The Northern Territory news Thu 21 Apr 2011
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2011-04-21
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
Copyright. Made available by the publisher under licence.
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/232267
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/664628
24 NT NEWS. Thursday, April 21, 2011. www.ntnews.com.au P U B : N T N E W S D A T E : 2 1 -A P R -2 0 1 1 P A G E : 7 2 4 C O L O R : C M Y K Bill Passmore BILL Passmore is incredibly lucky not to have lost a leg in Vietnam. He was involved in a firefight with the Viet Cong during his nine-month service in 1971. Armoured personnel carriers took Bill and his mates from the 3rd Battalion to the front line after news came through that the enemy had filtered down from nearby mountains. We suddenly got the message: Enemy! The firing started. The tracers were going just over our heads. They were firing RPGs at us. Luckily, some didnt go off. Some exploded in trees above us. I heard the APCs coming back and firing. Then I felt a thump in my right leg. I didnt say anything. An AK47 bullet had smashed into bullet magazines that Bill had just moved into his hip pocket. The rounds and magazine were smashed, but I got away with just a big bruise. I found the tip of the AK47 in my pocket. Sadly, Bill lost the bullet tip when moving house. And most of his Vietnam photographs were destroyed in Cyclone Tracy. Like many vets, he waited more than 30 years before returning to Vietnam. We didnt even have reunions at first. We do now.