Okay, another Anzac Day is done. Back to business..... Attached, you will find the front page of a Defence File marked 'Atrocity Allegations- 3 CAV Regt- South Vietnam'. This is a most interesting document- because for 40 years Defence, and the AWM reckoned it either didn't exist, or they had no knowledge of it. It was the result of an investigation conducted in Vietnam by senior officers into allegations of atrocities committed under the leadership of Captain Tom Arrowsmith (the 2nd D&E Platoon was under his charge). This file was found in the National Archives by journalist Frank Walker in 2011- right under the noses of Defence. The documents inside have been corrupted in various ways- but the information contained is vital in explaining why the 2nd D&E Platoon was erased from all records of the war. But more importantly, the very front page says even more about the willingness of Defence to lie and deceive. Note carefully that the record shows who has accessed he file and when. (PA means 'put away'). And note that it sat on a very senior officer's desk for two years right from the outset (so Defence can't say they weren't aware of it); it was then takeout a few more times; and hen, the ARMY HISTORY UNIT (AHU) had control of that document for 12 years! And not once did the AHU acknowledge that hey had it while we battled the bureaucracies for a decade. It also contains the result of the 'Major Pound Enquiry' conducted by Major Pound in 1976 after one of the platoon's members, Robert Enright, went to the media with his revelations about what had happened in Vietnam. So much duplicity. It beggars belief that our military could be so deceptive, so outrageously failing its duty of transparency. Shady? Yes. When facts are hidden, it's a shady enterprise. And when the lives of men who had willingly signed on to be part of this military bureaucracy believing all the guff about honour and mateship, are so adversely affected, questions should be asked. But not by weak politicians.