Virtual
War Memorial
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Written By:  Mr Kevin O’Hara  Brother of John on the occasion of the Vietnam Veterans Remembrance Vigil 3rd August 2023

My brother, John Laurence O’Hara was killed in action in South Vietnam on 20 May 1967. He had just turned 22 the month before. He died that day alongside his best friend Greg Brady from Ipswich in Queensland. He was also 22.

John was my eldest brother and was born in Wollongong on 11 April 1945. Our parents, Ernest Percival and Phyllis May O’Hara were living in Coniston at the time. Ern had returned from New Guinea in 1942. He had been working on gold dredges in Bololo. After the war, he returned to New Guinea to help resume operations at the gold mine.  Phyllis followed soon after with John and his new sister Dianne. John and Dianne lived in Bololo for 3 years, welcomed another brother Philip and were watched over and taught by the native girls who were called “Marys”.

On return to Australia, John went to school at Coniston where his grandfather was Headmaster.  He then went to Port Kembla Primary School followed by Berkeley High School. He attended church at St Stephen’s Church of England at Port Kembla. His Minister, Reverend Leaske remembered John as a bright and fun-loving boy but very shy. He joined the church scout group at 11 years old and later the church youth group.  He joined the Port Kembla Surf Club as soon as he was old enough and stayed in the club until he was conscripted. His nickname at the club was “Scarlett”.  In all the years he was there, John never missed a patrol, one of their only members to ever achieve this.

After leaving school, John worked at Farquhar’s Jewellery Shop and then at Metal Manufacturers (MM) as a labourer until he was conscripted in 1965.  John had many friends in Port Kembla, was good looking and was always very popular, especially with the young ladies. I recall one time when he was sent in to buy a quick box of chocolates as we were on the way to a family function.  We all waited in the car, but after about 15 frustrating minutes of waiting, we went into the shop only to see John chatting up the salesgirl and arranging to take her out on a date.

When John turned 20 in 1965, his birthdate was drawn as part of the compulsory conscription system in place at the time. He reported for duty on 5 October 1965, exactly one week after his sister’s wedding on 28 September.  John’s initial training was at Kapooka after which he transferred to Holsworthy to train as an Army Engineer (known as Sappers).  We all went to his passing out day, where the new sappers demonstrated building a bridge across a creek in record time.

John left for Vietnam in August 1966.  When he arrived in Saigon, the temperature was 120 degrees and they had to wait in the sun for over 3 hours until a plane took then to their camp in a rubber plantation at Vung Tau.  There was machine gun and rifle fire on their arrival as the 6 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment was trying to take a VC stronghold.  That night he said the Yanks’ B52 bombers were dropping 500lb and 1000lb bombs on a mountain about 5 km away, so the trees, tents and ground were all shaking until 4am.

While in Vietnam, John was with 2 Troop, part of 1 Field Squadron, which was led by Captain Sandy MacGregor.  He was the first to have the sappers enter the Vietcong tunnels to disable the booby traps and retrieve valuable intelligence.  Prior to that, any tunnels found were either just sealed and/or had grenades thrown in. Sandy’s sappers would enter with a pistol and a torch and would find a disarm the many bombs and other traps planted so the infantry could then enter. They also used a compass to map out the tunnels.  1 Field Squadron then became known as the “Tunnel Rats” and Captain MacGregor became quite famous for this. John said he had been down so many tunnels; he now actually enjoyed it.  Also, while he was in Vietnam, John was made an Honorary Member of the Port Kembla Surf Club, the only young person to ever receive this as this was normally reserved for those much older.

In early 1967, the Australian Task Force Commander Brigadier Stuart Clarence Graham enacted a plan, against advice from many, to construct an 11 km barrier fence minefield, containing over 20,000 M-16 “jumping-jack” landmines. These would jump about 1 metre out of the ground when detonated and then spread lethal shrapnel for about 20 metres all around.  Each mine was positioned in the ground above an anti-lifting device (hand-grenade) which was meant to stop the mine from being stolen. The Barrier minefield was located in the southern Phuoc Tuy province and was built with the aim of shielding the population in the south-west from the enemy in the north and east.  This whole endeavour was very badly planned and poorly executed, resulting in 7 sappers being killed and another 11 terribly wounded laying the minefield.  More Australian sappers were killed and injured when the minefield was later removed.  Worse still, the minefield became a major source of strike weapons for the enemy, who became quite adept at removing the mines.  This was estimated to have caused close to 50% of all Australian casualties in Vietnam.

Laying the minefield was done in 3 steps. First the holes were dug, then the mines were precisely positioned and finally the mines were armed.  Arming involved 2 sappers working directly above the mine, one holding the soil down firmly around the mine and the second removing the pin from the grenade beneath.  The arming step was extremely dangerous and very stressful for the sappers involved. There were several teams of sappers laying the minefield each day and they rotated the duties for each step.  When on the Arming duty, each sapper was given only a helmet and a thin flak-jacket for protection, which was very uncomfortable due to the severe heat and high humidity.  No Australian sappers had worked with the M-16 mines before and they were only given minimal training, which consisted of a quick initial demonstration by a NCO of how the mine and the grenade were to be positioned and armed before they started work laying the minefield. Initially the teams of sappers were to lay 400 mines per day, but Brigadier Graham then ordered the sappers to increase minelaying to 1000 per day. The minelaying operations continued for up to 12 hours each day for the sapper teams.  On 20 May, 1967, John was doing the arming duty alongside his best friend Sapper Gregory Vincent Brady when something slipped and they were both killed instantly.  Two other sappers from another team working close by (Corporal Lionel Rendalls and Sapper Brian Roberts) received shocking injuries from the blast but survived.

John had been set to return to Australia in April 1967, but was kept back for an extra 2 months due to his specialist skills.  He intended to re-enlist in the Army for 6 years once his national service was completed and, in his letters, discussed an opportunity to go to London for some further training.

John’s remains were brought back to Australia, and three weeks after his death, there was a full military funeral for him at St Stephen’s Church in Port Kembla. Reverend Leaske came back to the church to conduct the funeral. He also led the funeral procession down the main street of Port Kembla in the rain. John’s coffin was carried on a gun carriage.  The Surf Life Saving Association and several of his workmates formed a guard of honour for the march. All the Port Kembla shops closed as a mark of respect. He was cremated and his ashes are at Wollongong Memorial Gardens.  John was the first national serviceman from the south coast to die in Vietnam.

There were many news articles about his death and the circumstances surrounding. His parents received condolence telegrams from many, including his Commanding Officer Brigadier Graham, General Westmoreland from the US Army and Malcolm Fraser, Minister for Army who later became Prime Minister.  The Port Kembla Surf Club named their next surf boat after him, the “John “Scarlett” O’Hara” with the O’Hara family as honoured guests at the launch. John’s mother, Phyllis O’Hara also received special honour as a mother who lost a son in the war.

In October 1987 there was a special “Welcome Home” parade in Sydney, led by a relative of each of the 469 Vietnam Veterans who did not return from the war carrying a flag with an engraved name plaque in their honour. John’s flag is here today.  Prior to this parade, the Vietnam Veterans were not recognised by the RSL as most were conscripts. I proudly carried his flag at the march.  Since then, I have marched for John on many Anzac Days both in Port Kembla and Sydney.  On Anzac Day in 2001, the remaining members of John’s unit, 2 Troop, came to my house in Sydney for a remembrance service and barbeque in my back yard. Sandy MacGregor, who retired a Colonel, attended and made a speech.  Many of the 2 Troop veterans became very emotional.  This group has kept in touch over the years since then, sending out newsletters and going on vacations together, but there are not many of that group left now.

Posted to site:  Tony Cox www.3rar.com.au