We’re taking you home, you’re OK now’

Lance Corporal Richard Parker and Private Peter Gillson were killed in battle in the Vietnam War on November 8, 1965.

Their bodies were never recovered.

I’ve posted on this before and am now happy to pass on a progress report.

There is now hope that the families and army comrades of two Australian soldiers might finally have closure after remains and artifacts were found in a makeshift grave near Ho Chi Minh City.

A volunteer team of Vietnam veterans, who call themselves Operation Aussies Home, said they had found human remains and belongings, including a boot, buttons and a map, believed to be those of the missing soldiers. They had handed the case over to Australian authorities for formal identification.

Last night from Vietnam, Operation Aussies Home leader Jim Bourke said the team had worked on and off for years to find the remains and had been excavating one particular battlefield for almost a month. The discovery had been an emotional for his team, all of whom are Vietnam veterans, he said.

“We just want to send these blokes home after 42 years. It’s been really hard for their mates. Parker’s section commander, for instance, he can tell me the number of days since he left Parker on the hill.

“As the boys were digging deeper and deeper and finding more and more artifacts, they were talking to Parker and Gillson.

“They were saying, ‘We’re taking you home, you’re OK now’.”

Hopefully, some closure to a 42 year old tragedy