SUMMARY
“The mission visited the nearest point to the grid reference provided by original records and was accompanied by local military officers who had fought In the area in 1965 and who had detailed knowledge of terrain. The area has now been penetrated by woodcutters and hunters although surrounding scrub is thick. Local officials said they did not have reports of graves or remains In the area, neither could they locate trenches indicating the Vietnamese defensive position in the incident. Further Investigation would have required a grid search over a large area through difficult terrain which was beyond the mission's capacity. The mission concluded that further Investigation would not produce results.”

SITE VISIT: TUESDAY 15 MAY 1984 - DONG NAI

“The Mission was accompanied into the area of the incident by Lieutenant .Colonel Dam, the senior military official on the Dong Nai Province Peoples' Committee.

A local guide, a former member of the Vinh Cuu District Unit, led the team to the site. He claimed to have been in the area at the time of the incident (November 1965) although he had no specific recollection of it. Australian Army records show the Vinh Cuu District Headquarters units (to .which the guide had belonged) to have been in the area at the time of the incident. It is of interest that senior officials of Dong Nai Province Peoples' Committee, whilst aware of the presence of the 173 Airborne Brigade in the area in 1965 seemed genuinely surprised that an Australian battalion was also operating there.

Since 1981 there have been a number of families settled in the clearing at the head of the Suoi Ba Van (YT 160223). The area has been further cleared to cover approximately one square kilometre, and padi developed. Elsewhere, little further development has been carried out. There is, however, "some wood-cutting in the area and a number of well- developed
tacks have been established for this purpose. Beyond these tracks the secondary growth remains for the most part untouched except where woodcutters have ventured off the tracks to cut trees.

In the area to which the Mission was taken, there was no evidence of bunkers as mentioned in the 1 RAR report. The guides stated that in 1965 there were no bunkers in the area as the units were mobile. Approximately three hundred metres to the south east, however, old bunker positions were observed but the guides advised that these were not constructed until about 1968.

The nature of the secondary growth was such that movement off the established tracks would have been extremely difficult and a detailed search of the area beyond the capabilities of the Mission. Questioning of people living in the area failed to reveal any information on grave sites or human remains.”