Corporal Bruno Adam Adamczyk Service number 43326 9th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (9RAR), Australian ArmyBorn: Schwerte, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, 27 July 1946
Grew up in Smithfield, Playford, South Australia and attended Rostrevor College
Died: Killed in Action, Vietnam, 12 July 1969, aged 22 years
Buried: Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia
Bruno’s story
Cpl
Bruno Adamczyk arrived as a 3 year old from Germany on 23rd May, 1950.
Bruno went to Rostrevor College and was on the swimming team and played
football but wasn’t very academically minded so left at the age of 14 to work
at a printing firm. Three days after his 17th birthday he
joined the army and between1965-1967 served in Malaysia and Borneo. During that
time he married Cecilia who he had met at the printing firm in Adelaide – she
was to join him with their child in Malacca, Malaysia in 1966 where their
daughter Michelle was born. In 1968 Bruno and his new family returned to
Australia and he was posted to Woodside. In November 1968 Bruno left for
Vietnam, where at the age of 22, as a member of 6 Section, 11 Platoon, D
company 9 RAR he was KIA during Operation Matthew. Bruno was a section Commander,
and with his forward scout Pte Paul Edwards was killed while attacking an
occupied enemy bunker system on 12 July 1969. Without their section commander,
Bruno’s section, with help from others of the platoon and at great risk to
their own safety, recovered the bodies of their comrades L/Cpl Bruno Adamczyk
and Pte Paul Edwards.
I
contacted Bruno’s daughter, Michelle Matthews who was only one year old when
her father died in Vietnam.
“Vietnam was a tough place to be
during the war. As Bruno watched some of his mates die, he was particularly unnerved by the loss of a fellow soldier
he knew from Malaya. An element of fear crept into him and in one of his
letters home he wrote
"it's not too pleasant having shots firing over your head, it makes you want to dig a hole
six foot deep and hide" after facing the Viet Cong while on Operation King Hit.”
Michelle Matthews
A picture
of Bruno’s daughter, Michelle Matthews and grandson Darren. They are with the
musician John Schuman who wrote ‘I was only 19’. I was able to contact Michelle
because she had spoken at a Rostrevor Assembly back in 2016 – I found a 2016
school newsletter on the Internet and emailed the school. After the assembly a
memorial to Bruno was unveiled and is there today for all to see and
commemorate his life. As a result of his song and dedication to the memories of
those who served in Vietnam, John Schumann is an honorary member of the 9th
Battalion and was invited to sing at the assembly.
His death
has had an enormous impact on Michelle and her family and she is committed to
keeping his memory alive. She was very moved that we will be telling his story
here in Vietnam on our trip and that his name will be mentioned again in this
country. Michelle and her sister gathered the strength to visit Vietnam in 2013
and trace the footsteps of the father she never knew
“I did
a great deal of crying
and soul searching which helped with the healing
process. As we took off on our flight
home I looked down on the lights of Ho Chi
Minh City and felt a wave of peace wash over me. I now know that Vietnam isn't the dark, scary place I thought it to be, it's still
where my father
took his last breath but a beautiful country nevertheless and I have finally
made peace with it.”
Michelle Matthews
At the assembly Michelle spoke eloquently and poignantly when she said …“It's not easy to put into words how I have felt growing
up without a father, all the times when I needed
my dad and he wasn't
there. It completely changed our lives
when Bruno was killed in Vietnam but most people
don't understand the impact that that has had on us. I remember taunts that other children
would direct at me because I didn't have a dad and how upsetting that
was because I didn't really
understand the whole
situation myself. I remember being
at primary school and day dreaming that dad would come to the front office and ask for me and tell me that he hadn't
really been killed in Vietnam
but had been
missing in action.
Sadly this could never come
true, but it was
like we never
got to acknowledge dad's death, he was taken
from us and we never
got to say goodbye. All I knew was that
mum lived somewhere else with a new family
and Jackie and I were now living with our grandparents (Cecilia had left the girls
to start a new life because of her devastation and the two girls were brought
up by their grandparents).
The devastation that my grandmother and grandfather felt at losing their son was immeasurable. I can recall many a night as a young child
where I sat on my grandpa's lap and comforted him as he cried
for his only child, Bruno, and the pain and emptiness that they felt was with them both till the day
they died.
Even though I barely
knew my dad he has had such a huge impact on my life and it is with a longing deep in my heart that I could somehow spend a few moments with him. Just to look in his eyes and see
a reflection of me in him, to hear his voice, feel his touch and feel his love for me. This longing will be felt for the rest of my life. I am
very proud of Bruno but sometimes wish he hadn't been
a hero and gone to Vietnam,
that he had just stayed
home and been my dad.”
“Every year I march on Anzac Day carrying Bruno's
flag proudly with the 9th Battalion and honour
him at Remembrance Day services.
The part of my heart that belongs to my dad will forever ache and
I am humbled that he will be remembered always.
Bruno's story is but one of the 102,000 stories of men and women killed
in war and the families,
like ours, left behind.”
Michelle Matthews
The day dawned
(Information sourced from the book “We were Reo’s (Australian
Infantry Reinforcements in Vietnam)
The 11th of July was
another day of tedious patrolling for D Company on Operation Matthew (commenced
on 21 June, 1969). However, by 10am it became obvious they had walked into a
‘hot area’ as evidenced by fresh signs of the enemy present. Bunkers, TNT and
anti-malarial tablets were found. The going was tough on the patrol, the jungle
very wet and hot, no breeze, a canopy 30 metres high with thick secondary
growth covering the jungle floor – a half-light filtered through the greenery.
The air was also heavy from a low lying mist and the smoke of explosions – a
sense of surreal foreboding was felt by the soldiers. Adam’s platoon entered
the bunker system at 8am and found fresh cut saplings, animal traps and a fresh
latrine – all evidence of enemy presence.
The enemy bunker
After leaving the bunker system in the morning they returned at noon to
do a sweep of the area - the forward scout had seen movement that morning.
Bruno and his forward scout (Private Paul Edwards) pushed 100 metres into the
bunker system. Upon seeing the edge of the bunker system, Bruno called for the
gun group to move forward. Bruno was to go home at the end of this operation
and even had said to Paul, “Let’s get this one out of the way so I can go home”.
In his haste to get the mission over, Bruno did not wait for the gun group to
be in position and pushed forward and hurled a grenade into the bunker. In
response the enemy set forth a hail of machine gun fire and activated a
Claymore mine. Bruno was shot in the head and heart.
At great risk to their safety, several of Bruno’s patrol moved forward
and recovered the bodies of Bruno and Paul – an amazing act of bravery. The
bodies were dragged to safety and then the soldiers struggled downhill through
the shredded jungle to the clearing where they were to be evacuated. Both of
the bodies were loosely wrapped in their hutchies and sweat rags were placed
over their faces to give them dignity in death. However one of the D Company
soldiers took cigarettes and lighters from their bodies – not appreciated by
the other soldiers!
The radio operator had already requested a ‘dust off', indicating an
Australian casualty. In a short while a US chopper dropped in through the
clearing (a small circle of stumps) in the jungle where they had brought the
bodies. The helicopters hovered over the stumps until the bodies were loaded. A
battle raged to protect the Landing Zone (LZ) as the dead and wounded were
lifted out of the jungle, By 8pm three ‘dust off’ choppers’ had done their job,
amongst a scene of low cloud, mist, a monsoonal rainstorm, smell of blood,
cordite, flashing lightning and explosions. In this action to protect the LZ,
one Australian died and eight were wounded.
The enemy vacated the area soon after and by 20 July the Australians had
completed their sweep of the area and collected information and small arms.
After 30 days, Operation Matthew was over and the soldiers of D Company
returned to Nui Dat and were given two days leave at the Peter Badcoe VC Club in
Vung Tau. Bruno would have been on his way home, but that was not to be.
Bruno’s funeral upon his return to Australia. Bruno's body was returned to Australia where he was buried at Centennial Park with full military honours on the 26th of July 1969, one day before his 23rd birthday and 4 days before his 6 year commitment to the army was over. Before 1966 families had to pay $1000 ($8000 today) to bring their boy home!
LEST WE FORGET
No comments:
Post a Comment