Item No.25, 26, 27 and 28
Items No.25, No.26, No.27 and No.28
A Walk in the Light Green
Australian War Memorial, Official Record AWM95 7/6/24.
This document taken from the Commanders Diary of 6RAR of the period shows just how many mine incidents occurred in a short space of time during Operation Mundingburra. Serial “9” refers to the mine incident in the song. Serial “11” was the incident that occurred shortly after Mick had been taken out by Dustoff, when a second mine was detonated. M16 refers to jumping anti-personnel mines; M26 refers to a grenade booby trap. Both types of weapon had been lifted by Vietcong from the Australian’s own minefields.
Frankie refers to Frank Hunt who was very badly injured when the mine detonated. In reality it was Lt Peter Hines who triggered the mine. Schumann changed the lyric out of respect for Lt Hines who died shortly after the mine exploded.
The first of the two photographs shows a very young Frank during training at Kapooka in 1967, it is reproduced with the permission of Frank Hunt. The second photograph shows Frank in Vietnam in 1969 and is reproduced with the permission of the Storen family.
Image of Australian War Memorial, Military Heraldry and Technology REL40173 (reproduction M16A1 mine)
The US M16 anti-personnel mine had been developed from the German Second World War S-Mine. It was designed to be set off by the weight of a person walking on the triggering spikes. Once triggered it bounded into the air and exploded at waist height, scattering razor sharp parts of its cast iron body over a wide area.