Well Done, Those Men by Barry Heard

Author:Barry Heard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781921753077
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Published: 2010-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

OPERATION BALLARAT

KARDS, NOW OUT of hospital and well rested, was back with us, having recently returned to base camp carrying a slight limp but with his drinking prowess intact. It was with great pleasure I had handed him back the battalion radio. He didn’t smile. To be honest, I was concerned, because he had been away so long from the rigors of the jungle that I thought he might struggle; he had actually put on quite a bit of weight. He was insulted when I offered to carry some stuff for him as we prepared for our next sortie into the jungle. I assumed my former role as the company Sig.

The date was 6 August 1967, early in the operation. We were moving through dense jungle. It was morning, hot and oppressive. For me, the only thing out of the ordinary that had happened so far on this day was seeing a vivid green snake with bulging, jet-red eyes dangling from a vine. It was just above the boss’s head. The red, sharp eyes gave it away; otherwise, it was well camouflaged.

Suddenly, there was a burst of small-arms fire. A thumbs-down (a signal that the enemy was present) was followed almost immediately by, ‘Contact, wait out!’ barked into my handset. The boss, Kards, and I ran towards the gunfire, across a creek, and up the bank. It was more than a burst of small-arms fire; it didn’t stop, and I was sure I’d heard the whoosh of a rocket or something …

The tall, razor-needled jungle bamboo thrashed at our sides, ripped at my shoulder, and tore my legs as the firepower increased and we flung ourselves to the ground. I skidded, nose down, the bloody radio thumping into the back of my head, the antenna and the handset lodging deep into the slimy undergrowth. Pulling my face out of the mud, I noticed I was alone. The incoming fire was very close as I struggled to get the radio off my back. My shoulder throbbed. Carefully, I slid the radio off and stood it upright in front of my head; it wasn’t safe to kneel. In my first quick survey of the area I could just make out the boss only a short distance ahead. It appeared they were very close to the front line … shit. I turned up the volume on the radio: no sound, the antenna was almost non-functional, and the handset caked with mud. Great. I normally didn’t put on the plastic cover until the rain was about to start, mid afternoon. Now, one stuffed handset, bugger it. A litter of leaves and branches shot off by bullets rained down on me for what seemed ages but was probably only seconds. I raised my head and looked around to see what was going on. Shit, that was a bad move; I believe the enemy sensed my movement. I lowered myself hard into the ground and glanced to the side. To my left I saw one of our blokes, dead.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.