Table Of ContentFRANK WALKER
39 AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS, VIETNAM, 1969
THE ARMY DENIED THEY EXISTED
WHAT WERE THEY TRYING TO HIDE?
Frank Walker has worked as a journalist for 35 years, most
recently as chief reporter for The Sun-Herald covering
defence, veterans' affairs, national security and terrorism.
He's worked on The Sydney Morning Herald, The National
Times, for News Limited in New York and Deutsche Welle
international radio in Germany. For three years he was
The Sun-Herald's correspondent in the USA. He's now left
newspapers to freelance and write books. His first book,
The Tiger Man 0/ Vietnam - the remarkable true story of
the secret war of Captain Barry Petersen in the Central
Highlands of Vietnam - was an instant bestseller. He lives
in Sydney with his family. Ghost Platoon is his second book.
Praise for The Tiger Man of Vietnam
'one of those great untold stories ... Walker tells it with verve
and excitement and with meticulous attention to detail'
The Sydney Morning Herald
'drips with adventure and intrigue and has at its centre a
personality boys of all ages will identify with'
The Age
'Walker's finely researched book goes beyond the biographical
account of an Australian war hero'
The Sun-Herald
'Walker's book about Petersen, The Tiger Man 0/ Vietnam, is
well-crafted and racily written'
The Weekend Australian
'It's been suggested Petersen was the model for the character of
Colonel Kurtz in the film Apocalypse Now. But this remarkable
true story is much richer and more compelling than anything
Hollywood could conjure'
The West Australian
FRANK WALKER
Note to readers: This book contains photographs which some readers may
find distressing. To Aboriginal readers, please also note that some of these
images feature people who are deceased or who may now be deceased.
The photographs are relevant to the text and have not been included lightly.
The author and the publisher believe that they are an important part of
telling the story of the Ghost Platoon.
Published in Australia and New Zealand in 2011
by Hachette Australia
(an imprint of Hachette Australia Ply Limited)
Level 17, 207 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000
www.hachette.com.au
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Frank Walker 2011
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private
study, research, criticism or review permitted under the Copyright Act 1968,
no part may be stored or reproduced by any process without prior written
permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data
Walker, Frank.
Ghost platoon I Frank Walker.
9780733626432 (pbk.)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Riddle, Jim.
Australia. Army. Defence and Employment Platoon, 2nd. - History.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 - Veterans - Australia.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 - Pyschological aspects.
959.70438
Cover, picture section, map and diagram design by Christabella Designs
Ambush diagram based on original illustration by Clare Belshaw
Cover photograph courtesy of the Australian War Memorial (BEU69/0373NN)
Text design by Simon Paterson, Bookhouse
Typeset in 12118 pt Simoncini Garamond by Bookhouse, Sydney
Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press, Adelaide, an Accredited ISO
AS/NZS 14001 :2004 Environmental Management System printer
Cover photograph: The morning after the fierce fighting of the ambush at
Thua Tich on the night of 29 May 1969, when a small group of Australian
soldiers in the 2nd D&E Platoon and cavalry in armoured personnel carriers
took on a column of more than 50 enemy troops, leaving a string of enemy
bodies on the road. This photograph, taken by by Sergeant Chris Bellis,
shows Private Don Greentree standing guard on his APC as an RAAF Iroquois
helicopter delivers fresh supplies and ammunition.
The paper this book is printed on is certified against the
MIX Forest Stewardship Council® Standards. Griffin Press holds
Paper from FSC chain of custody certification SGS-COC-005088. FSC
responsible aourcss
promotes environmenta!ly responsible, socially beneficial
FSce C009448
and economically viable management of the world's forests.
'In war, truth is the first casualty'
AESCHYLUS, 525-456 BC
CONTENTS
0/
Map Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam 1969 lX
0/
Illustration the ambush at Thua Tich x
Prologue Xl
1 Ambush at Thua Tich 1
2 An Engineer's Burial 29
3 Ambushing the Ambushers 45
4 Animals Run by a Foul-mouthed Mercenary 57
5 F rom Geordie to Digger 71
6 Pommy Bastard 85
7 The Fragging of Lieutenant Convery 103
8 The Cover-up Begins 129
9 The War that Never Ends 149
10 Homecomings 171
11 Soldiers Turn Sleuths 193
12 A Ghost Platoon No More 219
13 Spoiling for a Fight 233
14 No One is Ever Cured 253
15 We All Died in That War 275
Epilogue: The Smoking Gun 295
0/
Members the Ghost Platoon 309
Endnotes 313
Bibliography 317
Acknowledgements 323
Index 329
PHUOC TUY PROVINCE
SOUTH VIETNAM, 1969
BIEN HOA
Gl'HUOC HAr
THUA TICH AMBUSH
Three groups of APCs
KEY in case of attack from
the north.
• men
Q
APC
~ M-6ogun
Captain Arrowsmith's
tj
,o~~~
THUA TICH
.............._• ........- -
GATEWAY
I
Vi~r::ese
regular army
and Viet Cong
{: column.
::E
o
o
"'"'
fr
•
.. • .
•
•
Riddle's section. •
•
•
•• • •• 0== •
• • •
• •
•
• •
•
• •
• ••••
- • • •
• • • •
PROLOGUE
During the Vietnam War he'd been a photographer in the
army's public relations unit. He'd captured some of the worst
moments of the war, snapping photos of Australians in action
and dead enemy bodies, recording all the horror and destruction
that comes with any conflict.
Bending down, he picked up the box full of pictures he'd
taken during the war and carried them to a bonfire he'd started
in his backyard.
He waited as the flames steadily built up. He'd risked his
life getting these photos. Now the burden of what they revealed
was too heavy. For more than 40 years he'd kept the pictures
tucked away in a box in a back room of his home. There were
hundreds of them. He rarely looked at them; in fact, he'd
xl
