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CONSCRIPTS AND REGULARS
about 40 m a camouflaged trapdoor was located on the ground. The engineer detachment commander, Sergeant 'Snow' Wilson, attached a line and slowly lifted the door. There was a chilling moment when a hand reached out, placed an M26 grenade on the ground, and pulled the trapdoor down again. The company all hit the ground. As soon as the grenade exploded, a Viet Cong jumped out of the hide and sprinted away into the undergrowth. Major O'Donnell and Lieutenant Bannon both fired and hit him. His body was found about 30 m away. The grenade wounded two members of 10th Military Intelligence Detachment and a returnee. The Viet Cong's companion who remained in the hole was killed by grenades and his pistol recovered. A few minutes later in the cordon, 1 Platoon spotted an armed Viet Cong and captured him after a brief exchange of fire. He was identified by 10th Military Intelligence Detachment as the platoon commander of the Long Phuoc (a hamlet in Hoa Long) Guerillas. At 1410 hours 3 Platoon found another hide with two Viet Cong in it. They were killed by small arms fire. The prisoner earlier taken by 1 Platoon joined the search and led 3 Platoon to a further hide where two enemy surrendered. They were identified as a member of the Baria Province Finance and Economy Committee and a member of the Vung Tau Chinese Proselytising Committee. Their weapons (a pistol and a sub–machine gun) were captured. A further hide was discovered at 1630 hours. There were three enemy in it and an attempt was made by 10th Military Intelligence Detachment to induce them to surrender. This attempt failed and the hide was engaged with small arms. During the firing, a woman attempted to surrender but she was wounded by one of the enemy. The other two Viet Cong were killed. By 1800 hours the company had taken up ambush positions. Two hours later, 2 Platoon saw a group of Viet Cong but could not fire on them because elements of 2 RAR, who were involved in searching the village of Long Dien to the south as part of Operation PINAROO, were close to the line of fire. The search was renewed the next morning. Several hides and six weapons were found as well as a further two killed Viet Cong. They had been killed the day before when a grenade had been dropped into their hide in an anthill. There had been so much dust raised that their bodies had not been noticed until the next morning's search. When the cordoned area had been completely combed, the prisoner indicated the position of a hide outside the cordon. It was found to be a tunnel entrance in a banana clump. A female Viet Cong from the Long Phouc Party Chapter was found wounded in the tunnel and evacuated by Dustoff for hospital treatment. 3 Platoon developed a good rapport with the supporting South Vietnamese forces in this operation, picking up their search techniques particularly well. Unfortunately the Platoon Commander, Second Lieutenant Wayne Bannon, was wounded on the second day of this operation when he fired a grenade at a hide in an anthill and was hit by a ricocheting piece of shrapnel. The wound in his abdomen was