The Waiting Killers


Black day in the Long Hais By Bob Hall


Reprinted from the Vietnam Veterans Newsletter VVFA June 2002

On the morning of 28 February 1970, in the closing days of Operation Hammersley, "A"Company was deployed on the eastern edge of the Long Hai hills to ambush routes that might be used by the remnants of died Battalion to escape 8RAR pressure elsewhere. The After Action Report for the operation noted:

Due to the threat of M16 mines, where ever practicable infantry moved in closed down APCS with tanks in front of the APCS to prove the way. This tactic was successful. There were no mine casualties from M16 mines when Troops moved in this manner.

During the operation, when moving dismounted, infantrymen wore flak jackets and sometimes steel helmets to give added personal protection against mine fragments. The battalion was well supported with Engineer splinter teams supplied by 1 Field Squadron. Movement by foot in areas of high mine threat was usually very slow, deliberate and cautious.

Major Vin Murphy, OC of A Company, conforming with the CO's orders, sent his 1 Platoon, i under the command of Sergeant Bill Hoban, into an ambush position covering a likely enemy withdrawal route. The platoon was equipped with flack jackets in case of a mine blast and had an Attached two-man Engineer splinter team with a mine detector to clear the route as they moved. They set off in the relative cool of the morning, in single file, following the path m cleared by the Engineers and stopping every 80 to 100 paces to allow the Engineers time to rest.

Operating the mine detector was demanding and the Engineers needed regular breaks to maintain concentration. Progress was very slow and cautious. The platoon moved only 100 metres in an hour. When Hoban reached the ambush position he called Murphy on the radio saying that the area appeared clear of mines, was a suitable ambush site and had a good source of drinking water nearby. But he also the alerted Murphy that an M16 grenade booby trap had been found and that the Engineers were going to destroy it. Murphy advised caution. Where there was one booby trap, he told Hoban, there were bound to be others.

With the heat of the day, the steep climb and the heavy, stifling flak jackets, most of Hoban's men had consumed their water and required a resupply. The platoon was occupying a small depression in the ground and was not properly dispersed; to make matters worse a water party returning from the watering point, and another yet to leave, added to the overcrowding around the platoon headquarters.

Lance Corporal Bob D'Arcy later described what happened next: One of the (Engineer) mini-team moved over to their weapons. He detonated the mine. l heard the explosion and went to ground. I think 1 was shaky and a little groggy. Sergeant Hoban looked at me and fell to the ground (dead).

1 then moved to the (signals) set by prodding my way. 1 shouted to the others to stay still and prod an area and lay down. I reported the incident to (company headquarters). l looked around and there was only myself and Private Casey and Private Child still standing.

Private Casey and myself were only 5 feet from the blast. Private Child was on high ground 30 feet from the mine. The M16 mine was of the 'jumping jack' variety. Once triggered, a small propellant charge lifts the mine into the air, usually about a metre and a half, before the main charge fires and sends fragments over a wide area. Mines were often a lottery of death.

Like Bob D'Arcy, soldiers only a few metres from the blast might escape injury while those some distance away might be killed or wounded. There were cases where Ml6 mines killed soldiers over 70 metres from the point of blast and wounded at 200 metres. ' D'Arcy and a few others had miraculously survived the blast unscathed.

They were faced with a scene of slaughter: seven dead (including one of the Engineers) and thirteen wounded (including the other Engineer), some very seriously, writhing and screaming in agony. Nor could the survivors help the wounded, lest in doing so they triggered other mines. Using their bayonets, they carefully prodded the ground to detect other mines as they moved towards their wounded mates, Bringing help was angonisingly slow

D'Arcy commented:
There were a lot of people shouting. We shouted at them and prodded towards the wounded. l told Private Child to prod down to us to assist. The wounded calmed down and none of them moved. The personnel who were able prodded a space and (attended to their own wounds). While D'Arcy, Casey and Child helped the wounded as best they could, three other survivors, Corporal Jim Barrett, Lance Corporal Peter Salkowski and Private Tony Kingdom, set out to clear a route to an LZ to evacuate the wounded.

Barrett used the mine detector to clear a path and Salkowski followed behind marking the clear route with Kingdom providing security. By now helicopters had begun to ferry yet assistance into the stricken platoon. First to arrive were an Engineer and Corporal Tokens, the A Company medic. Salkowski led them along the cleared path to the platoon where Torrens started working on the wounded.

Salkowski recalled:
Jim (Barrett) was looking up. Tne next thing (he moved backwards) and a mine climbed up his back. Later on you could see where the line (marking the safe lane) was and you could see his footprint where the mine came out...' Barrett had stepped out of the cleared lane by a matter of a few centimetres. (Jim) just died in front of us. He was bloody . . . picked himself up a couple of times, shook his head. I was about two metres away. Tony Kingdom was between us. He got shrapnel all through his legs...'

As well as killing Barrett and wounding Kingdom, the second mine had also damaged the helicopter and wounded the Engineer suspended under it on the winch. For the rest of the day the survivors, and the few Engineers and medical personnel brought in to assist, assembled the bodies of the dead and wounded for helicopter evacuation, cleaned up the area and prepared to depart.

The next day the survivors of 1 Platoon were taken back to Nui Dat while the remainder of the company stayed on operations, Salkowski even arranged a few bottles of Bacardi from friends in the SAS and the survivors set about getting drunk.

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