Contact
By Peter Trigg
16 July 1979 was a very bad day for 3 Commando. In fact it had been a bad few weeks. Exactly one month earlier, we had lost Troopers Bruce McKend and Elssaeser, KIA, in the Hurricane area. We were now out of Buffalo Range forward airfield (FAF) 7 in the Operation Repulse area, unforgiving territory with Ghona Re Zhou National Park, dry and hot lowland, to one side of the main road and thick dense undergrowth in the Tribal Trust Land (TTL) to the other.
This day, I recall, we should have been on our way home but the day before we were told that our tour of duty had to be extended for 24 hrs because the relieving commando were delayed. I think that was Support Commando.
Typically, the screecher went mid-morning and we rushed to the helipad to receive a hasty briefing and kit up before boarding the choppers. I was in Dave Cohen's stick. A Selous Scout callsign reported in that several gooks were rested up in a densely treed area in the TTL. Being a Selous Scout sighting we were pretty sure it was going to result in a contact, as opposed to a ‘lemon’ which was often the case from other unit sightings. Lieutenant (Lt) Roger Carloni was 3-9 in the K-Car, Major Bruce Snelgar away for the day. After some 30-odd minutes’ flying time we were deposited on the edge of dense tree lines and undergrowth and told to sweep through to a position some way westward within that area.
This vegetation was so dense we could hardly see where we were going and our progress, for what it was, was mainly on all fours crawling under thick undergrowth. As a result, Dave Cohen instructed us to form up into box formation as opposed to extended line as we were in great danger of losing sight of each other. I was in the rear of the box, behind a rifleman, taking it in turns to lead (or to be on point, as the Americans would say). This was somewhat relaxing as you would be covering ground the man in front had already traversed. I shouldn't have relaxed. Crossing a narrow stretch of tall grassland, I suddenly stepped on something soft and immediately looked down to see a pair of eyes staring at me through the grass reeds which had been laid back as cover. Due to the thick undergrowth, my FN rifle was on ‘safe’ but I quickly clicked to ‘repetitive’ and let loose a volley of double taps. Hell, I was angry with the rifleman in front, who had let me down on several occasions in the past, for not passing on movement instructions etc., or at least not making sure I acknowledged receiving them. No, he had walked over or alongside what turned out to be two suspect gooks. Had they had weapons with them in their basha, undoubtedly they would have shot us in the back after we had passed.
I called Dave Cohen to come over, intending to give him a blast about the rifleman ahead of me but didn't get the chance. Together, we pulled out the bodies of two naked young African females. No signs of weapons or clothing. I wanted to search the surrounding area, but we had neither the time nor the visibility to do so. We moved on. I am 99% positive they were female gooks who had ditched uniforms and weapons, rather than adult female Africans who had been running with the terrs as their whores, as was suggested later in the corporals mess back at Buffalo Range FAF. So we moved on.
Hugh McCall’s stick was somewhere to our right as we were crawling our way through. We heard over the radio that his stick had been split in two by a deep re-entrant, a dry gully running through the bush. Still crawling on all fours, a single shot rang out, clearly an AK round. Callsign 3-9 called and called trying to reach Hugh, calling “McCall, McCall”, as well as his stop callsign, but to no avail. The other part of the half of the stick, on his side of the re-entrant, informed Lt Carloni he was in a position to go look for him.
Less than five minutes later, another single AK shot and then silence. No response to attempts to contact them and it was not possible for the other half of his stick, and in any event too risky, to search for them. We were told to stay put and throw smoke to mark the front line of troops (FLOT). The K-Car was going to strafe the area with 20mm cannon.
Being on the left-hand end of our stick, I took out my orange smoke grenade and on Dave's command threw out and to my left. Ideally, you want the grenade to be some ten metres away. This damn grenade hit a tree or bush, as the scrub was so thick and bounced back, detonating about 2m in front of me. Too late to do anything as we had a ‘heads down’ command from 9.
The K-Car then opened up. It was only about 15 seconds of explosions and detonations but it seemed like forever, wondering how close they would come. I don't think the ground actually shook with each explosion but it certainly felt like it.
Called by 3-9, 2nd Lt Noel Smee then swept the small area, finally calling in, “These guys are dead,” meaning Sergeant Hugh McCall and Trooper Steve Dwyer, American Vietnam vets, were both shot with one round by a single gook sniper. He was also dead, killed by the K-Car. Hugh had only very recently been promoted sergeant and was due to fly home within days to see his wife and new-born child.
We were told to move back for uplift by Cyclone 7.
On landing at Buffalo Range I saw Major Snelgar standing adjacent to the airstrip to welcome us back. He gave us a short talk, a morale booster, or an attempt at one. Even fresh steak provided by the ever-considerate Colour Sergeant Brian Lewis as Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant did little to lift our spirits. It was very sombre and quiet, with no frivolity around the campfire that evening as would normally be the case.
The following day, we moved back to Salisbury for our late but welcome R&R.
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