ID :
24435
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 16:59
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/24435
The shortlink copeid
Last Aussie Vietnam War MIA laid to rest
(AAP) The last Australian soldier missing in action in the Vietnam War has been laid to rest in Sydney with full military honours.
The body of Private David Fisher was found in August and repatriated last week, 39
years after the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) soldier's death.
Family members paid tribute to the 23-year-old at a private ceremony in Sydney,
attended by around 200 Vietnam veterans, friends and dignitaries.
Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, Special Operations Commander
Australia Major General Tim McOwan, Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren
Snowdon and opposition defence spokesman David Johnston were among the mourners.
The service was the end of a long journey for Pte Fisher.
He was a member of a five-man patrol operating in an enemy dominated area of South
Vietnam's Phuoc Tuy province on September 27, 1969.
He plunged to his death from a rope dangling beneath an RAAF Iroquois helicopter as
his patrol sought to escape closing North Vietnamese forces.
It is not known why he fell and two helicopter searches and ground patrols of the
area over a 10-day period after the incident failed to find him.
But recent research by the Army History Unit, recreating the helicopter's flight
path, indicated searchers in 1969 missed the precise area where Pte Fisher fell.
A former enemy soldier also revealed he buried the body of a man he thought an
American in the same area around that time.
In August, a search team succeeded in locating Pte Fisher's remains, confirmed by
the discovery of his identification disc.
The recovery of Pte Fisher followed that of others missing in action in Vietnam.
Lance Corporal Richard Parker, Private Peter Gillson and Lance Corporal John
Gillespie were recovered last year.
Two RAAF men remain missing - Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer
Robert Carver. They were lost in the crash of their Canberra bomber in November
1970.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd paid tribute in parliament those who worked for the
repatriation of all Australians who died in the Vietnam War.
"Pte Fisher's remains have now been recovered and have finally been laid to rest
with honour and the dignity befitting a fallen Australian soldier," Mr Rudd said.
The body of Private David Fisher was found in August and repatriated last week, 39
years after the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) soldier's death.
Family members paid tribute to the 23-year-old at a private ceremony in Sydney,
attended by around 200 Vietnam veterans, friends and dignitaries.
Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, Special Operations Commander
Australia Major General Tim McOwan, Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren
Snowdon and opposition defence spokesman David Johnston were among the mourners.
The service was the end of a long journey for Pte Fisher.
He was a member of a five-man patrol operating in an enemy dominated area of South
Vietnam's Phuoc Tuy province on September 27, 1969.
He plunged to his death from a rope dangling beneath an RAAF Iroquois helicopter as
his patrol sought to escape closing North Vietnamese forces.
It is not known why he fell and two helicopter searches and ground patrols of the
area over a 10-day period after the incident failed to find him.
But recent research by the Army History Unit, recreating the helicopter's flight
path, indicated searchers in 1969 missed the precise area where Pte Fisher fell.
A former enemy soldier also revealed he buried the body of a man he thought an
American in the same area around that time.
In August, a search team succeeded in locating Pte Fisher's remains, confirmed by
the discovery of his identification disc.
The recovery of Pte Fisher followed that of others missing in action in Vietnam.
Lance Corporal Richard Parker, Private Peter Gillson and Lance Corporal John
Gillespie were recovered last year.
Two RAAF men remain missing - Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer
Robert Carver. They were lost in the crash of their Canberra bomber in November
1970.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd paid tribute in parliament those who worked for the
repatriation of all Australians who died in the Vietnam War.
"Pte Fisher's remains have now been recovered and have finally been laid to rest
with honour and the dignity befitting a fallen Australian soldier," Mr Rudd said.
