Private Rodger Simes stood in the steamy jungle in South Vietnam thinking his life had ended.
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Opposite him, a Viet Cong fighter lined him up from five metres away with his Russian-made AK47 rifle.
"His gun just went 'click' and didn't fire," Mr Simes recalled. "The fighter turned and ran and one of the other Australian soldiers fired on him."
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Asked how he felt about his lucky escape and being on tour with the Australian Army in the Vietnam War, he simply said: "It was self-survival."
"I had a couple of very close ones - one bullet went through the rim of my hat so they were getting fairly close," he said.
Now retired after a career with SA Water, the 74-year-old man from Port Lincoln on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula reflected on the eve of Anzac Day on his 1968-69 service with 5th Battalion.
"I was an average, run-of-the-mill infantryman who had been called up in National Service," he said.
"I did my training in about five months and then went off to serve 12 months over there.
"I was lucky enough to spend three months on guard duty in Saigon at the Australian Embassy and the ambassador's residence.
"It was a bit 'hairy' at times. During the Tet Offensive, they started banging a few rockets in.
"I then went back to the Australian base at Nui Dat and went with 5th Battalion."
During his service, he carried a 90mm recoilless rifle which was 1.2 metres long.
"It was not much fun carrying that around through the jungle for a few months," he said.
One day a military convoy was hit by a bomb, killing some Australian soldiers.
"I replaced one of them a few months before I was due to go back," he said.
"I was in my gear ready to go home and I walked into one of our weapon pits.
"My foot went between the earthen bank and the iron reinforcing. I broke my leg and was taken to Adelaide's Repatriation Hospital.
"On Christmas Eve, I had a plate put in there."
Before being called up for military service, Mr Simes had various jobs including being a syrup-maker at Pepsi-Cola International.
After returning to Australia, he joined the Engineering and Water Supply Department, now SA Water, working his way up to being acting supervisor.
For health reasons he took early retirement.
Asked what he thought of the risk of war once again, he said he would hate to see it, "but there will be"
"What Russia is doing is just horrible. We were not mobbing kids and women and schools," he said.
"We were just out in the jungle doing stuff."
Greg Mayfield
As editor, I am responsible for 11 mastheads around the state. I have more than 45 years' experience in newspapers and digital platforms. I am lucky to have an enthusiastic and dedicated team of journalists working with me.
As editor, I am responsible for 11 mastheads around the state. I have more than 45 years' experience in newspapers and digital platforms. I am lucky to have an enthusiastic and dedicated team of journalists working with me.
