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Dilman , Cornelis (C)

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No photograph available — remembrance poppy
Identity
Person No.
30073
Old ROH no.
354
Service No.
87064085CK
Last Name
Dilman 1
First Name
Cornelis
Initials
C
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1962 (±1 yr) 362
Age at Death
26
Death Record
Date of Death
29 August 1988 100
Cause code
SHOT 548
Shot
Cause of Death
Died in Shooting Incident 290
Died in Shooting Incident, another member was fooling around with a rifle and accidentally shot him in the chest. He died the next day at Ondangwa
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
1 Special Service Battalion 21
Corps
South African Armoured Corps 438
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,874
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,879
Locality
Western Cape 2,137
Cemetery
VANWYKSDORP CEMETERY 2
Grave Reference
Alternative Commemoration until grave found 2
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.
Notes

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Dilman, of Van Wyksdorp.

Research notes

DATE DISCREPANCY 25 Aug 2026: pantser.cmvo.org.za's SADF deaths PDF gives this person's Sterf (date of death) as "28 08 88" (DD MM YY) against the same ServiceNo (87064085CK) and name -- differs from this record's DateDeath (1988-08-29). Not overwritten, flagged for reference. 26 Aug 2026: Unit leftover "4 South African Infantry Battalion" → 1 Special Service Battalion (SAWGP Unit).
Col (rt) Graham du Toit, Last Post, 29 Aug 2026 gives: Rfn C. Dilman, 1 Special Service Battalion, critically wounded in the chest 28 Aug 1988 (accidental discharge of a fellow soldier's rifle), Died of Wounds at Ondangwa 29 Aug 1988, age 26. This RESOLVES the 25 Aug 2026 date-discrepancy flag on this record (pantser.cmvo.org.za's Sterf date of 28-08-88 was the wounding date, not the death date) -- ROH's stored DateDeath of 1988-08-29 is correct, matching the day he actually died of wounds.
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 "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
Unknown
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