Robert Terence (Terry) Burstall as a Private D Coy 6 RAR interviewed by Greg Swanborough for 'The sharp end'

Private, 1RAR 8 May 1966 to 5 June 1966. D Coy, 6RAR 6 June 1966 to 14 June 1967. Scene 12, Take 1: Volunteered to fight and believed the communist aggression from north had to be stopped. Describes patrolling as ‘bread and butter’ of infantry and as very boring with seemingly no results. Scene 12, Take 2, roll 51: Describes atrocious conditions on arrival at Nui Dat. Heavy rain every afternoon and mud hindered efforts to building living quarters. They lived in pup tents and then were given larger tents but these were damaged and rotted. This lasted for two to three weeks. Scene 25, Take 1: Describes time in Vung Tai while on Recreation and Covalence leave. Scene 18, Take 1: On 17th August at 2:00 AM 12 Platoon came under mortar attack. Enemy were only 1500-2000 meters away. It was dark and Australians had no clean lines of sight from pits. Scene 18, Take 2: Expected mortar attack to be a precursor to infantry assault. Australians had no defences in place, just a few strands of barbed wire and no covering fire. Scene 18, Take 3: Task force Base sent B Coy to find mortar placements. Scene 18, Take 4: B Coy trekked through 2500 meters of thick, wet vegetation. Men could hear grabs of concert with Cole Joy and Little Pattie. Didn’t sit well with the men missing the concert and thought they were out on another normal patrol – another three day waste of time. Scene 19, Take 1: The 11 and 12 Platoons found the enemy’s tracks and a fire fight started before Burstall’s section arrived. Describes injury to Harvey Webb who was wounded 3 hours later and had just joined 12 Platoon the day before. Scene 19, Take 2: Describes how 12 Platoon became split up. 12 Platoon received mortar attack to rear and pulled back to form Company Headquarter area and ordered to dig in and stay with Company Headquarters. Company HQ and two other sections then received orders to move out to try and reach 11 Platoon, leaving Burstall’s section behind. They were out of sight on the far side of a slope. There was a lack of communication and no-one knew a section had been left behind. Scene 19, Take 3: [retake of 2] There was a lot of artillery fire and incoming mortars from Vietcong. Australians couldn’t see the enemy. Scene 19, Take 4: Survivors from 11 Platoon made it back to 12 Platoon and they all regrouped at HQ Area. Burstall believed they were ‘done for’ before the Platoon returned. Harley Webb was wounded from above through the shoulder and the bullet had lodged in his stomach. ‘Big Jack’ Kirby picked him up over his shoulder and ran up the hill with him through shot and shell fire. Kirby survived Long Tan but was killed in February 1967. Scene 19, Take 6: Describes the relief of the troops when the APCs arrived. Next day was the most traumatic at Long Tan. Platoon moved through the battlefield in a line checking the VC dead. Burstall was on the flank and didn’t see any Australian dead. He was still very confused about the whole battle when he wrote home 2 weeks later. D Coy places were filled by reinforcements. He came home to a ticker-tape parade in Brisbane.