The Long Hai Hills Incident. 5RAR
Supplied to me by Graham M. Sherrington... thanks mate!!!
By the time I reached the Long Hai hills in February 1967 I'd become a
fairly good infantry bush soldier. In my youth I'd always wanted to be a
soldier, I'd read a lot on the subject, been in school cadets for three
years, and even spent my last year in school as an infantry soldier in
the 31st Battalion the Kennedy Regiment .
I'd always been a keen, excellent shot and a hunter, and I'd joined
the army in 1963 -- just at the right time -- as a three year (RASR)
enlistment. After recruit and corps training at Kapooka and
Ingleburn I joined One section One platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion RAR.
-- The first of the first of the first. After a year in 1RAR, I went to A
Company 2RAR in the hope of going to Malaya and received exceptional
infantry training under Major Colin Kahn, later to become CO of 5RAR on
the second tour. I'd done quite a few company courses of various types
with 2RAR, sniping, mine warfare, forward scout, M60 Gunner, and
I'd shot in the Interservice Shoot - and come second.
Following a Junior Instructor's course at Ingleburn I was posted to 1RTB
as an RDI, only to discover my somewhat chequered past in 2RAR had
anchored me as a private forever. Not knowing what to do with me, some
genius at 1RTB -- probably thinking it was a good punishment -- put me in my
perfect dream job, on the Rifle Team as a small arms instructor, helping
to run the range practices and teach marksmanship to some of the second
intake of the National Servicemen. It was very busy times, and many
of the people I helped to train ended up using their skills in combat.
In trouble once again at 1RTB I used my considerable persuasive skills
and more than a little blackmail to force a posting to 5RAR on the
condition that I re-upped for three more years. I arrived at 5RAR, was
promptly arrested and returned in handcuffs to the cells at 1RTB for a
crime which I had not committed. I returned to 5RAR just in
time to be sent on pre-embarkation leave and head off by air to Vietnam.
I am probably one of the few infantry soldiers ever to go to
Vietnam without having been to Canungra Jungle Training Centre.
When it was discovered I actually knew how to use an M16 rifle I was
made a forward scout, a task which I enjoyed, as it gave me a
small degree of freedom and individuality in the army. I also liked the
challenge of hunting the most dangerous of animals on a fairly equal
footing. Also at various times I was also a rifleman, an M60 gunner and
an intelligence dutyman.
The day we arrived at the Long Hai Hills I was an M60 gunner and I had
been standing up in the back of our APC with my M60 pointing out one
side. This is tiring and dusty work, and eventually the vibration causes
your knees to let go and you have to sit down. I was also very
fatigued and more than a little jaded, and I was not looking forward to
tramping up steep, rocky, booby-trap and VC infested hills in the heat.
Just before I sat down we turned off the road and into some light scrub,
and I was greatly alarmed to see a low wire fence and a triangular sign
marked Bai Min (Mines) in Vietnamese. I tapped the track commander, (A
lieutenant if my memory serves me well), on the shoulder and drew his
attention to the mine markers. He said something to the effect of "It's
a dummy mine field, we've been this way before".
At this point I decide to sit down, as the odd branch was whipping by
and there was a fair bit of dust. The APC's had formed into a staggered
column, going towards the Long Hai Hills. We'd been going for some time
and were approaching the foothills when there was a huge clanging thump
on the side of our APC. It sounded like someone had struck it with a
giant sledgehammer. Looking upwards from the well of the APC I saw one
of driving wheels of the forward APC hurtling skywards out of sight. I
knew immediately that they had been very badly hit.
Almost instantaneously our APC slewed to the left, the ramp went down
and we rushed out in a contact drill. We went to ground, I set up the
M60, clipped on another extra 100 rounds and looked around. There was no
shooting but a lot of shouting.
Looking to my left about two meters away I saw a chilling sight, a mine
marker in the form of a .50 cal shell stuck nose first in the dirt.
Looking further I saw more obvious indications of a minefield. I shouted
out "MINES!!! walk only on your own footprints or the APC tracks!!!".
My three extra years of training over the National Servicemen told me
that there'd probably be three or four anti-personnel mines around every
anti-tank mine. I was not happy - to say the least.
My Corporal, Bob Harbourd came past at this time and also confirmed we
were in a minefield. We had a very young regular Combat Field Engineer
temporarily attached to our section and not realising what it was, he moved
to pick up the .50cal mine marker as a souvenir--until threatened with an
M60 and a messy termination of his career..
Around about this time the word came down for our platoon medic, Jimmy
Webster, to move up front. A very uncomplicated person, Jimmy just upped
and ran forward, although I shouted at him -- "It's a f.....g minefield,
don't run!!!". Shortly afterwards there was a second explosion and more
shouts. Major McQualter or one of the others had triggered an M16
Jumping Jack mine and almost the whole HQ group now joined the list of
dead and wounded. Jimmy was killed with them.
All of the rest of the day we stayed exactly where we were until all of
the wounded and dead had been treated by Dr Tony White and the
wounded medicand extracted by helicopter. The total was seven killed
and twenty-six wounded. Still remaining in the minefield were most of the rest of the
APC's and a seriously depleted company. Our Lieutenant, Ted Potts took
over as company commander and everyone else slipped up into their new
temporary roles. I can still remember one of the APC's had his radio
tuned to Armed Forces Radio and Harry Belafonte was singing 'Island in
the Sun'. Even now I can't listen to that song without dissolving a
little.
That night, still on the M60 and having moved back next to our APC, I
tried to sleep on the ground. It was a pretty fitful sleep. In the early
hours of the next morning the APC I was sleeping next to opened up with
twin .30cal machine guns raining hot brass on to me. I was asleep on my
back and when I opened my eyes all I could see were red tracers and
muzzle flash. I really thought my time to die had finally come and I
mentally sang my death song.
The VC were showing lights in the Long Hai hills and appeared to be
moving down towards us to finish the job. For the rest of the night
mortars, 105 Howitzers, 155 and 175 guns and even a US Navy ship at sea
along with our APC's and their .30 and .50 cal machine guns showered the
hills with ordnance.
I felt horribly trapped, we weren't dug in and we were in a semi-open
area with light bush on the perimeter with a bit of a moon. Any major
movement if we were attacked would have tripped more mines. Luckily the
VC were discouraged. from attacking us that night.
Next morning, 12 hours or so later, some Engineers with mine detection
equipment swept a path in to us and we were withdrawn. The APC I was
traveling on top of was filled in the well with the equipment,
webbing and weapons of those who'd been hit the day before. Many of the
weapons were smashed shut on live rounds and the webbing was covered in
burn marks, dirt, blood and bits, and it was all sloshing around
obscenely.
As we pulled out the damaged APC had been stripped of radios, and
weapons and all of the dangerous ammunition, claymore mines and
grenades was put into it and it was blown up with high explosive and
white phosphorous grenades. It was a total write-off. The only
satisfying thing about the whole operation was that the valley just
above us was thoroughly attacked with napalm, white phosphorous and high
explosive with some magnificent bombing by Canberra bombers. I can't
remember if they were ours or the Americans.
B Company completed its tour of Vietnam with 35 people lasting the full
twelve months out of the company. Close on half of 5 RAR's casualties in the
first tour were in B Company and we'd seen a lot of other action in the
field.
When I arrived back in Australia to a perfectly normal environment, my
female friend, could not understand why I just wanted to quaff
champagne like water and get as drunk as a monkey every night. What she
didn't realize was I was trying to come to terms with the shock of
fighting to survive one week and "everything is as it was" the next. I
just wanted to party and to try to become numb, unfortunately the
anaesthetic binge went on for another fifteen years.
I'd changed, and Australia was starting to as well. There were men with
long hair looking like women, drugs, girls wearing gauze dresses and no
bras, weird music, protests and the almost universal dislike of all
soldiers by our peers. I submerged in all of this, eventuallly became a
computer programmer, and a drunk, and it took the Vietnam Veteran's
Homecoming march to get me out in the open again.
All veteran's stories grow and change with time, we all bullshit a
little, the VC get more numerous, the bullets get closer, and any errors
made in the detail of this incident are mine and mine alone.
1410796 Graham M. Sherrington
6 Platoon
B Company
5th Battalion the Royal Australian Regiment
Vietnam 1966-1967.
On the right, Graham M. Sherrington (Uncle Sherro)
An APC after a mine incident at Long Hai
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