SUMMARY “The mission visited a point
about three kilometres from the known site of the helicopter crash in which
Lance Corporal Gillespie was involved. (See Note 1 below.) It was prevented going closer by
military authorities as area remains heavily mined and is apparently inhabited
by "bandits". The mission concluded that further investigation would not
be possible until the area had been pacified and cleared of mines. As the
area has no known economic value this did not seem likely in the foreseeable
future.”
The summary of the Gillespie
investigation as stated in the report by the above-mention mission is as
follows:
SITE VISIT
“Visit to site In Dong Nai Province involving Lance Corporal Gillespie.
The Mission was unable to visit the site of the incident due to the presence of mines throughout the Nui Chau Vien which remain uncleared. A further reason given by the Vietnamese authorities was the presence of "bandits" in the mountain range who would fire on any strangers or Vietnamese military approaching the area. Exactly who the "bandits" were was not established.
Because of the above factors, the Mission was taken to a vantage point along the Baria-Long Hai road (YS434522) from which to observe the site. Because of the distance from the site (over three kilometers) and the broken nature of the ground around the site, nothing could be observed.(See Note 2 below.)
Australian Army records show that at the time of the incident (April 1971) the headquarters of D445 local Force Battalion and two companies were probably in the Long Hai together with their Commander, Sau Thu. It was established in discussions with the Dong Nai Peoples' Committee on 14 May 1984 that Sau Thu was living In the village of Long My (YS4954). It was therefore requested that the Mission visit this area in order to speak with Sau Thu and establish if he had any further information on the incident. In the event, the Mission was told that Sau Thu was not in the village of Long My on that day and a visit would be unwarranted. No further information on this incident was gained by the Mission's visit to the vicinity.”
Note 1. The OP used by the mission was indeed "over three kilometers" from the crash site.
In fact it was 4.6 kilometers on a bearing of 290 degrees from the incident location.
Note 2. Considering the distance of the OP from the crash site, the relative elevations and the intervening terrain,
the statement that "nothing could be observed" is fully understood.