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Parker and Gillson are the first two Australians listed Missing in Action.
Gillson and Parker were with a unit which came in close contact with the enemy during fierce fighting for
the Battle of the Hump, twenty-one kilometers northeast of Bien Hoa. The company came under heavy fire and Parker was last
seen lying on the ground during the ambush. Although he was heard to groan, he did not answer calls.
Gillson, according to some sources, was injured about 9 kilometers northeast of Parker's location, but according
to U.S. records, Gillson and Parker were lost at the same location. The unit was forced to withdraw. Gillson was thought to
be dead, but Parker's condition was not really known.
Australian comrades were furious when U.S. orders prevented them from returning to the site to locate Gillson
and Parker. Both men were listed presumed Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.
While Gillson and Parker's military unit is not known, it is nearly certain that their unit was working with
the 173rd Airborne Brigade at Bien Hoa, and they were possibly part of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR)
which arrived in Vietnam in May 1965.
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from
U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK, with information from Australia's Tony Blake, Vietnam Veteran 70-71, 7RAR.
REMARKS: Not held with US personnel.
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