Fed: ADF close to locating last missing soldier

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2008
Fed: ADF close to locating last missing soldier

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - Defence force investigators may be a step closer to solving
the mystery of Australia's last missing soldier from the Vietnam war.

Private David Fisher from the Special Air Services Regiment (SASR) fell from a rope
while an RAAF helicopter was conducting a `hot extraction' out of the area in 1969.

He fell into the jungle, and despite attempts to find him, he was never found.

But fresh investigations with locals and Vietnamese veterans have allowed investigators
to pinpoint a possible location where some human remains have been found.

"This week a defence forensic anthropologist, an archaeologist and several army historians,
will conduct a full archaeological dig in the location where Private Fisher is believed
to have fallen," Minister for Defence, Science and Personnel Warren Snowdon said in a
statement.

"We are hopeful of providing Private Fisher's family with some long awaited answers,
and ask on their behalf that the media respect their privacy at this sensitive time."

Mr Snowdon said officials were also conducting preliminary investigations of two RAAF
personnel who also went missing during the war, on November 3, 1970.

AAP srj/jt

KEYWORD: SOLDIER

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