Peter Clayton & John Hoskin: Tunnel Rats Vietnam
Posted on: Mon 27 Jan 2020
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We repeat this interview with Peter and John, engineers who went bush with the Armoured and Infantry Corps in Vietnam. They stayed out for four to six weeks at a time, operating as Infanteers and carrying out specialist duties of mine and booby trap detection and clearing, tunnel and bunker searching and demolition, and bomb disposal. It was a tenuous, dangerous existence.
Of all the men in all Royal Australian Engineer (RAE) units who served in Vietnam, the only men killed in action were the Tunnel Rats. Thirty-five of them were killed! A horrendous statistic.
Interviewer Helen Meyer
Main photo 1 Field Sqn Vietnam 1969. Photo AWM licensed copyright https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1178926