It was April 30, 1970 and a 24-man patrol was preparing an ambush in the vicinity of the village of Phuoc Loi, South Vietnam. John Abernethy, 20, was the NCO in charge of a 10 man section.
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"We were babies. Many of us had only been in Vietnam for eight weeks but this was a baptism of fire," Mr Abernethy said.
"I had already seen one of my boys shot through the leg.
"We were 16 metres shorter than the length of a cricket pitch from seven men with AK47 assault rifles. I went out in the dark with my scout. I was in the process of setting up claymore mines."
The claymores were explosives set up to be fired from a distance via a line that was taken back to a supposedly safer position.
We crawled on our guts as fast as we could for 16 metres with the enemy firing at us. I felt the wind of those bullets. I was eating dirt. It was an act of God that they missed us.
- John Abernethy
"The scout was my cover; he was on one knee, so close, less than a metre away, I can almost feel him next to me.
"The last thing you expect is noise but suddenly there was this orange light, enormous noise and I saw a man falling backwards."
Somehow the scouts rifle had made contact with one of the enemy who had grabbed the rifle muzzle and the scout instinctively fired and at close range.
The seven men with AK47 rifles opened fire on Mr Abernethy and his scout as they scrambled to find safety.
"We crawled on our guts as fast as we could for 16 metres with the enemy firing at us. I felt the wind of those bullets. I was eating dirt. It was an act of God that they missed us.
"The contact was flat out, it was 10 or 15 minutes of intense fighting."
Mr Abernethy and the scout got back to their own machine gun site.
A short distance away at an angle to the machine gun site a group of four soldiers had been firing at the enemy. One soldier, Private Berry, had an M16 rifle which had a special cartridge used to launch grenades.
Suddenly there was a explosion and Mr Abernethy said he felt the pressure wave.
All I saw was Reid from the waist up exposed by tracer bullets, cradling Cooper in his arms like a baby and protecting him from the fire.
- John Abernethy
A grenade about to be launched from Private Berry's rifle had been hit killing Private Stanczyk and wounding Privates Cooper, Lloyd and Berry.
The call for a medic was made and Private Ian Reid attended.
In the pitch black of the night Private Reid was unable to see the extent of Private Cooper's serious injuries, but his fingertip search revealed a gaping hole in Private Cooper's neck and he knew that he had to elevate the wound above the heart to try and save the man.
"I fully expected to look back and see carnage, for 10 to 15 blokes to be dead. That's when I saw Reid; I'm the only person looking back and seeing what the enemy saw," Mr Abernethy said.
"All I saw was Reid from the waist up exposed by tracer bullets, cradling Cooper in his arms like a baby and protecting him from the fire.
"I'm screaming at him to get down; I don't know how he can't hear me. He's four metres away and there's dirt flying everywhere."
Mr Abernethy said Private Reid was exposed to enemy fire for 39 minutes and stayed with Private Cooper until the medical evacuation helicopter arrived.
He later learnt Private Cooper had suffered a wound to his jugular vein in his throat. Had Cooper been laid down he most certainly would have bled to death.
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