Getting it right

NEW accounts of the laying of a controversial minefield in Vietnam in 1967 reveal that Australian troops were rushed by their superiors and then unfairly blamed for lapses of "concentration" when Diggers died as a result.

On Saturday, The Weekend Australian reported research by former Sydney academic Greg Lockhart that found the decision to build the "barrier minefield" in Phuoc Tuy province by Australian taskforce commander Brigadier Stuart Graham cost the lives of 60 Diggers.

Five Australian sappers died in the laying of the minefield in southern

Vietnam and another 55 died over the next four years after thousands of the mines were "lifted" by the Viet Cong to use against Australian troops.

After the first five deaths, an army investigation put the accidents down to a lack of concentration on the part of the sappers whose job it was to arm the M16 "jumping jack" mines.

Then army minister Malcolm Fraser released a statement on June 16, 1967, saying the troops had died, largely through a "momentary lack of concentration and attention to detail" .

He did not rule out malfunction, but said the individuals involved had not paid enough attention to their jobs and, in one case, blamed their immediate superiors.

"More rigid control by non-commissioned officers in charge of the movement of personel being relieved might have resulted in fewer casualties," Mr Fraser - who went on to become prime minister - said at the time.

However, new accounts from Diggers who laid the minefield differ: from the official version. "We were pushed all the way. W e ~ kept getting told from the taskforce ] commander to lift our game," Jack j Green, a section commander, told Dr Lockhart, who is the honorary historian of the Vietnam Veterans Federation of Australia:

Mr Green did not find out until he returned to Australia that the men on the ground had been blamed. "Bloody hell, they were blaming all the NCOs, which is very unfair," he said.

Mr Fraser said last night he had no recollection of the press release but I recalled a controversy over the minefield. He said it was an( operational issue that would be better left for the army to deal with.

Sapper Jethro Thompson remembers the morning of the first deaths, May 9, when his colleagues Ray Deed and Dennis Brook died. "On morning parade we were told to lift our game - the boss wanted more mines laid," he said.

Dr Lockhart's research has foundS that, contrary to government statements, the sappers were not properly trained to lay the 21,048 mines and that there were contradictory reports on the causes of the deaths.

The second accident occurred on May 20 when Greg Brady and John O'Hara were killed. Mining was only suspended pending a full investigation after sapper TerryJ Renshaw - known as a careful and responsible engineer - was killed on May 26.