I saw on the news tonight that a digger that was listed as missing in action in Vietnam was found after 36 years and his remains were being returned back to Aust. on a herc.

Extract from the Herald :

A DIGGER who died when an RAAF helicopter was shot down in Vietnam in 1971 will be coming home to Melbourne after a specialist team located his remains.

Lance-Cpl John Gillespie becomes the third of six missing Vietnam War servicemen whose remains have been recovered this year.

Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin said yesterday a specialist army team assisted by two members of a veterans' group, Operation Aussies Home, had found Lance-Cpl Gillespie's kit and remains amid wreckage in the Long Hai hills.

The remains were found under the cabin of a destroyed Iroquois helicopter, which was located by veteran Peter Aylett in February 2004.

Mr Aylett was site surveyor on last month's expedition to the hills in the former Phuoc Tuy province, the Australian zone during the Vietnam War.

The six-member team spent 13 days at the site.

Lance-Cpl Gillespie's identity was confirmed in the past week by an army anthropologist.

It is likely Mr Griffin will travel to Vietnam in the next week to officially take possession of the remains, as his predecessor Bruce Billson did this year for Pte Peter Gillson and Lance-Cpl Richard Parker.

"Lance-Cpl Gillespie lost his life while serving our country and I am pleased that these collaborative efforts can bring closure to his family after so many years," Mr Griffin said.

Lance-Cpl Gillespie, 24, was a regular soldier from Carnegie who had a wife and young daughter.

He was a medic aboard chopper A2-767, which was shot down while evacuating a wounded South Vietnamese soldier on April 17, 1971.

The RAAF crew of pilot Flying Officer Michael Castles, co-pilot Pilot Officer Simon Ford, Cpl Bob Stephens and Cpl Roy Zegers escaped.

But Lance-Cpl Gillespie was lost in smoke and fire.

It is believed his legs were trapped beneath the cabin and he died from smoke inhalation.

Cpl Stephens won a British Empire Medal for gallantry for trying to drag him free.

Lance-Cpl Gillespie's remains couldn't be recovered later because of enemy activity.

His family liaised with Operation Aussies Home leader Jim Bourke in September last year to pressure the Government to approve an official search of the crash site.

Mr Billson, who authorised the search, rang Lance-Cpl Gillespie's remarried widow, Carmel, last weekend to tell her of the find.

A funeral is expected to be held before Christmas at the church in Glen Huntly where the Gillespies married.

Speaking from Vietnam yesterday, Mr Aylett said he had been confident Lance-Cpl Gillespie's remains could be located.

About 750m around the wreckage was searched.

Engine parts and the cabin were dug out.

Lance-Cpl Gillespie's medical kit and buttons were found amid items that filled three suitcases.