DESCRIPTION
A combined search and destroy operation involving Australian, American and Vietnamese forces. Its intention was to trap VC and NVA forces in a large area NE of Xuyen Moc. The forward Infantry from 3 forces would have direct Artillery support from 6 Batteries (2 Australian and 4 US) at the Taskforce FSB “Tom” just outside Xuyen Moc.
131 SURVEY
Entering FSB Tom. Photo courtesy J McFadden.
On the 9th Survey Section joined the Taskforce redeployment convoy and journeyed out to Taskforce FSB Tom YS 6669 while 1ATF HQ flew into the area with 7RAR.
I recall flying out by chopper from Luscombe Field, straight to FSB Tom. It was my first of many chopper flights, sitting on the floor behind the pilot, no restraints and the doors wide open.
Bdr Poustie July 1967
My first impression of our FSB was one great bog hole. Yank Cavalry and tracked Artillery had chopped it up badly. One landrover was hopelessly bogged. There appeared to be little order in the placement of units, position seemed to be determined by the islands left in this sea of mud.
Gnr McFadden July 1967
We camped tucked up fairly close to a US Battery of tracked 155mm that fired all night.
Bdr Poustie July 1967
Elements of 2RAR/NZ securing the road into Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy J McFadden.
Surveyors took up their position on the FSB Tom’s defensive perimeter, dug their weapon pit and set their hootchies on any grassed area still intact.
Next morning surveyors were away early as there were 6 Gun Batteries awaiting “theatre grid”. They included 108 Fd Bty YS 660697 and 161 Fd Bty NZ YS 663697 of 4 Fd Regt plus 4 US Btys. The US Btys comprised B Bty 1/11th Arty YS 662697, 1st How Bty, 2/35th Arty YS 660699, 1/84th Arty YS 662690 and B Bty 2/35th Arty YS 661691.
This was Regimental Survey!
After much research it seems likely that the survey scheme was a traverse from a Topo marker AAS014 on a hill just north of Xuyen Moc to a known bearing picket somewhere in Xuyen Moc. Each Bty centre was a station in the traverse.
below: part of Gnr Follingtons notes establishing the coordinates of the Btys position at FSB Tom. Notes courtesy B Follington.
Surveyors digging in at FSB Tom. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
1/11 B Bty US setting up their Command Post next to us. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
Surveyors preparing to move early at FSB Tom, Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Bdr Hopper grabbing breakfast, US C Rats. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Surveying in the churned up mess that was FSB Tom presented difficulties but these were compounded when the US Batteries opened up. Theatre grid was passed to the 2 Australian Batteries but continued firing from the US Batteries kept thwarting our attempts to deliver it to them.
above: FSB Tom Survey.
We kept running into closure problems for the survey to the Yanks. I clearly remember chaining a tellurometer distance involved believing it to be the problem. Chaining proved the tellurometer correct so we still had the problem of non closure.
Gnr McFadden July 1967
18. For this Operation 4 FSBs were established. These bases were:
The Arty element at TOM consisted of two Btys of 4 Fd Regt and 4 Btys of US Arty
19. The initial task of the survey section was to put the 6 Btys at TOM on theatre grid. This was accomplished by a (two) fixed point traverse, using 8 surveyors. Only 8 surveyors were used because we only had enough equipment at the time for 4 pairs. The task took two days to complete, although provisional theatre grid was issued to 4 Btys on the first day. The reasons for taking as long as two days to complete the task are:
20. Some difficulty was experienced whilst working for the American Btys. The problems encountered were:
131 Bty Reports, Survey Section July ‘67
SECONDARY ROLES
At 31 C waiting for contact with the US Btys to our north. In the background: Gnr Follington, Gnr Fuhrmann and Gnr McFadden. 2 Engineers in the foreground. Photo courtesy P S Hopper.
31C hill at Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Surveyors during the daylight hours were engaged with the priority of theatre grid to all batteries. Computations often went long into the night, checking, re checking and isolating possible places for error.
above: FSB Tom Perimeter sketch.
Weapon Pit.
Surveyors manned this perimeter defence position at night. It was armed with Gnr Brooker’s AR and our personal weapons, SLRs and Owens. The perimeter front was marked by a rough cattle fence. The flank defence was more substantial. There was the bunkered M60 and barbed wire of RHQ on our right and US armour plus the bristling defence of the Kiwis 161 Fd Bty on our left.
Final Suyeyors' Perimeter Weapon Pit at Tom. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
US Bty and Dust Off at Tom. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
On Wednesday night we were fired upon while I was in my hootchie. I rammed on my boots and dived into my 4 ft hole. I grabbed my webbing on the way out and when I got in the hole I laughed and laughed. I had my boots on the wrong feet and had my “big pack” instead of my ammo!
I was still half asleep.
Gnr Follington, Extract from letters home 16/7/67
On the second night there, we had to “stand to” due to the likelihood of infiltration of our perimeter.
Bdr Poustie July 1967
Starlight Scope
Our Bdrs were given or scrounged for us, a US Starlight Scope for use on night piquet. This was an amazing piece of technology, for the first time we could actually see through a green luminescent fog, what was happening out there in the night. There were more things than fire flies and weird noises beyond the wire!
Bdr Hopper offered me the opportunity to observe the enemy sliding along the fence line checking out the perimeter. Bdr Hopper had a grenade ready if required. We watched fascinated till “he” reached the “substantial” flank defence where all hell broke loose.
Gnr McFadden July 1967
The Yanks were polite when we handed theatre grid to them but they asked what they’d do with it? I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t appreciate accuracy in fixation and bearing. They seemed to be operating in their own world of survey interpretation, one different from ours.
Gnr McFadden. July 1967
Unfortunately it took 2 days for theatre grid to be applied to all the Batteries at Tom. Although the Yanks were operating on “provisional grid” during that time, we as surveyors felt disappointed when we handed it over to them.
Our last survey at FSB Tom fixed 31C, YS 648703 the Engineers LP to map grid. 31C was on top of a hill overlooking Paddington’s area of operations. From this fixed vantage point the surveyors tried to get visual contact with 2 more US FSBs to our NNW. FSB Mike YS 618820 13km NNW and FSB Bill YS 6278 in the bush 9km NNW of Tom’s 31C position. Visual contact with these 2 FSBs would give us a chance to transfer theatre grid to their positions. This would then put all Gun Batteries on map grid.
Surveyors were in radio contact with the 2 northern Batteries but constant binocular surveillance could not pick up visual contact with either.
We had tellurometers and theodolites ready to pass on survey from 31C on any occasion we made visual contact with either FSB Bill or FSB Mike.
Our radio contact with the Yanks once again was polite yet it still threw up this misunderstanding as to what was to be achieved and its priority.
Gnr McFadden July 1967.
131 Survey to FSB Bill
US tracked 155mm from one of the US Btys at FSB Bill. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
FSB Bill. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
After a day of fruitless waiting, Lt Yerbury took the decision to take 6 surveyors North to fix FSB Bill and a US Bty of tracked 155s. The squad included Bdr M Poustie, L/Bdr B Irvine, Gnr K Long, Gnr B Follington, Gnr W Brooker, Gnr P Fuhrmann. 2 surveyors, Bdr P Hopper and Gnr J McFadden, were left at Tom’s 31C ready to transfer survey forward. Lt Yerbury’s squad was choppered north to FSB Bill.
22. On completion of the task at TOM, it was requested that svy be taken into BILL if possible. Once again we encountered the situation where the FSB was in a small clearing surrounded by trees 20 to 30 metres high. The only possible solution was to pass provisional theatre grid by a single leg from TOM.
23. To do this a station was established at YS 648703 and at BILL a tellurometer dish was positioned in a tree, about 15m from the ground. Unfortunately this attempt was NOT successful and it was NOT possible to see BILL from TOM because of very poor weather conditions which resulted in very low cloud. A further attempt was NOT made because the Bty at BILL told us they were moving out the following day.
24. The next task was to take svy into FSB MIKE. The only solution to this was to go from TOM to JOHN and then traverse up Route 328. to north of THUA TICH.
25. At 0900 on 13 July a party consisting of Sect Comd and 6 surveyors left MIKE bound for JOHN with APC and tank protection. The journey took 6 ½ hours as this road had to be cleared by mine detectors. At JOHN it took some time to establish a station that could be seen from TOM and vice versa. By this time it was too late to attempt any svy work.
131 Bty Reports, Survey Section July ‘67
They were taken out to FSB Bill in dense bush land. Here it was quite apparent why there was no visual contact from Bill. The FSB was surrounded by tall trees!
Contact with Tom’s 31C position was still attempted. After a trying day they hootchied with the Yanks for the night. In the morning L/Bdr Irvine was given the task of climbing a tree with the tellurometer dish plugged with a long lead to the main unit on the ground, in an effort to get a single leg distance from 31C. Unfortunately this failed with no visual or any tellurometer recognition from both units.
Bdr Poustie recalled another attempt by placing the tellurometer over the gun battery in a helicopter.
FSB Bill’s Artillery CO then advised it would be of little use as they were moving position the next day. That being the case the squad were lifted back to FSB Tom at Xuyen Moc.
The one method we did try but is not recorded anywhere, is the briefly hovering chopper. We could not get a reading quickly enough before the pilot wanted to abort the mission.
Bdr Poustie July 1967.
Fire Mission
It was during this time when the others were wandering the bush seeking to find a contact point with us, that Bdr Hopper and myself were involved in an Artillery fire mission. We were waiting at LP 31C on the hill when Bdr Hopper spotted Nogs ducking back into the treeline 150m down the slope. The Engineers radioed through his observation while a US tank creaked up to see what was going on. The Yanks fired 2 shots into the nominated area and we thought that would be the end of it.
Not so, for our Arty Tac HQ prompted by US involvement offered LP31C a fire mission! The Engineers looked to Bdr Hopper for assistance saying, “You know maps!”
Peter and I had a hurried discussion about “survey closures”, the proximity of the target area and the unsettling closeness of incoming shell’s trajectory and our position. Peter accepted the mission while the Engineers sigged. We nominated a grid reference further down the hill and asked “fire for effect”.
To our amazement the shell chugged over and slammed exactly where we wanted.
We dragged the coordinates up the hill to the sighted spot and marvelled at the repeated accuracy. The fire mission was given the OK and 6 angry hornets buzzed over and tore up the bush. We were allowed a couple of adjustments to coordinates before the mission was closed down.
It was powerful and it was accurate and it was in a small way, an affirmation of our work.
Gnr McFadden July 1967.
Anyway, the 3rd day we went by Helicopter 7000 metres NNW to a Yank Fire Support Base where there was 1 Yank Battery (155 mm) and Yank and Arvn Infantry. We camped next to one of the guns, so I felt safe even though it’s blast during the night nearly blew me out of bed!!! Next day we tried to measure back to Xuyen Moc (Nui Dat III), but dense jungle made this impossible. So, I climbed a tree and took up the reflector dish of the Tellurometer on a co-axial cable, but it still didn’t work. That afternoon we went back to Nui Dat III – a failure, but at least we tried our best.
Excerpts from letters home: L/Bdr B Irvine July 1967
131 Survey to FSB Mike
FSB Mike! Mud, big tents and aerials. Photo courtesy W Brooker.
Approaching Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy B Follington.
US 11th Cav FSB Tom Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Churning down Route 328 looking for contact with Xuyen Moc. Photo courtesy B Follington.
One of the many precautionary delays along 328. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Gnr Follington looking for Gnr Long down the hatch. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Survey now concentrated on FSB Mike close to the RF military compound of Thua Tich. They were choppered further north to a dubious Landing Zone at FSB Mike. Again the survey problem was an inability to visually spot FSB Mike. There might be a chance to get a visual contact with 31C from FSB John YS 5975 back down Route 328 and closer to FSB Tom. From that position survey could be transferred to Mike by a traverse back up Route 328.
We were choppered into FSB Mike. I sat in my usual position, on the deck, feet over the edge holding onto the gun post. Close to FSB Mike we met another chopper head on and ours banked steeply to the left. For a split second I was left hanging in space. Somebody grabbed my webbing and pulled me back in.
We joined the landing pattern with other choppers and while we were about 100ft up a landing chopper flew over a pressure mine and was shredded. It fell out of the sky.
Gnr Follington July 1967
The next day we had a scary ride again by APC escorted by tanks looking for a point where we could see back to FSB Tom. Minesweepers, blown up tanks on the side of the road, it was really heavy going up Route 328.
Bdr Poustie July 1967.
With US APC and Tank protection the 131 surveyors moved down Route 328 towards FSB John’s position. The road had to be cleared by mine detectors. When finally at FSB John it took a deal of time searching for a position to make contact with 31C at FSB Tom. It was found but far too late to attempt any survey. The slow grind back to FSB Mike was taken
“ Friday we moved north to a village called Thua Tich. We were up there with the Yanks. On the Thursday a tank was blown up with a mine and on Friday we travelled 4000 metres up the same road. It took us 4 hours because we had 2 men with mine detectors sweeping the road. We came back Friday night to the Yanks.”
Excerpts from letter home dated 16/7/67 Gnr Follington.
The next morning we were in the choppers again heading for another Fire Support Base 12,000 Metres N.N.W and this was to prove a rather disasterous 2 days. The Base consisted of a Yank Cav. Unit, ARVN and Thailand Troops with Artillery. We had to go 5000 metres SW from there to a point visible from Nui Dat III. And bring survey back to where we started (the Fire Support Base). The yanks arranged transport and protection for the 7 of us who went. Boy, do they do it in style. They were ordered to give us maximum security, so they supplied 2 medium Tanks and 6 APC’s. The trip took over 4 hrs so it was quite a snail’s pace. The reason for this was to clear the road. To do this, 2 men walk in front of the convoy, with a mine detector to find mines planted by the VC. However we found none, and arrived safely – but too late to start work. Mr. Yerbury did a “recce” and sorted things out, then we returned, at speed, the way we had come to the F.S Base.
Excerpts from letters home: L/Bdr B Irvine July 1967
I made friends with a Yank driver and he invited me to come over to his APC at FSB Mike. He was going to show us how to cook Mexican tortillas using C4. It burnt like hexamine only hotter. He also mentioned they’d be clearing their guns (Tanks & 50 Cals) at 9.30. At FSB Mike it was pouring so we didn’t take him up on his offer.
Gnr Follington July 1967.
The Yank turret gunner told me they’d just finished their duty on the DMZ and had made their way down from Quang Tri, to their 11th Armoured Cavalry Regt. Base at Blackhorse.
Gnr Long July 1967.
Gnr Long takes charge of a 50 Cal. Photo courtesy B Follington.
FSB Mike Mortared!
Surveyors quarters the night of the 13th. Photo courtesy B Irvine.
That night, the 13th July, at approx. 2010 hrs, 20 rounds of 82mm mortar slammed into FSB Mike! Bdr M Poustie was hit in the lower back with shrapnel. WIA, he was evacuated by “dust off” to US Field Hospital at Blackhorse.
That night, all hell broke loose and what happened next is history! Initial treatment was carried out at the US Cavalry, 7th Surgical Hospital at Blackhorse, Long Giao, some 25 miles NE of Nui Dat. The Taskforce Commander, Brigadier Stuart Graham visited me on the 17th July and requested that I be transferred to Vung Tau.
Bdr Poustie July 1967
The rest of the night we slept in the Yank HQ tent. We slept up against the sand bags in 4 inches of mud. It was a tense time and at every new blast a big Negro would roll off his stretcher and onto me. At one point during the night I heard a “swish, swish, swish” and in the morning we found a great “snake slither” down the middle of the tent.
Gnr Follington July 1967
Murray’s WIA shocked me and it confirmed a suspicion I did not want to acknowledge about Artillery Surveying.
Gnr McFadden July 1967
This was indeed a blow for surveyors because Bdr Poustie was an outstanding surveyor and his expertise was sadly missed in the coming months. I felt the full effects of this loss in the months ahead.
Bdr Hopper July 1967.
They hit us 4 times that night though no shells came close in the next three attacks. These were at 11.35 P.M., 11.55 P.M. and 5.20 A.M. I wasn’t moving from that metal trailer for anything!!! It was unlucky the one near us had been a tree burst, as the trailer saved us from any ground blast.
Excerpts from letters home: L/Bdr B Irvine July 1967
26. That night (13 Jul) which was spent at MIKE, the FSB was mortared. During the mortar attack one of the surveyors, Bdr M J POUSTIE was wounded by two pieces of shrapnel. He was evacuated about ¾ hour after the attack by DUST OFF. Also during the attack one of the tellurometers was hit by shrapnel. A quick check the following morning showed that the instrument appeared to be working satisfactorily. However on reaching JOHN on the morning 14 Jul, the tellurometer would not work. At this stage only one instrument was left which made it impossible to continue. No replacements were available as we took all four functioning tellurometers on the Op, one had broken down during the first two days and the remainder of the section’s tellurometers were still in Wksps.
131 Bty Reports, Survey Section July ‘67
Route 328
Resupply chopper taking off from FSB Tom. Photo courtesy J McFadden.
Early the next morning a replacement surveyor was flown from Tom to Mike on the resupply helicopter. It was found that even though one of the tellurometers had received shrapnel damage, it was still indicating it could work.
As I flew north that morning full of trepidation, I wondered how in hell my life ended up in this mess.
Gnr McFadden July 1967
Lt Yerbury decided it was worth a chance to proceed back down Route 328 to FSB John and attempt a contact with 31C at Tom. Survey could then be traversed back up 328 to FSB Mike. Again protection was afforded by US tanks and APCs. The road was cleared by US mine sweepers. Again it was a slow journey detecting and blowing mines.
Blowing mines down route 328. Photo courtesy B Irvine.
Returning to FSB Mike. Thua Tich's Gate July 67. Photo courtesy B Irvine.
In a terrible incident one was not detected and was triggered by a mine sweeper. He was disintegrated in a huge blast that split the road with a gaping crater. Fearing an attack we deployed for ambush and it was some time before we proceeded down 328
“The next day we went back up our road. The men were sweeping the road again but he must have missed one and stood on it. It blew a hole in the road, 8 ft dia and 10ft deep. They couldn’t find the Yank, he was literally blown to bits.”
Excerpt from letters home 16/7/67 Gnr Follington
However, the fellow’s detector didn’t detect it, and he stepped on the detonator on an anti-tank mine. I don’t think I need say more. The hole left was 8 ft in diameter and over 8 ft deep. They never did find his body. This left us all pretty unhappy after the previous night, and I felt sick as we drove on. They found another mine further on, and blew it OK. Finally we got there and made contact with Nui Dat III and measured the distance. However, our other Telly had been hit by Mortar also and didn’t work when we tried to measure up the road.
Excerpts from letters home: L/Bdr Irvine July 1967
Gnr Long and I chained from the "contact point" which was a grassy area on a slight knoll just off the road, to the "start point" banderole - which as I recall was around 200m-300m back up Route 328. We kept very close to the side of the road when we did the chaining because there was a reasonable sized ditch there. I for one was keeping a very close watch on the vegetation some 100m off the roadside for any movement or rifle flashes.
Gnr Furhmann July 1967
Trying to make contact with Bdr Hopper at 31C FSB Tom. L/Bdr Irvine (MRA 3) and Gnr McFadden. Photo courtesy B Irvine.
Awaiting chopper out of FSB Mike. Left to right: Gnr Follington, Gnr McFadden, Gnr Fuhrmann (seated), Gnr Long, Gnr Brooker, Lt Yerbury. Photo courtesy B Irvine.
Leaving the soggy FSB Mike. Photo courtesy B Follington.
At FSB John contact was made with 31C at FSB Tom. It was then we encountered the last straw in a dark day. The tellurometer would give no phase readings as master and would not act as remote! It was pack up and make the journey back to FSB Mike. Try as we might, theatre grid would not be passed to our US Allies at Thua Tich.
Ready to be choppered out. L to R, Gnr McFadden, Gnr Long, Gnr Brooker, L/Bdr Irvine, Gnr Fuhrmann, Lt Yerbury. Photo courtesy B Follington.
Long Bien, Survey Liason Visit with US Artillery Surveyors (1st Aug 1967)
Bdr Murray Poustie returns to say farewell to surveyors after weeks in surgical hospitals in Blackhorse and Vung Tau. Murray was repatriated back to Australia. Left to right: Gnr Evans, Bdr Poustie, Gnr Fuhrmann (seated, L/Bdr Irvine and Bdr Hopper.
Lt Yerbury, Bdr Hopper and L/Bdr Irvine flew to Long Bien 30km NW of 1 ATF, to ascertain :
They found their surveyors organised similar to a 131 section however fewer in number. The equipment nearly the same however:
The survey methods were the same as ours only differing slightly in the use of instruments and recording. Terminology and its equivalent was sorted.
Unknown Recognition
The following was found in 4th Fd Regt RAA reports on Operation Paddington. It was unknown to 131 surveyors at the time but gratefully received 40 years later.
17. The survey element of detachment 131 worked extremely well on Operation Paddington and were well reported on by the CO 1/11 Arty to whom they gave valuable assistance after completing their task in the Fire Support Base controlled by 4 Fd Regt.
RJ Gardner Lt Col 4 Fd Regt RAA July 1967
When we arrived at the U.S Fire Support Base Mike just before dusk, there was no time to ‘dig in’ or otherwise prepare for evening defence; and since this was a U.S. base with perimeter protection already in place, all that was considered necessary was to protect ourselves and our survey equipment from the inevitable evening downpour.
We were accustomed to hutching down at ground level during the night hours so as not to present a target to the enemy. However, the Americans provided us with what was probably a small stores tent, with squarish dimensions and rather tall. We all pitched in to get this monstrosity erected before dark and then scrambled inside with our precious equipment to escape the oncoming deluge.
We didn’t have long to wait, but as the heavens opened and the rain began to pound our construction back towards ground level, a louder commotion disturbed the relative peace as American weaponry leapt to life and we assumed the Yanks had let loose to frighten off would-be invaders. However, when a mortar bomb struck a large tree a few metres from us, we realised that there was another party involved and we were in trouble.
One of our section members had sustained an injury and, to add insult to the injury, our hastily erected shelter collapsed around our ears. We scrambled from beneath the canvas and set about restoring it to tent shape, while the clamorous exchange between the Yanks and the unseen enemy continued. When the job was done, I prostrated myself beneath a nearby steel trailer. There was nothing much else one could do; the other team members were risking the tent again and the whole dark scene was complete confusion, although we assumed the Yanks had some idea of what was happening and what their targets were.
My visit to Fire Support Base Mike was one of those occasions when I was reasonably certain I was going to die in Vietnam. As I lay beneath the trailer adjacent to our improvised tent, visions of my loved ones back at home flashed before my eyes. I wasn’t actually thinking of them at the time; the visions just came. I then ‘knew’ that this was it!
Then Second Lieutenant Yerbury’s comforting voice brought me around: ‘Gunner Brooker, where are you? Gunner Brooker!’
At once I knew he cared for me. ‘I'm here Sir, under the trailer,’ I yelled above the din.
‘Come over here with us! Get into the tent!’
‘I’m OK, Sir. It’s safer here; this steel trailer’s better protection than the tent!’
The officer pulled rank: ‘Gunner Brooker, come over here now! That's an order!’
Had I known that Bombardier Murray Poustie had been seriously wounded during the mortar attack, I might have continued to argue. Thankfully, we were rescued by a group of Americans, who appeared to be taking the whole affair in their confident stride. They courteously escorted us to their ‘big top' and proceeded to wave their flash lights at the shrapnel holes in the walls and roof, and in their mosquito nets and bunks. One kind fellow generously offered me his hole-ridden bunk for the remainder of the night! I politely declined and spent an uncomfortable night on the damp ground, hugging a rather inadequate sandbag wall.
Personal account provided by Gnr Warwick Brooker
The purpose of our visit to Fire Support Base Mike was to place ‘Mike’ on operational grid. This necessitated a short journey along a rough track through thick scrub to our interim survey observation point codenamed ‘John’. The task was planned for 14 July 1967, the day following the eventful night at FSB Mike that saw Bdr Murray Poustie evacuated to a U.S field hospital and later to Australia.
After a very uncomfortable night at FSB Mike with little sleep, it was with considerable apprehension that we tested our tellurometers early in the morning. These instruments were notoriously temperamental at the best of times and we feared that, while we had managed to protect them from the previous night’s tropical downpour, they might object to the presence of the mortar fragments that had managed to ‘get under their skins’ during those terrifying night hours. The testing indicated that one tellurometer was willing to perform for us and we headed down the road to ‘John’, mounted atop an American tank.
Progress was ultra slow as a head-phoned American minesweeper walked warily with his metal detector ahead of the convoy. We had only four miles to travel to ‘John’ and were probably about halfway there when a deafening explosion drowned the sound of the rumbling and clanking of the armoured column. A thick cloud of rocks, dirt and smoke rose fifty feet above the spot where the minesweeper had placed his foot on a concealed, plastic-wrapped antitank mine. The tumult was followed by an eerie silence as our ears shut down to self-preserve. Then sound seeped back as rocks and clods of mud showered from the sky. We stared in amazement and horror as the unfortunate man was vaporised before our unbelieving eyes and was replaced by an enormous gaping hole in the road.
In seconds we were off the tank and circumspectly searching through the thick scrub for body fragments and clothing that would be sent back to the minesweeper’s family in the United States. Our contributions – scraps of flesh and cloth – were dropped gingerly into a grisly metal helmet that was brought around in the manner of a church offering bag or the brown envelope that’s trotted around the city office to collect for a departing colleague’s farewell morning tea.
The acute sense of our vulnerability evoked images of loved ones we might not see again. ‘The fear and nausea almost overwhelmed me’. Were there other mines planted alongside the road to shred those who were defending the convoy or searching for body fragments? Were there North Vietnamese forces only yards away waiting for fools who ride on armoured vehicles like ducks at a sideshow? Fortunately, there were no further incidents, but at the end of the outward journey our touchy tellurometer decided that ‘enough was enough.’ The expedition was over except for the fearful trip back to FSB Mike. The exercise was a tragic failure that had taken the life of yet another Vietnam soldier and would remain forever in the memories of all of those present on that fateful day.
Gnr Brooker July 1967.