We settled into the routine for the night, but about 8PM came the sound or firing and explosions close by, and the Company stood-to. We were soon told that D Company, a short distance away, was in contact with a Viet Cong force and were copping hell.

The sound of the battle was furious and, before long, mortar and artillery flares started bursting over the area. I remember hearing the whine of the expended flare casings as they came down in and near our position. Many thoughts ran through my mind as I lay on my guts, alone, hardly daring to move in case there were other enemy outside our perimeter who could see in when the flares burst overhead. I prayed and told God that if I got through that night I would be a good Catholic forever. I also thought of my wife and son and wondered if I would survive Vietnam. The battle raged for what seemed like hours. At some time helicopter gunships arrived and started brassing-up the VC. I remember the peculiar roar of the miniguns and the tracer rounds like broken dotted lines, racing at the ground. Also the "whoosh, whoosh" as the rockets were fired, and the "thump, thump" of the explosions as they hit the ground. I remember the noise of the tanks moving up to support D Company, and the "boooom" of their guns as they engaged their targets. We remained on alert until about 2AM, when news came to stand down. Was I tired? Yep. The next morning we learned that one of D Company's Officers and a Digger had been killed. One of the machine gunners had been wounded, his eye hanging out and still manning his gun during the fight. The Officer had apparently been killed by a satchel charge thrown by the VC. As a result of this action the Battalion ceased acclimatisation training and commenced a search and destroy mission against the VC.

Bob Lewis

Contact with the enemy, presumed to be VC, had been reported by various elements of 3RAR during the day. Later in the afternoon, the Platoon Commanders were ordered by Tilley (OC) to harbour in a Company position a short distance away from Delta Company in dry, scrubby country dotted with patches of bamboo and tall trees.

From memory, the harbour went in quickly and without too much fuss considering it was a sizeable manouvre practiced only in Australia once or twice before. The 3 Platoons linked on the perimeter, back to each Platoon headquarters in depth, and then to Company HQ in the center of the large circle. We had 3 Centurian tanks join the harbour and one of these was out on the 9 Platoon perimeter. There was no moon and the night was black.

After the evening routine and when the gun picquets were in place, a heavy contact was initiated with D Company nearby and C Company immediately stood to. The essential task was to keep alert for enemy moving onto our position and to keep rules of engagement foremost in our minds. Firing at night could cause havoc among friendlies as well as the enemy. I remember thinking at the height of the battle several hundred metres away how terrifying all this was - with gunships, artillery, mortars, flares and tanks all firing - but, how calmly and efficiently everyone was going about his business preparing to defend the Company perimeter.

Word soon came through the radio network that "Snow" Strickland had been severely wounded and several others badly hurt as well. About the same time, we heard that Paul Manning and Johnny Wheeler had been killed. The RAAF dustoff was unable to come in for the priority wounded because the LZ was not secure. In all my 3 years training I'd probably only a couple of times experienced such an event - and then, it was simply a matter of moving a patrol to the rear of the (simulated) contact. We'd trained to cover all aspects of warfare, including dustoff, with little consideration for this practical outcome - the landing zone was NOT secure. What the hell did they expect?? However, if I had been a dustoff pilot, I would have been eager to help but perhaps very cautious about risking 4 other lives to rescue a couple. In the event, a Yank medevac on route from Vung Tau to Long Dien saw and heard the activity on the ground and offered to help. He was directed in, under fire, over D Company position and, apart from calmly keeping in touch with the boys on the ground who were hooking up "Snow" and the others in the dark, he only once asked without a tremor, "Hey you guys, can ya hurry up!!". He was receiving ground fire with the chopper's blades swinging just over the tops of the trees, but he and his crew refused to leave the hover which I thought was so typical of Americans, particularly their medevac pilots. The yanks awarded "The Team" a citation. Whatever unit flew those bloody medevacs should have received a similar commendation.

JW (Lt John Wheeler) was my very good friend. He was a career soldier trained at Duntroon, a highly respected leader because of his competence and personality. I had introduced him to his fiancée back in Oz and his death really bowled me over. I never saw his fiancée again, and none of us were able to say goodbye to him until 20 years later. Such was the nature of the war.