AN ACTION REPLAY FROM THE HAT DICH (PAGE 2)

© David Wilkins Adjutant & OC C Company 2nd Tour

Having left the cover of their bunkers the NVA troops were now more exposed and vulnerable to both 7 Platoon and Bushranger's fire. This effectively slowed the enemy counter attack and gave the withdrawing troops a little breathing space to extract themselves by about 40 metres. They still had another 150 metres to reach the bomb crater for the Dustoff but with the enemy pressing them they had to fight their way back towards the designated rendezvous.

The audio tape records the Bushranger crew's intercom discussion as they viewed the action below:

It was clear by now that the enemy knew they were facing Australian troops as they were calling out:

"Uc Dai Loi, number 10. Uc Dai Loi, number 10." ("Uc Dai Loi," is Vietnamese for "Australian.")

At about this time, approximately 1900 hours, Creelman and Lynch's gunship departed to refuel, leaving 7 Platoon without any fire support: no artillery, no mortars and no aerial fire. Attempts to obtain a replacement gunship were unsuccessful. It was a perfect time for the enemy to pursue 7 Platoon and create havoc with more casualties. They saw this opportunity, no doubt when they heard the helicopter depart, and they took it.

Withdrawing with one body and two badly wounded men was difficult enough, but it was made particularly so with the enemy counter attacking. Lt Hosie split his troops into two groups, the larger, commanded by platoon sergeant, Doc Halliday, given the responsibility of safely extracting the casualties. Jim McMillan had been initially dragged about 60 metres from the firing line and was then carried by his shocked mates such as Pte Rod Zunneberg who had shared a tent with him in the reinforcement unit at Nui Dat, and rifleman Pte Terry Smith who trained with Jim at Kapooka in Australia. Sandy McKinnon had severe gunshot wounds to the chest but somehow was able to walk back with Ian Leis to support him. The courage and stamina of this big man was inspirational to those around him, particularly to the recent reinforcements. Those characteristics also saved his mates the difficult task of having to carry his 6'1" bulk. The similarly tough Buddah Martini, with lesser wounds, though still severe and debilitating, was also just able to walk and make his own way. (Buddah, a National Serviceman from Victoria had changed the spelling of his nickname to accommodate the wishes of Fung, the Company's Buddhist bushman scout, who said the name shouldn't be spelt the same as the real Buddha.)

Hoss controlled the second and much smaller group, the rear guard, tasked to keep the enemy at bay and allow Doc Halliday's troops sufficient space to reach the bomb crater and have the wounded men winched safely into the Dustoff helicopter. Doc's group handed over some of its ammunition to the rear guard in order to maximise the covering fire while they withdrew. Initially the rear guard consisted of Hoss, his radio operator, Lance Reeves, and machine gunner, Colin Jones, who waited astride the track for Baker and MacDougal to join them. They then took up fire positions about 60 metres from the bunkers and engaged the enemy as they counter attacked. This then developed into a fighting withdrawal by fire and movement as the rear guard soldiers took advantage of the cover provided by a series of B52 bomb craters. As they neared the medevac location it was just Baker and MacDougal astride the track as the final guard.

Meanwhile Bill Titley had despatched a small group commanded by the Company Sergeant Major, WO2 Jack Lake, to move forward from the firm base and secure the area of the bomb crater about 50 metres from their position.

About 1920 hours, with the light becoming gloomy under the jungle canopy, the gunship returned to continue its support.  Two RAAF Dustoff helicopters from 9 Squadron were also nearby awaiting the word from the ground troops to commence the medevac.

While this was happening Doc Halliday (call sign 31A, Three-one Alpha") reached the bomb crater and met up with Jack Lake's group (call sign 3C, "Three-Charlie") and prepared for the Dustoff.

It was 1925 hours, and nearing last light, with Hosie's rear guard now close to the Dustoff crater, having temporarily broken contact with the pursuing enemy. Unbeknown to him, however, the enemy had heard the Dustoff helicopter and had gone silent and hidden with a plan to work their way closer in readiness to cripple the aircraft.

The Company's priority was now to save the badly wounded Sandy McKinnon. The Australian Dustoff helicopter hovered over the old B52 bomb crater and lowered a jungle penetrator through the hole in the canopy to the troops waiting under the downwash of the chopper blades. Sandy was secured to the seat by Jack Lake and winched upwards. Some of the enemy, concealed about 50 metres away, were quietly waiting their opportunity.

Everything was in slow motion for Sandy McKinnon. As he reached tree top level on the jungle penetrator he had a most unnerving bird's-eye view of the action below. Bursts of Chicom RPD (machine gun) fire with its green tracer (1 in every 5 rounds) were streaming towards him from the vicinity of the original bunker system and striking the Dustoff chopper just above him, which he noticed was rotating its tail towards the fire. One of the rounds clipped the winch cable causing him to spin in the air, but fortunately not to descend in a free-fall.

Dustoff's side-gunner had mistakenly fired on the withdrawing elements of Ian Hosie's group closest to the enemy. Fortunately no casualties resulted.

The Dustoff chopper had itself taken over 30 hits but the pilot had remained calm, rotating the aircraft's tail towards the enemy to protect his crew as they continued winching in Sandy.

Miraculously escaping further injury, Sandy was raised closer to the chopper. As his head came level with the floor the crew reached out and, in perfect well-practised unison, heaved him up and catapulted him inside. "GO, GO, GO, GO!!" they yelled to the pilot. As they sped off Sandy noticed that the gunship ("Bushranger 71") had deliberately flown into the path of the tracer to be a screen between the Chicom machine gun and the Dustoff chopper, and was itself firing down the line of the tracer at the enemy position.

Jack Lake, with his typical dry humour, turned to Martini and said: "OK, Buddah, you're next." "I don't bloody well think so," came the reply; the morphine probably seemed just fine for the time being!

[Here, the audio tape ends with the sound of Bushranger's roaring mini guns. Recording did not usually occur; it was just that Jack Lynch had taken his own tape recorder with him on the flight, making the taping of this engagement all the more remarkable.]

Hosie regrouped with Cpl Mick Bolton's section from the firm base and immediately counter attacked the enemy, pushing them back about 100 metres. The combination of this and the covering mini guns and twin M60s from Bushranger kept them back until darkness closed in shortly afterwards. Sandy McKinnon was safely extracted but the lack of light and more particularly the threatening enemy presence prevented further medevacs, which meant Buddah Martini stayed the night in the scrub with limited resources to stem his pain. He spent a sleepless night with Ian Leis well inside the defensive perimeter lying beside Jim's body wrapped in a plastic hutchie.

For the first few hours of the night the enemy kept probing the consolidated CHQ and 7 Platoon position where the diggers expected an all-out enemy attack at any time; so Bill Titley called in the big guns of "Spooky", an AC47 aircraft with multiple mini guns, also known as "Puff the Magic Dragon", so named because of the roar of its weapons and the torrent of its fire containing a large content of red tracer. One mini gun alone was able to spew out 6,000 rounds a minute. Spooky was deadly accurate throughout the night as Bill "walked" the wall of fire in close to their position, which identified its perimeter to the aircraft with two strobe lights and a few tiny lights from the soldiers' hexy stoves (hexamine burners), all shielded from enemy observation.

It was a tense night for CHQ and 7 Platoon, and although on 50 percent stand-to (alert), most remained nervously awake until first light when, to their huge relief, all was quiet. Although Buddah's wounded leg had become stiff and swollen with the shrapnel embedded in his thigh he was still able to hobble along with the Company as it moved about 1,000 metres to a more secure landing zone to evacuate Jim McMillan's body, to take a resupply and to transfer Buddah to "Vampire" (the 1st Australian Field Hospital) in Vung Tau. There, with the shrapnel removed from his leg, he recovered sufficiently a few weeks later to rejoin his platoon for the next operation.

The previous evening when Sandy McKinnon was evacuated, he still wasn't feeling much pain in the Dustoff helicopter and although weak he refused to lie down. The flight crew lit him a smoke, then another, and another as he watched the treetops speed past below on their way to Vung Tau. Sandy was familiar with the chopper pad at the Australian Field Hospital as he had been a visitor previously, in fact as one of the 7 Platoon mine casualties in the previous operation. On that occasion he had 16 shrapnel wounds to his back, right shoulder and lung, and not all the pieces could be removed. This time, as the Dustoff skids touched down, Sandy did not wait for assistance but walked away from the chopper towards the surgery as the stretcher team raced past him to the chopper. "Where is he?" they yelled to the Dustoff crew.

"There, he just walked past you," they pointed.

"Mac, it's you!" the hospital staff exclaimed as they recognised him. "Lie down mate, you'll be OK now."

Sandy was quickly transferred into the surgery where the waiting surgical team sprang into action. His filthy greens and boots were sheared off in an instant and the work began. For the first time he felt confident he would live. An immediate scan was performed, revealing four pieces of 7.62 mm AK47 rounds lodged in his chest, one partially in his heart and one in his right lung.

"It's like a Chinese junk yard in there," announced the Army surgeon.

Sandy McKinnon was too badly wounded for a speedy recovery, and was evacuated to Australia. He later married one of his nurses from Concord Hospital, Shani Hennessy.

The body of Jim McMillan was also returned to Australia to his final resting place in his hometown of Horsham in western Victoria. Commemorative plaques to this brave and popular volunteer National Service soldier are laid in Victoria's Garden of Remembrance and also in various memorials to Vietnam Veterans' throughout Australia. Engaged to be married, Jim had died just two months short of his 21st birthday.

Back in the Hat Dich it was business as usual as the evacuated bunker system was destroyed before C Company continued searching and fighting for the remaining 4 weeks of the operation. The Battalion's many contacts in the month-long operation resulted in at least 73 enemy confirmed killed and one captured. Countless were wounded and may have died later. 5RAR itself lost 3 killed in action and 61 wounded.

Platoon Commander, Ian Hosie later commended with high praise the overall performance and courage of his soldiers in this action, many of whom were experiencing their first taste of combat. Specific mention should be made of the following:

	The ferocity of Pte Jim McMillan's courageous attack upon the enemy bunkers' before he was killed in action. He had also earlier performed calmly and creditably during the reconnaissance patrol;
	The skill of the giant forward scout, Sandy McKinnon, in the lead up to the assault on the bunkers, as well as his courage, stamina and remarkable stoicism in making his own way under fire when severely wounded;
	The professional actions of Cpl Mick Bolton and his section who 'performed superbly through the day', particularly in combination with the tracker team, and also in the final counter attack;
	The competence, skills and advice of Pte Paddy Walker, with Caesar, were invaluable. Paddy's own alertness and swift accuracy with his rifle undoubtedly saved the life of the platoon commander;
	The courageous and aggressive actions of the two machine gun teams of the assault sections in the attack upon the bunker system (Ptes Colin Jones, Andy MacDougal and Buddah Martini) and section 2ic, Lcpl Barry Baker;
	The actions of the platoon radio operator, Pte Lance Reeves, who despite being in his first combat experience, was calmly efficient throughout the action, and maintained crucial communications for his platoon;
	The calm and competent work of platoon medic, Pte Max Hedley, in treating the wounded men in the thick of the battle. (Max would become the only remaining original member of 7 Platoon until February 1970 when he too was evacuated with multiple gunshot wounds during the Battalion's final operation.)

Particular mention should be made of the conspicuous courage and leadership displayed by Lcpl Ian Leis and machine gunner Pte Andy MacDougal.

Leis, a 3-year regular soldier, successfully led the reconnaissance patrol to locate the bunker system when he shot two enemy at close range, enabling his small group to extract itself without casualty. He then led the assault section in the subsequent attack upon the bunker system where his actions, aggressive firing and strong leadership undoubtedly saved the lives of some of his men and enabled them to reposition themselves out of the direct line of the withering enemy fire. The following month he was wounded in action and evacuated to Australia.

MacDougal, a volunteer National Serviceman and recent reinforcement experiencing his first combat action, distinguished himself with his courageous actions in moving close to the enemy bunkers on the left flank of the assault and constantly engaging the enemy using tactically sound enfilade fire across the front of Leis's section and Platoon HQ, as well as having to protect himself from the closer enemy to his front. His platoon was assisted by his actions, which then attracted intense return fire from the enemy; but without faltering MacDougal continued with his task. On hearing the command to withdraw, he disregarded his own safety to remain in his position to provide covering fire to his mates pulling back before he too extracted himself with Baker. This pair were then involved in providing rear protection to the withdrawing platoon, with the inexperienced MacDougal instinctively selecting optimum fire positions along the line of the track to engage the counter attacking enemy force. His initiative and leadership skills later led to his being promoted to lance corporal.

Special mention should be made of the outstanding leadership and courage of the platoon commander, Lt Ian Hosie. This popular and highly respected young officer, a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, not only engendered confidence in his troops, many of whom were raw and inexperienced, but also through his inspirational and determined leadership, as well as his clear thinking whilst under fire from a larger enemy force, undoubtedly saved his men from sustaining further casualties. On numerous occasions during this battle he exposed himself to enemy fire and disregarded the increased danger to himself to successfully organise and redeploy his troops. His bravery and leadership were commendable.

Finally, all the ground troops were full of admiration for the professionalism, skill and courage displayed by the helicopter pilots (Flight Lieutenant Ted Creelman and Pilot Officer Jack Lynch and the Australian Dustoff pilots) as well as their crews, whose actions in supporting the diggers during the day, and then extracting the severely wounded Sandy McKinnon before dark, whilst being fired on by the enemy, very likely saved his life and possibly the lives of others.

This was just one of thousands of engagements between the Australian infantry and its Viet Cong and North Vietnamese enemy during this war; some were minor, some major and more intense, but in all these contacts the soldiers were doing what they were trained to do, although some did so more conspicuously than others. A minority of Australian officers and soldiers were decorated for bravery or for greater than usual efficiency in the war; the vast majority just did their job and have gone without public recognition. The members of 7 Platoon in this action on 31 July 1969 were typical of the latter group. Not one was decorated for bravery and whilst this was not unusual, the men of 7 Platoon and Tracker Platoon were undoubtedly heroic, fighting in the true spirit of the ANZAC tradition.

CO 5RAR, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Khan, subsequently praised the soldiers of 7 Platoon and Tracker Platoon in this action in the following way:

"These soldiers, a mix of regulars and national servicemen, and their actions epitomised the spirit, loyalty, teamwork, bravery and above all professionalism of the men we officers had the privilege to command in Vietnam. It is little wonder all our battalions did so well in that war."

7 Platoon C Company
31 July 1969

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Lest We Forget

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