EXPEDITION TO HILL 82 AREA BY MR MATTHEW B. D’ARCY AND PARTY

28 JULY 2002

This is Matthew's account of his visit written by himself and published here for the information of interested parties.

 

Personnel. Matthew B. d'Arcy. Team Leader, Navigation, Security.

Talent L. d'Arcy. Liaison, Public Relations, Interpreting and Translating.

Ming L. d'Arcy. Video Recorder, Camera, Assistant Navigator, I. T.

Due to deteriorating health problems, Maj Peter Rothwell and Maj Barry Sullivan could not participate in the Operation to Vietnam as had originally been intended in the early planning phase.

 

Timing. The lack of funding resulted in the Operation being sandwiched between other Missions to SE. Asia and to be conducted when the Air Fares were in Off Season. Despite a number of requests for funding assistance from the Govt. especially the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, they were told that none was available. The whole expedition had to be totally funded by the d' Arcy family. This meant travelling during the hottest months and when the Monsoon was due to break over Vietnam. While in country, Taiphon Halong raced up the South China Sea skirting Vietnam but hitting Okinawa and Southern Japan, while other rain depressions flooded Bangladesh. The rain increased daily during our stay in Vietnam as did the temperature. The average was 27-37 degrees, exceptional high humidity, and rain every afternoon and on the day of the Operation, it rained almost every hour for around ten to twenty minutes.

 

Start time was 0630 hrs from Ho Chi Minh City and we proceeded by vehicle along Highway 1, bypassing Bien. Hoa and turning off to Tri An around 0745 after stopping off for breakfast at the roadside.

 

As discussed in the Preparation Phase the lack of adequate maps was a major problem and we only possessed a 1: 250,000 Tourist map of the Region and a snippet of the original Operational Map 1: 50,000 but only covering some 6,000 x 6,000 yards of map.

 

It had decided to head to Tri An and approach the Operational Area from the North attempting to locate a known point, the Junction of the Song Be and Dong Nai Rivers. Unfortunately, the Tri An Dam site, the major provider of Water and Electricity for HCM, blocked the road and we were unable to proceed. The dam inundates most of the area. An alternate road was found and the party proceeded towards the formerly deserted village of Xom Cai Xoai. It has since changed its name and is now repopulated by people who moved in post 1985. No one remembers the former village. It was intended to purchase a local map form the Post Office in the village; unfortunately, it was closed despite its advertised opening hours.

 

The vehicle proceeded south in heavy rain until it reached the junction of the Creek Junction Suoi Ba Ben. This allowed the navigator for the first time to accurately plot the latitude and longitude of the point and link it with the Map Fragment. This formed the basis for future positional calculations but as it was only one point on the Western side of the fragment and in the middle we could not obtain any equivalent points on the Eastern side a, which would have been necessary to lock in the map with the GPS system. Navigation therefore had to rely on Ground Feature recognition form the fragment rather than GPS positions. This made map-reading progress slow, difficult and increased the degree of inaccuracy.

 

Having located themselves on the fragment, the expedition could now identify accurately the LZ Queen. They then proceeded to the track junction on the original map that led off to Hill 82. This was done but the rain had set in again and the track was not passable by the vehicle, which was a 12 seater mini bus.

 

The track was narrow, boggy and steep. It was some 4,000 meters to Hill 82 and with 50 Kg of headstones, 10 Kg cement, 10 Kg sand and 20 litres of water for mixing the cement as well as and additional 5 litres for drinking plus digging tools etc. it would have been a difficult to back pack the stores to the contact sites. A passing tractor was hailed and hired to take the stores, Ming and Maj d' Arcy up to Hill 82. Talent to staid with the bus and driver as a ride up the mountain in the pouring rain through the jungle clinging onto the back of a tractor did not immediately appeal to her.

 

The Lowlanders that is people who lived around the paddy filed on the banks of the Song Be were reluctant to go up into the Hills. They claimed the one extended family (codenamed the 'Bandit Clan'), which was allegedly a combination of both VC and bandits, inhabited them. The Lowlanders were reluctant to proceed more than a few hundred meters from the Main Road. After guaranteeing their safety, we proceeded up the steep track through the jungle to Hill 82 in a tropical downpour.

 

Much of the area had been cleared for cultivation but patches of jungle remained and care had to be taken to avoid the overhead thorny vines, which could rip a passer by, as they lurched along hanging on to the tractor. They reached the cleared area on the southern slopes of Hill 82 and were dropped off.

 

While they checked their bearings, 'Fred', a local on a trail bike who rather moved in after carefully inspecting our stores and staying put joined us. The Maj wanted to give him the 'Heave Ho' but after discussion with Ming agreed to tolerate his invasive presence. They hardly had the jurisdiction to do anything else.

 

The Maj left Ming guarding the stores while he walked across the cleared area, which was under cultivation, (seedlings approx 250 cms high) for a distance of 500 m. From this point, he verified their position on Hill 82 as well as having the same vantage point that the VC had back in 1965 looking down on Queen and across the river to the US Operations. They could have counted every helicopter and every man as they arrived and watched the directions in which they moved out. The allies certainly did not take them by surprise.

 

On his return to the drop off point, Ming had improved relations with Fred and the Maj decided to use him and his bike. He hired Fred to take him further up the ridge towards the Contact Point. The track had been extended from the 1965 era and most likely joined the road near the Tri An Reservoir. This was the access route for the VC in 1965 to patrol and dominate this line of high features. The ridgeline was wide and the slopes along the crest were gentle. The land fell away steeply to the west but there were a number of wide ridges to the east. It had been decided after studying the maps, the incidents reports filled out immediately after the battle and some eye witness statements remembered some 38 years later that Maj. Healy, the Company Commander's Grid Reference for the incident was the most relevant.

 

His GR when taken in conjunction with the ground as projected from the map and more importantly the valley in which his HQ was located and from which the wounded were evacuated, seemed the most likely. In addition, a NZ artillery officer, Capt Murphy, had accompanied him at one pace to the right rear. Gunners despite their many shortcomings can read maps and plot Grid References far better than most Infanteers so it was felt that Healy's reference was closest to the point that casualties were inflicted.

 

Fred kept wanting to take the Maj down to the valley, which he had codenamed VOD, the Valley of the Damned. Fred spoke absolutely no English and the Majors Vietnamese was distinctly limited. However, when they pulled up at GR 164238 and walked off down a small track that ran down to the VOD Fred told the Maj that this is where the battle had taken place. Fred was in his late 20s so he did not have any personal recollection. The expedition was the first foreigners he had ever come across and no 'Foreign Devils' had ever to my knowledge ever been on location. Fred's information must have come from Verbal History' passed down around the lamp at night from the local storytellers. He kept on insisting that it had happened down in the VOD. To pacify him and to give the expedition an alternative perspective to the area the Maj then remounted Fred's bike and returned down the track to Ming.

 

The Maj informed Ming that he was going to recce the Suoi Ba Van Creek. They headed off down the Mountain until they reached a track Junction around 138226 that veered off to the west and then followed the banks of the Suoi Ba Van around the bottom of the features leading to Hill 82. They reached the source of the creek and continued up and over a ridge and down into the VOD. Looking up the valley, the Maj could see the ridgeline where he had stood 15 minutes before. It fitted Healy's and other description of the valley. The jungle had been totally cleared from the valley and that part of the ridgeline. A wide spur ran down from the main ridgeline east then curving slightly north. This was the spur that the VC attempted to move down to outflank Williams and fire on his flanks and rear.

 

Fred and the Maj had a discussion about where the battle took place. Fred insisted that it was mainly in the valley while the Maj went for the high ground as per logic, geometry and the after action reports placed it. Outranking Fred and especially since he was paying him, Fred agreed eventually and they returned to Ming and then began to shuttle stores down the ridge from Hill 82 to the contact point.

 

There was an old bamboo and thatched hut (later code named the Security Chief's Hut) near the junction point from the Ridge Track to that running down into the VOD.

 

This track was very narrow and ran past another old hut (later code named the Old Man's Hut) on the base of the northern slopes of the VOD. Looking very official and giving her a Royal Wave, they proceeded to walk through her property and began to dig about in her back garden. Only her flock of geese appeared to offer any protest and even then it was somewhat muted. The Maj acknowledges that his conduct was outrageous, but with the rain setting in again, the clock ticking and being about Her Majesties Service (even if wholly self appointed) he had to run the risk of bruised egos and territorial claims.

 

He walked the ground, studied the map checked the GPS, transported himself mentally back to the jungle coved status of 1965, compared his own many hundreds of similar ‘skirmishes, and decided on the most likely spot for the contact to fit all the parameters. That was GR 165238.

 

Around this time a boy of around 16 years old or so appeared. He was a resident of the Security Chief s Hut and was one of his sons. The Maj explained what he was doing and why they were here and continued to search the area for any signs of war or remains. Not long after a man appeared who was the resident of the Hut. The man was dressed in his best official uniformed shirt minus his epaulettes, and apparently recently from a round or two (or more) of rice wine in the local pub. It turned out that he was responsible for security in the Highlands around Hill 82, (hence his allotted Code Name). The Maj not sure of the tenses and could not guarantee that the 'Chief still held this position.

 

Once again, the Maj explained as best he could who he was and why they were here. The Chief was surprised that Australians were here. Everyone thought that it was only Americans in the area. He had never had any contact before us with any foreigners. He agreed that a battle had taken place here but it was long before he or his family entered the area. He had come here as a hunter and wood gatherer in 1984. He was VC previously and was in his late 50s. He informed me that the area had been previously heavily timbered with Bamboo and other trees but that in 1984 he was encouraged by the authorities to settle here with his family and later in 85 to clear the hills and establish agriculture. Initially they survived with great difficulty and in considerable hardship and poverty by hunting and gathering firewood. He then burnt the hills and cleared the jungle, slowly planting and harvesting. He said he had evidence of the battle.

 

First he took us to the Old Man's Hut and showed me a granite obelisk about 1 metre high and 250 on each side. He claimed that this was erected in the VOD and that it marked a grave. He was not sure of its exact location, as he had removed it back in the 80s. He was surer of where he found a webbing belt that had six or eight magazine pouches attached. The belt had been in the swampy ground of the VOD for 20 years and was rotten so he threw it away. He showed the searchers its approximate location. He claimed to have other items in his hut. One was a knife. The Maj showed him his Marine Corps K Bar and suggested that if it had a hole for a gun barrel then it was a bayonet and the Chief agreed.

 

The audience had swelled and by now, others returned from the fields and school. One of his sons dashed off, without his father's permission and fetched a bayonet. Ming examined it and photographed the exhibit. Without further research, it appeared to be of VC equipment, Chinese or Russian design, but the Maj will hold off a final decision until he has studied the photo in some detail. At this stage, the Chief did not want to disclose all his trophies but intimated that he had a rifle magazine.

 

Meanwhile back track junction Talent had occupied herself by interrogation some of the locals. Eventually she was taken to an elderly resident of around 80 years old who bad He had been a woodcutter all of his life. He had been on both sides sequentially during the War but it was not established clearly as to what the order was and whether his allegiance changed a number of times. Whoever was in power just drafted him to their side.

 

He was adamant that no battle took place in this area however he agreed to take Talent to a spot were a helicopter was supposedly shot down. Perhaps he was one of those who took a pot shot at it. Not being present at the interview, the Maj could not engage in the problem of semantics or linguistics. One would agree that a 'Battle' did not take place and that it was only a small and insignificant skirmish involving some 10 men actually firing at each other for an hour. The Woodcutter took Talent to the lower track along the Suoi Ba Van to the bottom of the VOD. He said that the Helicopter went down in this valley. He claimed it was an American Helicopter. There had been a lot of firing at the time so he and the other locals kept well away. He answered why he did not go to the valley the next day and look for the Helicopter. He replied that the Americans always returned looking for their personnel, equipment and remains and that they would have fired on anyone in the area, all the locals were too frightened so it was prudent to keep well away.

 

When he eventually summoned up enough courage time later in 1975 when he heard the Americans had left the country, he discovered an' Australian Hat' (soft, green jungle hat) in the middle of the VOD. This is significant, as no one including the old man believed that any Australians had been fighting in the area. He assumed that some American crewman had acquired a floppy green jungle hat or that an individual Australian was in the chopper. He knew it was an Australian hat because of its distinct shape and because he had, during his service with one side or the other been briefed on foreign armies in Vietnam and their equipment. He had brought the hat home and kept it for nearly 20 years. He was and always had been very poor, living in a one-roomed bamboo and thatched hut. For some reason he decided in 1984 to get rid of the hat and threw it out. 1984 was a difficult period in the history of Vietnam. In some ways, it was the pinnacle of the Communist Parties Power over the individual, having had nine years to log everyone onto their systems of identity and security. At the same time, it was the height of their Centrally Planned Economy, which in that year failed totally, and dismally plunging the country into famine. Many hundreds of thousands died in the famine and the outlook was very bleak. Someone like the Old Woodcutter who was always at the margins of survival would have had a very tough time. He may have been afraid to be discovered holding the hat. It will take further careful interrogation to elicit a better response as to why he disposed of the hat then and its likely position if any of it survived another twenty years in the ground.

 

Of more significant was his claim that on one of his later expeditions out hunting in the VOD he found a complete set (two) of 'Dog Tags'. Unfortunately, he disposed of these at the same time as the Australian bush hat. He is illiterate in Vietnamese let alone English so he did not know what was written on the Tags. The Tags must have come from an abandoned body, as they would not be separated from either a wounded person or an accompanied body. Certainly, this person needs to be followed up. The Maj did not receive this information until they were on our return journey to HCM. One can assume that the distant observer saw a chopper disappear beneath the canopy and assumed it had crashed, not knowing from their range, that it was hovering to pick up casualties. This would explain why no wreckage was discovered. The hat could have belonged to either of the MIAs or some other of the wounded. The 'Dog Tags'most likely belonged to one or other of the MIAs. This is an independent piece of evidence from a lowlander not connected either geographically or through blood kinship to the Bandit Clan in the Highlands. He did not know of our enquiries up on the hill. He was an original resident of the area at the time of the incident. His evidence does tie the Australian presence in the VOD. Unfortunately, fate has denied us the physical evidence at this time but there is a need to follow this up later.

 

He took Talent to see some unidentified tombs, which were near the main road. He did not know who was entombed or when they were erected or by whom. They appear too distant from the contact to contain any relevant evidence but perhaps should require a second inspection.

 

Talent by this time was concerned with the long absence of the other members as it was now around 1500 hrs and they had been gone since 1030. The Lowlanders had filled her in on some of the history of the' Bandit Clan' upon Hill 82. They were all long term dedicated VC. They were regarded, as 'Bandits' by the Lowlanders, most of whom would not go near the hills. Exactly what atrocities or crimes they were accused of was never specified but it was enough to terrify our driver and alarm Talent.

 

A local youth codenamed the' Buffalo Boy' appeared. He looked after a herd of Buffalo on the track on the way to Hill 82 and had observed Ming and the Maj journey up the track towards the Hill. He had also noted the Maj presence on the back of a bike heading down the Suoi Ba Van track. When he reported that he had not seen Ming since the first dighting Talent became alarmed and ordered the driver to accompany the Buffalo Boy on his bike to undertake a search. The Buffalo Boy admitted that he had never been up near Hill 82 in his life as he was afraid of the Bandit Clan who apparently were all blood relatives. He was game for a bit of adventure and reluctantly the Driver accompanied him. They soon discovered the others on the site and they reassured the driver of the safety.

 

The Driver spoke to the Security Chief at length while the others continued to search around for evidence. Ming drew the Maj's attention to the fact the Security Chief looked unhappy after the Driver spoke. They then ran an integrity check by leaving the Video Camera with the lens cover on and apparently switched off but the sound recording still operating while they chatted. (Talent was to translate for us later). The Security Chief then left the area and returned home.

 

The Maj felt that he needed the expert presence of Talent on site and dispatched the Driver back to the Bus with orders to fetch 'Madam' up to the site. The driver was much relieved to go and some 15 minutes later, the Buffalo Boy returned with Talent.

 

Just at this time, an old man who turned out to be the Security Chief’s father arrived. He was in his late 70s. He lived in the hut on the side of the valley and apparently, he was the one who discovered the obelisk. He was code named the 'Old Man '.

 

His location of the stones position differed from that of the Security Chief and from some of the younger family members. It must be remembered that this was nearly 20 years ago and then the valley was heavily covered by jungle. He had discovered it when hunting. He had dug it up and removed it to his hut. It was subsequently shattered at some stage.

 

When he dug up the stone there appeared to be decomposing organic mater under it, which smelled. There were what appeared to be white threads remaining from some type of material. He did not dig any lower to see if any bones remained. The ground was wet and marshy and would have speeded up any decomposition of organic matter. We attempted a short exploratory dig on the spot he thought he found the obelisk but due to omitted time and not wishing to -destroy to many of his seedlings, we felt that a more extensive dig was required. Metal detectors would also be an asset in any such search.

 

We then returned to the contact points and erected the headstones and cemented them into the ground. After a short remembrance ceremony we adjourned to the Security Chief's hut were he produced a M-16 magazine. This was photographed. At the time, the party was somewhat dubious and thought that all the Australians carried the SLR. On their return to Australia, Peter Rothwell informed d ' Arcy that the Forward Scouts carried M-16s. It was getting late in the afternoon and the light was fading. The Maj gave the Security Chief his Postal Address in Sydney and instructed him to write in Vietnamese if he ever comes across any other evidence, especially remains.

 

A source in a private conversation with Talent disclosed she had seen ghosts appearing in her dreams who claimed to live on the spot that we had erected Parkers Headstone. In Pre Literate Societies as still existed in the Highlands, such portents are submittable as evidence but in our Post Industrial Society of Australia, they are not rated highly. They are mentioned for the record but details at this stage will not be discussed. The good lady also mentioned that there was an American Tank Track still lying in the mud and that there where some tunnels nearby constructed, she thought by the LLDB, (Luc Luong Dac Biet) the Vietnamese Special Forces and their American Advisors. She wanted to bring us to the sites but the party did not inspect the sites due to time constraints at this hour. It could complicate the situation if this intrusion into the area after 1965 were true.

 

By this time the Bandit Clan numbers had swelled to around thirty, the light was fading, the rain falling and the present location and condition of the recovered arms not quite clear it was decided that prudence was a priority and as our aim was to reduce the numbers of Australian MIAs not increase them we began to take our leave.

 

The Security Chief's wife felt that the placing of the headstones on her property were lucky and that she may win a prize in the local lottery .If she did so, she would then maintain the headstones and place joss sticks and flowers on them regularly. The Maj told her she was guaranteed to win some money. He also informed her that he intended to return to the spot within six months and to check up on the status of the headstones and to see if any progress was made in gathering information.

 

He told the Clan that if anything positive was discovered then I would attempt to have an official expedition funded by the Government to come out and examine the sites in more detail. He also gave monetary tokens, in bundles of VN Dong, of their appreciation to the Old Man, the Security Chief, Fred, the Security Chiefs son and the Buffalo Boy.

 

Darkness was falling as we moved down the Mountain towards the bus and heavy rain fell. The expedition arrived back in HCM at 1930 hrs. Maj d' Arcy had to change in the foyer, as they would not let him in the hotel covered in mud and dripping wet.

 

CONCLUSIONS. Operation Lazarus was successful in reaching the point of contact and establishing its location. Headstones commemorating the spots where Parker and Gillson died were erected and a small simple remembrance ceremony conducted. A search of the area was conducted but without metal detectors, time and personnel no evidence of remains were produced. Valuable information was obtained from the local inhabitants that confirms the presence of the Australians and that the contact did take place at the location. A further expedition properly conducted would reveal more information, artefacts and perhaps remains. The Australian Government who has been negligent in not pursuing the matter over the past 38 years should fund such an expedition.