Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change) Share this | Hansard source

It is a privilege for me, also, to speak today about the discovery of the Canberra bomber containing the remains of our last two missing Australian Defence Force personnel from the Vietnam conflict—Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver.

On 3 November 1970, Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver disappeared approximately 65 km south-west of Da Nang in Quang Nam Province while returning to base following a bombing mission, leaving very little information available about what had happened to them. It was only for the efforts of many expert researchers and concerned people that this discovery was made possible. Flying Officer Michael Herbert was 24 years old when the Canberra bomber was lost. He was the pilot of Magpie 91 and was a veteran of no less than 198 operational sorties over Vietnam. Flying Officer Herbert joined No. 2 Squadron in February 1970 and was from Glenelg in South Australia.

Pilot Officer Robert Carver was also only 24 years of age. He was the navigator on Magpie 91 and had conducted 33 sorties in Vietnam. Pilot Officer Carver joined No. 2 Squadron in September 1970 and he came from Toowoomba, Queensland.

An inquiry conducted in late 1970 was unable to determine the cause of the incident from the available evidence. In October 2008 the Chief of Air Force requested the Australian Army History Unit investigate the aircraft’s disappearance, due to their experience in resolving four cases of Australian soldiers who were unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. The initial investigation team conducted a complete record search from Australia and then undertook reconnaissance in Vietnam in January this year, during which they conducted many interviews with veterans, government officials and locals from the surrounding villages in Quang Nam province.

This information led to a team of specialists deploying on a reconnaissance mission to Vietnam in April of this year. Deep in rugged and remote terrain of Quang Nam province near the Laotian border, this team made the initial discovery of the Canberra bomber crash site. While no human remains were found at that time—the group was ill equipped for an appropriate search—a number of military artefacts were found, including a club badge which was unique to Herbert and Carver’s RAAF No. 2 Squadron.

The team deployed again to the crash site in July of this year in an operation appropriately named Operation Magpies Return, in honour of the call sign of the crashed aircraft. This team in July included forensic odontologists, a forensic anthropologist, a forensic pathologist, an archaeologist, an air crash investigator, the principal investigator, an explosive ordnance technician, a photographer and a civilian engineer. I was pleased to announce on 30 July in my portfolio capacity that the team was successful in uncovering the remains of our two final missing ADF personnel from Vietnam.

The discovery of the remains of Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver closes the final chapter in our quest to recover the remains of all of our Australian Defence Force personnel missing in Vietnam, which had been six in total. This follows the discovery and recovery in recent times of four of our soldiers, Private David Fisher, Lance Corporal Richard Parker, Private Peter Gillson and Lance Corporal John Gillespie. At the end of this month we will repatriate the remains of our final two missing ADF members. This means that all personnel lost in Vietnam will have been brought home and laid to rest in their home country.

There were many people involved and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them all for their efforts, because it has been an extraordinary team effort. Firstly, I thank Operation Aussies Home, which has always been a very strong advocate for the return of Australian personnel from the Vietnam conflict. I commend the organisation for that commitment, especially Mr Jim Burke, who has played a driving role in Operation Aussies Home. The Australian Army History Unit’s expertise and exhaustive research also contributed dramatically to unravelling the 40-year mystery of what happened to Herbert and Carver. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation also played a key role in offering precise modelling techniques that allowed what was an extremely large search area to be effectively refined and narrowed. This played a key role in aiding the discovery.

The cooperation and assistance the government received from the Vietnamese government during this mission has been extremely important. I make particular mention of the Vietnamese ministry of defence missing in action department, which facilitated the recovery team’s work in Vietnam. Without their assistance the discovery and recovery action could not have been effected. Interviews with local Vietnamese people and Vietnamese veterans were also crucial in understanding the fate of the aircraft and the identification of the site. Their support and assistance was overwhelming and we are enormously grateful to them.

In conclusion, we thank also the Royal Australian Air Force and the recovery team they sent in on two very difficult missions to locate the remains in a very rugged and dense part of Vietnam. Finally, to the families of Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver I would like to pass on my personal and sincere condolences. I hope that the families find some comfort in the knowledge that their loved ones have been found and that they will be brought home and laid to rest in Australia.

This brings to a close an enormously important chapter in the history of Australia’s engagement in the Vietnam War. Of course it was a divisive issue politically in this country in the 1960s and early 1970s and unfortunately—and this is important, bearing in mind that yesterday was Vietnam Veterans Day—our Vietnam veterans did not receive the respect and recognition across the community in those days that they deserved. It is extremely important now that we have found the last two missing ADF members in Vietnam that this respect and honour are extended to Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver and that we can close this particular chapter in our history with dignity. Thank you.

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