A diagram of the Area of Operations of the patrol that Fisher was with can be seen here.

On the morning of 27 September, 1969, at 8.35 am, as the patrol approached a track which they had located the previous day, “they sighted eight well-armed NVA at a range of about ten metres. The Australians froze, hoping that their camouflage would be successful against the background of the jungle, while for a full ten seconds the NVA stopped, looking in their direction. Suddenly one NVA started to lift his AK47 and Van Droffelaar and his forward scout, Private John Cuzens, shot three NVA with well-aimed shots to the chest and throat. Private Les Liddington killed a fourth. A group of NVA then tried to outflank the patrol to their right and they were engaged by the patrol second- in-command, Private David Fisher; one enemy was seen to fall as if hit in the body. Under Van Droffelaar's direction the patrol withdrew using fire and movement. The enemy expected the Australians to withdraw through thick jungle, but Van Droffelaar chose a more open route and they covered about 300 metres before being located by the enemy.

By now the patrol had reached the Suoi Trong and as they scrambled up the bank two rounds from an RPG slammed into the bank. Van Droffelaar was pushing his medic up the bank and received slight shrapnel wounds to the face. But the explosion was deafening; he felt an agonising stab of pain in his ear and blood started to run out of it down the side of his face. Looking around he could see about 30 enemy in a semi-circle sweeping towards the creek. Again he directed a withdrawal using fire and movement, and once they reached the cover of the primary jungle he ordered the patrol to stop firing and to remain motionless, standing back to back in a thick clump of vegetation.

Away to the east they could hear firing from another group of NVA and an enemy officer was blowing a whistle, directing the advance against the SAS. 'Gents, we aren't going to go no where', stated Van Droffelaar quietly to his patrol. Nearby he could see a small opening in le canopy where some artillery had exploded some months earlier ,and he realised that they could be extracted from this area. All around they could hear the enemy firing single shots, trying to draw their fire. It was now about 11 am and Van Droffelaar told the radio operator, Les Liddington, that he had to obtain communications with Nui Dat. … The patrol continued to stand back to back with the enemy moving all around. Quietly they attached their Swiss seats and waited for the helicopter. Suddenly the enemy came closer. 'Joe, we've got to move', whispered one of the patrol members. 'No', said Joe, 'we'll fight it from here'. He pulled out an M26 grenade and put it in his top pocket. Just then he heard the helicopters in the distance, vectoring in on the URC 10 beacon. ' About time', he thought, although it was less than half an hour since they had sent their message. It started to rain again.

He let the Albatross lead come closer, not wanting to speak on his URC l0 in case he was heard by the NVA. 'Bravo Nine Sierra One One, this is Albatross Leader', came the voice over the radio. … Two or three minutes later the gunships started their run. Van Droffelaar threw a smoke grenade, the gunships opened fire, and the lead helicopter, piloted by Flying Officer Michael Tardent, skilfully dropped its. rope 20 metres down into the gap in the canopy. There had been no enemy fire for some time, but now the patrol thought that they saw incoming tracer fire, and just before clipping on their Karabiners they delivered a long burst of fire towards the suspected enemy location. They were lifted about ten metres off the ground and Paul Saxton became caught in the fork of a tree. Van Droffelaar spoke on his URC 10 and the helicopter lowered sufficiently for Saxton to extricate himself.

As soon as they were clear of the jungle the gunships moved in and the helicopter gathered speed. The ropes were all at different lengths and Private David Fisher was on the longest rope. Suddenly the other members realised that Fisher was missing; he had fallen from a height of about 30 metres.

The helicopter travelled about two kilometres, landed and allowed the four remaining patrol members to scramble aboard. They then returned to the site where they thought Fisher had fallen but could see no sign. By the time the helicopter reached Nui Dat Major Reg Beesley was preparing to lead a patrol to find Fisher. Meanwhile Captain Ross Bishop took off in a Sioux accompanied by a light fire team, and he continued searching from about 1 to 3 pm.

At about 4.30 pm Beesley and a nine-man patrol rappelled into the jungle to begin the search, and next morning they were joined by C Company 9 RAR. The company sighted three VC and killed one before it was relieved on 1 October by B Company 6 RAR. Fisher's body was never found. Aged 23, he was a National Serviceman whose tour had two months to run. A subsequent investigation found that it was likely that in the heat of the moment he had attached his Karabiner not to the correct loop at the end of the rope, but to the false loop created where the free end of the rope had been taped back.”