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Successful search for remains of missing SASR soldier in Vietnam
September 9, 2016 12:56pm
John Morcombe
In 2008 Private David Fisher was the last member of the Australian Army who had been killed to have his body repatriated back to Australia from Vietnam. Pictured are Australian troops preparing to board a helicopter near Nui Dat.
In 2008 Private David Fisher was the last member of the Australian Army who had been killed to have his body repatriated back to Australia from Vietnam. Pictured are Australian troops preparing to board a helicopter near Nui Dat.
THREE weeks ago a new name was added to the Manly War Memorial and blessed on Vietnam Veterans Day, August 18.
The timing of the addition of Warrant Officer Ron Lees’ name to the memorial was significant — it was the 50th anniversary of his death in Vietnam and the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
WO Lees was killed during the early years of the Vietnam War and his body wasn’t immediately repatriated because his family couldn’t afford the cost.
As war rolled on and the death toll mounted, the Government decided to repatriate those who fell — but not those who had already been buried in foreign soil.
Last year the Federal Government relented and in June WO Lees’ body was finally brought home, as were those of his colleagues.
Private David Fisher was one of four peninsula men killed in the Vietnam War
In 2008 Private David Fisher was the last member of the army to be repatriated from Vietnam.
WO Lees was the fourth peninsula man killed in the Vietnam War and Manly local studies librarian John MacRitchie has been investigating the other three — Warrant Officer John Bond, Major Malcolm McQualter and Private David Fisher.
What he found was that Pte Fisher was the last member of the army to be repatriated from Vietnam — and as recently as 2008 — and the third last of any Australian servicemen to be repatriated from Vietnam.
The return of the final two Australian servicemen, both members of the air force, in 2009 marked a significant day and a fitting tribute to the many Australians who spent so much time and effort searching for the service personnel whose bodies lay somewhere in Vietnam but had no known grave.
Pte Fisher was born in London in 1946 but by 1958 he was living with his family in Bolingbroke Pde, Fairlight.
By 1963 the family was living in Grandview Grove at Seaforth and by 1968 in Curban St, Balgowlah Heights. David Fisher was conscripted into the army on July 17, 1967, and was allocated to the Royal Australian Infantry.
Pte Fisher underwent Special Air Services selection in 1968 and was posted to 2 SAS Regiment in December that year and to 3 SASR in February 1969.
Australian Army soldiers checking for mines in South Vietnam
Brian Manns, of the Unrecovered War Casualties — Army unit, was involved in the successful search for Pte Fisher’s remains and wrote about it on the Australian Army’s website.
“On 27 September 1969, he was a member of an SASR patrol in an area to the west of the Nui May Tao in Long Kanh province, Vietnam,” he wrote.
“After a number of contacts, the patrol requested a ‘hot extraction’.
“During this extraction Pte Fisher fell into thick jungle from a rope that suspended him below the helicopter. Several air and ground searches over of the next week failed to find any trace of Pte Fisher.
“He was officially listed as ‘missing in action presumed dead’.”
Pte Fisher's mates from 2 Squadron Special Air Service Regiment at his Ramp Ceremony at RAAF Base Richmond.
By the end of the Vietnam War six Australian servicemen were still listed as missing in action.
This is where the Unrecovered War Casualties — Army unit comes in. It is, according to its website, “responsible for matters associated with the identification and recovery of Australian servicemen who remained unaccounted for all from all wars”.
Naturally, the greatest number of servicemen whose remains have never been found fell on the Western Front in World War I, although there are still thousands missing from World War II.
The army’s website says the search for the six missing servicemen in Vietnam was as important as those who fell in any other conflict.
“Unrecovered War Casualties — Army commenced a careful examination of all available Australian records and unit war diaries and interviewed Australian veterans involved in the incident in which Pte Fisher was lost,” the website says.
“They also appealed to the Australian Vietnamese community for help.
“Armed with the information gathered in Australia, the team travelled to Vietnam in March 2008 to find information from local sources.
“What followed was two weeks of interviews with former Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers.
The rugby team of Pte David Fisher, the last missing Australian digger in Vietnam. He is pictured third from left in the back row.
“In archived documents, Unrecovered War Casualties — Army discovered a small piece of information that had previously escaped attention.
“It was a reference to the discovery of a pool of water ‘red in colour’ that was just outside of the original designated search area. The find was considered significant enough at the time for a sample of the water to be given to the 1st Australian Field Hospital for analysis.
“No record of what happened to the sample was found.
“Another key piece of information came from a member of the Australian Vietnamese community.
“He told investigators that in October of 1969 he and another soldier found the body of a ‘dead American’ (Fisher, like most SASR soldiers, wore US camouflage uniform) and had buried his body in a shallow grave beside the Suoi Sap.
“He was able to provide a detailed description of the location.
“The missing piece in the Pte Fisher puzzle was a more precise indication of where Pte Fisher may have landed.
“Details of the direction and speed of the aircraft and the time of flight before the fall were calculated and applied to a map.
“It became apparent that earlier searches had concentrated on an area too close to the roping extraction point.
“In August 2008, Unrecovered War Casualties — Army returned to Vietnam and began the careful examination of the area bordering the Suoi Sap from its confluence with the Song Ray to the newly plotted area of interest.
The names of four local men who died in the Vietnam War, including Pte David Fisher, are inscribed on the Manly War Memorial
“While examining a shallow pool of water a Vietnamese team member, close to the Suoi Sap, found a large piece of bone believed to be human.
“Also found was a piece of plastic from the inside of an Australian-issue collapsible water bladder used by the SASR in Vietnam.
“The next day, after examining a photograph of the bone fragment an Australian forensic anthropologist was able to confirm that it was most likely the lower end of a human femur (thigh bone). This was supported by the director of the Military Forensic Institute in Hanoi.
“After Vietnamese Army engineers conducted an unexploded ordnance search, work commenced to recover Pte Fisher’s remains before the return of the wet season. Following a week of careful excavation more remains were unearthed along with Pte Fisher’s dog tags.
“Pte David John Elkington Fisher was repatriated to Australia by the Army in October 2008.”
He was cremated at Macquarie Park on October 14, 2008, with full military honours. The two airmen who were still missing were found in 2009, so all Australian servicemen killed in Vietnam have been accounted for.
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