A review of the tragedy the next morning revealed that a Trooper sitting on a 3 Cav Regt APC equipped with a Starlight scope had spotted a group of enemy soldiers creeping about the area. This was reported to the 1st Australian Task Force Headquarters and 3 Cav was told not to fire due to the close proximity of a Village.1st ATF HQ told 3 Cav to warn 108 Bty. Perhaps Gunner Barry Tregear's death would not have entered the realm of the "Fog Of War" if the FSB had not been poorly sited and that someone in overall command of the movement by convoy to FSB Lion had of appreciated the length of time necessary to properly set up an Artillery gun position and to erect adequate defence. This lesson was obviously not learned after we see what happened at the tragedy that took place at the Battle of Coral. The arrival and setting up of FSB Lion was rushed and 106 Bty had only time to roll out 1 roll out Dunnet barbed wire. 108 Bty did not have any wire out. This obviously led the VC sappers to enter the 108 Bty area and not that of 106 Bty to set up 4 Chinese Chicom style mines the size of 4 gallon drums. 2 Mines were exploded when 108 Bty was firing H & I tasks Sadly Gunner Barry Tregear was to remove from FSB Lion on the 6th of November 1967 for his R & R leave and so had only dug a shallow sleeping pit, Tom Sawyer was luckily in his deeper sleeping pit nearby to Barry. Tom had hung some of his clothing on a line which was shredded by the blasts along with his hoochie. On the 6th of November 2 Recoilless M40 rifles were flown out to FSB Lion equipped with Spintex rounds. At 2050 on the 6th, 15 Enemy mortar rounds were fired at FSB Lion, all landed outside the Lion boundary. Enemy small arms fire was directed from three sides at the FSB and 106 Bty MG gunners expended all their MG ammunition in reply to the enemy fire which flew over the heads of the 106 Gunners by this time fully protected by sandbags and the bunding of their howitzers. A resupply of MG ammunition was called for the next morning. Regards from Ben Burrow. From Shane Oxenham Peter. Thanks for the information re Leo. Lorna and I went to Chuck's funeral on Wednesday, and we were impressed by the crowd in attendance. The eulogy indicated how well-loved Chuck (Berry) was by both Family and the Kingaroy community. There was only one other attendee from 106Bty. Ces Gilles. We managed to have a good catch-up at the RSL after the funeral. Chuck will certainly be missed. Thanks again and best wishes. Shane From Richard Donnelly Hi there Peter. I hope allis well with you and yours. Just to thank you for the March Newsletter which was very informative. Great work! Rick Donnelly 108. Garry Jones caught up with Gary (Blue) O’Hara back in April. By all reports, Blue is “well and happy”. Eric Williams gave me a call back in April as well. He was up on the Gold Coast for a bit of a break and, rightly so, a bit concerned about fuel availability getting back to Melbourne. Eric tells me he passes on our newsletter to his brother David. G’day Dave. We have come across a few photos from your time in SVN. We can share later.
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