LETTER FROM VENTRY COLIN BOWDEN

Woy Woy NSW, ex-! Field Squadron, 1969-70.

The Editor/ Dear Sir,

1, the above-mentioned, was involved in the clearing of the minefield that you are seeking information about. L served in Vietnam/Nut Dat in 1969-70 and was called upon to be actively involved in mine clearing and also the separate issue of land clearing.

I witnessed firsthand an infantry soldier (whom l am still good friends with today) when we were about to set up camp for the night, step on a Ml6 mine and get blown about fifteen feet into the air, and land with the backs of both legs missing.

But, back to the clearing of mines! Firstly, a section of about fifty meters would be selected, fifty meters by the width of the minefield. Then, a converted armoured personnel carrier (APC), which the engineers had to be trained up on, would be sent into the minefield and drive down the extreme side all the way around the particular section that had to be cleared. This APC had a huge water-pipe extension bolted to the right hand side rear with a large chain from the outer-end of the pipe to the front of the APC, which helped to stabilize the pipe. On this pipe, were as many truck tyres as could be jammed onto the pipe, so they all stood upright whilst running over the ground. The weight of these tyres would set off quite a few mines that were at ground level. The APC would keep driving around in the same rectangular fashion until the space got smaller and smaller towards the centre of the field.

We then had bulldozers (Caterpillar D8s), one of which I operated, enter the field in the same spot as the APC entered and go to work. These dozers were fully armoured with metal plating all over and around the cabin and with a hole cut in the top of the cabin for operator passage. The heat from the inside of these cabins was nearly unbearable as the fan from the motor blew back on you and you had to wear a flack jacket. There were small tank windows fitted so as to see how deep your blade was cutting and one window in the rear to enable you to reverse. Also we were radio controlled. The dozer would enter and walk down the extreme side of that particular section and dig out a deep slot at the far end, across the minefield, to a depth of at least the height of the machine.

Then the dozer would reverse to the entry point and proceed to bulldoze about one foot to two feet deep and with long pushes and blade-fulls of dirt and live mines, shove all and sundry into the slot that you had dug previously. Of course, there were mines sticking up out of the pound everywhere on all kinds of angles and invariably you would back over one of these, which would be set off, creating a huge explosion, and you could hear the shrapnel spraying around the cabin and was very grateful to the guys who did all the welding. Another common occurrence was, that when you ran over a mine, the wowser plates and chains were blown totally off the machine, which left you incapable of moving and stuck in the middle of the minefield. I am not sure how the minefield clearing was completed, but this was my own account of how it was originally attempted.

I remain yours sincerely
Ventry Bowden.
Reprinted from th Vietnam Veterans Federation Newsletter December 2002

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