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Ziemkendorf , Herman (H)

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Photo of Ziemkendorf
Identity
Person No.
33929
Old ROH no.
1687
Service No.
84269836BG
Last Name
Ziemkendorf 1
First Name
Herman
Initials
H
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
1968 (±1 yr) 309
Age at Death
19
Death Record
Date of Death
20 October 1987 249
Cause code
MVA 2,660
Motor vehicle accident
Cause of Death
Died of injuries 578
Died of injuries, head injuries, received in Military Vehicle Accident, on the Doornrivier Rd, near Zeerust. Ratel APC went into a ditch
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Trooper
Regiment
Unknown
Corps
South African Armoured Corps 438
Unit
2 Special Service Battalion 51
Defence Force
SADF 3,874
South African Defence Force
Location
Country
South Africa 23,879
Locality
Eastern Cape 971
Cemetery
PORT ELIZABETH (FOREST HILL) CEMETERY 62
Grave Reference
Section 23, Row F, Number 29N 1
Unit History
Role at time of death
Armour (Armoured Car)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Other listed units (not nested under a brigade above) › Units
Re-established 1 October 1973 out of C Squadron 1 SSB, itself formed as C Squadron of 2 Armoured Car Regiment in February 1962 and renamed 22 December 1966. Regimental HQ and C Squadron at Zeerust; D Squadron detached to 2 SAI at Walvis Bay. Squadrons served in Namibia and Angola from 1974: B, C and D Squadrons on Operation Savannah, 8 October 1975 to 31 January 1976, and later Operations Protea, Daisy, Hooper and Modular. On 25 January 1988 it became the first unit in South Africa granted the Right of Free Admission to a coloured community, Henryville. Most of the men on this roll who point at 2 SSB belong to this period. Also took part in Operation Adding on 10 February 1988, the intervention restoring the Bophuthatswana government after the coup attempt against President Mangope. Equipped with the Ratel IFV and, from May 1990, the Rooikat; received national colours 30 June 1990.
Notes

Son of Mr. C. W. Ziemkendorf, of Port Elizabeth.

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".
8 Oct 2026: CONFLICT, NOT CHANGED. John's compiled list of verified 2 SSB vehicle-related deaths, 8 Oct 2026, describes this incident as "Eland 90 rollover at Siftersnek". This record's own CauseDeath says "Ratel APC went into a ditch, on the Doornrivier Rd, near Zeerust" -- a different vehicle type and a different location. Name, date, rank, service number and age all otherwise match exactly (same man, same day). Not resolved; flagged for review against John's source.
8 Oct 2026: CONFIRMED. A Facebook comment on the 2 SSB vehicle-deaths post confirms this record's own account: "Ziemkendorf was a Ratel rollover." This resolves the earlier conflict against John's compiled list (which had described it as an Eland 90 rollover at Siftersnek) in favour of this record's stored account (Ratel APC, Doornrivier Rd, near Zeerust).

Citations
Unknown
External References
Stories

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Dedications 1
by Gesin Ziemkendorf on 01 December 2007 · via source
Herman Ziemkendorf. Geliefde seun van Charles en Helena Ziemkendorf en broer van Petro, Renate, Emsie, Belinda en Gawie. Die leemte sal nooit gevul kan word nie.