William Lawrence Fogarty as a Corporal 7 RAR interviewed by Greg Swanborough for 'The sharp end'

Corporal 7RAR 18 April 1967 to 26 April 1968. Scene 15, Take 1: Talks about problems with leeches and ‘de-leeching sessions’ after patrols. Stories about where the leeches managed to lodge themselves. Rest and Convalescence (R&C) Centre at Vung Tau for the wounded and recovering soldiers. Stories of the soldier’s antics. Description of Vung Tau beach and incident at the Grand Hotel with American soldier. Scene 29, Take 1: 1968 Tet coincided with operation Coburg. Battalion left area on 24 January with resupply of ammunition so they knew they would be outside the province. Scene 29, Take 2: Describes ambushing North Vietnamese Army (NVA) using tracks. Because of Tet, the Viet Cong had revealed themselves so Australian’s knew they were not in the area. NVA not familiar with the area and used the track system which proved to be a good opportunity for ambush. Describes ambush scenario. After a while the NVA knew about the ambushes. Scene 29, Take 3: Closest call was when Fogarty was seen by an NVA scouts searching area for ambushes. Fogarty drew first. Scene 29, Take 4: Explanation of the slang. A forward scout was at the ‘sharp end’, ‘funny farm’ was Vietnam, LZ is a landing zone, ‘dust off’ was the helicopter that picked up the wounded and ‘grunt’ described the noise and infantryman made hauling on his heavy pack.