Honoured: The coffins of Pte Peter Gillson and LCpl Richard Parker are draped with the Australian flag, a slouch hat bearing the distinctive jungle-green 1RAR pugaree and a bayonet.
Emotional: Pte Peter Gillson’s widow, Lorraine Easton, with her sons Craig Hawes and 2Lt Robert Gillson at RAAF Richmond.
Diggers killed in Vietnam back on Australian soil Photos by Cpl Rachel Ingram

AFTER spending almost 42 years missing in action on a battlefield in Vietnam, the remains of two Australian soldiers have finally returned home.

Pte Peter “Gilly” Gillson, 20, and LCpl Richard “Tiny” Parker, 24, were greeted with a mixture of tears and applause as the Hercules carrying their flag-draped coffins touched down at RAAF Base Richmond on June 6.

Family, friends and more than 200 Vietnam War veterans were joined by senior Defence and government officials and current Defence members in honouring the two at the repatriation ceremony.

As the mournful lament played by 1RAR bagpipes swept across the tarmac, a 3RAR honour guard flanked the ramp door and presented arms to the coffins as 1RAR bearer parties carried them back on to Australian soil.

LCpl Parker’s widow, Wendy Mudford, said the repatriation was an emotional time.

“I am truly happy knowing both Tiny and Peter have been found and returned home to their own country where they belong,” she said.

Pte Gillson’s widow, Lorraine Easton, also found that the experience brought back many emotions. Her son, Robert Gillson, was only months old and had never met his father when he was killed.

Now a reservist in Transport Corps, 2Lt Gillson was at RAAF Richmond for his father’s return.

“It’s a bit tough at the moment, but it is a result that we have been hoping and praying for, for many years,” he said.

Army Chaplain Ted McMillan spoke on behalf of the Gillson and Parker families during the ceremony, and said how both had long hoped that their loved ones would one day be returned to Australia.

“[Pte Gillson and LCpl Parker] were known for their courage, determination and most of all for their valour – without losing their down-to-earth sense of humanity,” he said.

Bruce Billson, Minister Assisting the Defence Minister, thanked those responsible for the repatriation, especially the Vietnamese government for its cooperation and the organisation responsible for finding the two MIAs, Operation Aussies Home, headed by Vietnam War vet and ex-1RAR member Jim Bourke.

“This final chapter in the story of LCpl Parker and Pte Gillson could not be written without Jim Bourke and Operation Aussies Home,” Mr Billson said.

The Minister and Brig Lou Brumfield (rtd) assisted Land Commander Maj-Gen Mark Kelly in posthumously presenting LCpl Parker and Pte Gillson with the Infantry Combat Badge and the US Meritorious Unit Citation 1RAR was awarded for its service with the 173 Airborne Brigade during 1965-66.

Maj-Gen Kelly said that the courage and sacrifice of the two soldiers still resonated. “Young men like Pte Gillson and LCpl Parker and their generation set the standard for the future generations of 1RAR soldiers to follow,” he said.

The repatriation of the two was especially poignant for the ex-1RAR members who served alongside Pte Gillson and LCpl Parker when they were killed during Operation Hump on November 8, 1965. This was a brigade-sized operation with 173 Airborne Brigade about 18km northeast of the US airbase at Bien Hoa.

For many 1RAR members the loss of Pte Gillson and LCpl Parker could never be forgotten. Mr Bourke and three A Coy members involved in Operation Aussies Home, Gordon Peterson, Trevor Hagan and Clive Williams, accompanied the remains back to Australia.

Mr Hagan summed up a common feeling among the veterans: “As far as I was concerned, Operation Hump wasn’t going to finish until we got them home on Australian soil.”

At the completion of the ceremony, the remains were carried to hearses by 14 A Coy veterans, and veterans and families then formed an honour guard while AAB-Sydney played the regimental march of 1RAR, Waltzing Matilda.

HOW THEY DIED

Both in A Coy, 1RAR, LCpl Parker was a 1 Pl section commander and Pte Gillson was a machine gunner in 3 Pl.

While advancing through thick jungle, LCpl Parker’s section was engaged by several enemy machine guns, during which LCpl Parker was shot.

Later that day, 3 Pl attempted to assault the position and Pte Gillson was shot in the chest and killed.

Several attempts were made to extract their bodies, but enemy fire was so intense that none were successful.