Identity
Person No.
31232
Old ROH no.
34727
Service No.
77245660
Last Name
First Name
Gavin
Initials
G
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
MVA 2,660
Motor vehicle accident
Cause of Death
Died in a pedestrian accident. After visiting the local bioscope in Tsumeb with 3 of his friends, they were walking back to camp when he was struck by a motorcycle
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SADF 3,874
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Cemetery
Grave Reference
Unit History
Role at time of death
Mechanised Infantry (combined-arms battalion group)
Status
Regular Force
Part of
Formed 1978 as Battle Group Juliet (SWAPO counter-insurgency, Ovamboland); formally named 61 Mechanised Battalion (Group) January 1979; disbanded 2005 at Lohatla. "Battalion Group" reflects its integral combined-arms structure: two Ratel-20-mounted infantry companies, an armoured car/tank squadron (Eland/Ratel-90, later Olifant), an integral G5 howitzer artillery battery, an 81mm mortar platoon, an anti-tank platoon, and an anti-aircraft troop -- not merely units attached for one operation. Fought at the Battle of the Lomba River, 1987. No evidence found that it was ever subordinated to or redesignated as a "61 Mechanised Brigade" -- see the note on that separate OrgEntity record.
Notes
Son of Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Lang, of Durban.
Research notes
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
External References
-
SADF.info Border Roll of Honour
open source ↗
SADF.info Border RoH
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
-
The War in Angola
open source ↗
War In Angola Roll of Honour (warinangola.com, tabid=1175), pages 120-122 of 143: confirmed, no changes.
Stories
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Dedications
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