Men from Magpie 91 returned home at last
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday September 1, 2009
FLYING Officer Michael Herbert had less than 80 days' service left in Vietnam when he left the Phan Rang Air Base on November 3, 1970, for a bombing mission on the Laotian border.He did not return until yesterday, when his body and that of his navigator, Pilot Officer Robert Carver, both 24, were repatriated. They were welcomed with family tears and an honour guard from their former comrades.The two men are the last Australian soldiers of the Vietnam War to have been found and repatriated €“ an event, said the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Personnel, Greg Combet, that marks the end of an era.About 300 veterans, members of the airmen's families, current servicemen and dignitaries €“ including Mr Combet, the Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, and the Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull €“ attended the ceremony at Richmond air base where the bodies were flown from Hanoi.An air force recovery mission found the bodies on July 31, in the wreck of their Canberra bomber on a remote hillside in Quang Nam province in Vietnam. Their RAAF Canberra aircraft, call-sign Magpie 91, crashed in dense jungle on a hillside near the border with Laos.Shane Herbert said yesterday dealing with his brother's death had been difficult for his family."He loved flying; he was doing what he loved to do. I always had a sense that this day could occur and the finding of the wreckage was the first significant step and from then after, the steps just kept falling into place."For Adrian Slootjes and Des Hyde, who served in 2 Squadron alongside Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver, yesterday marked the end of a mission they started 29 years ago.For four days they tried to find their missing mates. "It was full-on flying and we got grounded in the end because the boss said, 'You blokes are too tired, you're going to have to stop all this'," Mr Slootjes said.Susanna Carver, Pilot Officer Carver's sister-in-law, said the repatriation should be seen as a token of goodwill to Vietnam veterans. "Many of the veterans, when they came back to Australia, did not get the recognition they deserved and ... it really added to the heartbreak to feel that his comrades hadn't been treated the way they should have been," she said.Private funerals will be held this week for both men in their home towns of Glenelg, South Australia, and Toowoomba, Queensland.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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