
First Name
Peter David
Initials
P D
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1949 (±1 yr) 199
Age at Death
33
Death Record
Date of Death
18 August 1982 116
Cause code
KIA 14,811
Killed in action
Cause of Death
Killed in action 14,686
Killed in action, approximately 40 miles inside Matabeleland during Operation Drama, a clandestine mission in Zimbabwe. Force of 18 SADF members ambushed by Zimbabwean Army forces; conflicting reports of KIA versus captured and later murdered; Zimbabwean government later said it had disposed of the bodies as next-of-kin had failed to claim them. No known grave
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South West African Territory Force 376
Unit
Directorate of Special Tasks 1
Defence Force
SADF 3,874
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,879
Locality
Gauteng 9,374
Cemetery
SADF WALL OF REMEMBRANCE, VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA 1,926
Grave Reference
Body not recovered 79
Memorial
Memorial
SADF Wall of Remembrance
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Voortrekker Monument, Eeufees Road, Groenkloof, Pretoria, 0181, South Africa
Coordinates
-25.77639, 28.17583 · OpenStreetMap
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Operation
Operation
Drama
Dates
1983
About
Special Forces operation into Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, reportedly involving 5 Reconnaissance Regiment/ex-Selous Scouts elements against ZIPRA-linked targets during the post-independence Zimbabwean unrest.
Awards
Bronze Cross of Rhodesia
Bronze Cross of Rhodesia (BCR)
Rhodesia · awarded 1980-06-30
Awarded the Bronze Cross of Rhodesia (BCR). C (Rhodesia) Squadron SAS honours list: 724404 Colour Sergeant P.D. Berry, gazetted 30 June 1980. Later 80016298PN Staff Sergeant, SADF Directorate of Special Tasks; killed on Operation Drama in Matabeleland, 18 August 1982. Source: https://www.therhodesiansas.com/honours-and-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

Husband of Mrs. L. E. Berry. According to news reports at the time, the bodies "were disposed of" by the Zimbabwean Government as the relatives did not claim them.

Research notes

Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 18 Aug 2026: 80016298PN Staff Sergeant Peter David Berry BCR, Directorate of Special Tasks (DST), Chief of Staff Intelligence, ex Rhodesian SAS, Reported Missing 40 miles inside Matabeleland during Operation Drama, age 33. Same ambush as Beech R.T. PN 29375, Wessels J.A. PN 33837 and Khiwa PN 48604. Unit was empty / regiment SWATF left. BCR placed in Citation. Conflicting KIA vs captured/murdered left as Graham reports both. | Mike Sandham 18 Aug 2026 omissions: TRC names a fourth casualty Private Khiwa (PN 48604) whom SADF never admitted; Fireforce Ventures names tracker Khiwa Sibanda and claims he survived and later testified. Same Operation Drama ambush.
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

BCR

External References
Stories 1
on 07 March 2006 · via source
A number of ex-Rhodesian soldiers, now serving with the SADF since Zimbabwean independence, were located in camps in the northern Transvaal. The SADF recruited and trained these men, primarily for sabotage operations designed to destroy infrastructure, damage the economy and undermine the military capacity of Zimbabwe's armed forces. This series of planned operations, called Operation Drama, had the objective of ensuring that the new Zimbabwe government did not provide concrete support to the ANC and PAC in their armed struggles. Sgt Peter David Berry was a member of a team of 18 SADF soldiers, sent into Zimbabwe on a clandestine mission. They were ambushed by the Zimbabwean army 40 miles inside Matabeleland, and three men, including Sgt Berry, were killed in the
Dedications 1
by Mara Marx (via Johan Schoeman, War in Angola) on 16 October 2019 · via War in Angola
From Mara Marx: General Viljoen said that the soldiers were former Rhodesian Army men and that they had crossed into Zimbabwe on an unauthorized mission apparently aimed at trying to free friends held in a detention camp. He said they had been accompanied by 14 black soldiers who were also former Rhodesian troops and that both whites and blacks were attached to a South African battalion camped just south of the Limpopo River, which forms the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Clash 18 Miles From BorderThe mission began, the general said, about Aug. 15. The patrol clashed with Zimbabwean troops on Aug. 18 about 18 miles north of the border, and, after the three sergeants were shot and killed, the blacks returned safely to South Africa.
The bodies of the three men were displayed to the press in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, last weekend. General Viljoen identified the men as Staff Sgt. David Berry, the leader of the patrol, and Sgts. Andrew Wessels and Robert Beech.