William Thomas CARROLL

CARROLL, William Thomas

Vietnam War Service

5 Jun 1965: Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, 37010, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR)
5 Jun 1965: Involvement Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, 37010

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Biography contributed by Robert Kearney

Birth: Aug. 6, 1943
Perth
Western Australia, Australia
Death: Jun. 26, 1965, Vietnam

37010 Private William Thomas Carroll
1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment
Accidently Killed when a grenade  exploded on 26th June 1965 Age 21.
ALSO Killed that Day -
37867 Private Michael Alwyn (Stoney) Bourke (/explore/people/654225),

Biography contributed by David Carroll

Private Boris Ornowski, of Macquarie Street, Fairfield, Sydney, who was admitted to hospital at the US Clark air base, some 50 miles north of Manila, is in a critical condition. Jumped out Most of the 550 Australians who took part in Saturday's mission had been helicopted out of the sweep zone and were then driven the two miles from the airstrip in the high walled US Army transport.
When one party returned to camp someone sang out that there were cool drinks in the mess tent.
Some of the soldiers started pushing to get out, and some jumped over the side.
Lance-Corporal Graham Fry, 26, of Revesby, Sydney, remembers vividly what happened in the next few seconds.
"Mike (Pte Bourke) was on my left and was hopping up on the side. Another bloke on my other side was doing the same thing.
"On the ground the American who had jumped out first was picking up his gear. "He swung it up as if to lift it on his shoulder,
that's when the grenade went off."The American was killed instantly.
So was Pte Carroll, who was caught in midair by the blast.
Pte Bourke, about 5ft above the explosion, was hit in the head.
He died within 10 to 15 minutes.
The blast knocked down all the troops still in the truck singing and slivers of steel sieved through the wall and floor.

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