n 2011, journalist Frank Walker interviewed Brigadier C. M. Pearson AO, DSO, OBE, MC (Rtd) in relation to his rile in the 2nd D&E Platoon matter. Pearson had been the Commander of the Australian Task Force in Vietnam in 1969 when the 2nd D&E Platoon was formed. Walker asked Pearson about the atrocities committed at Thua Tich in May of that year. Pearson (now remember, this is a decorated senior army officer and supposedly a man of great integrity) replied that nothing untoward had happened at Thua Tich and that he was 'never told of any Australian troops mistreating enemy bodies during the war'. He added, 'I gave orders to bury the bodies.' Unfortunately for the legacy of Brigadier C. Pearson, this was a manifest lie. The historian - Ashley Ekins - states that a month after the ambush at Thua Tich, photographs of how the bodies were treated landed on the desk of MAJ GEN Stuart Graham, Deputy Chief of the General Staff. Graham wrote that 'the photograph could cause immeasurable harm to the image of Australian soldiers in Vietnam'. (This was at the height of the Moratoriums.) An enquiry into what had transpired at Thua Tich (and en route to Xuyen Moc) was demanded of Brigadier Pearson and was duly passed on to the OC of the Armoured Corps (Colonel Ron Rooks) to conduct. That enquiry was duly conducted with Pearson's full knowledge. A month later still (August 12th) Pearson then issued a revised unit guide to commanders at all levels to ensure that 'every effort is made to comply with the (Geneva) Conventions, specifically, '...to be treated with the respect due to a human being'. At the same time, LT GEN Daly ordered a thorough vetting of army public relations photographs before their release. So much for the integrity of the highest-ranking Australian Army officers. * NOTE 1: Later that year, a film taken of soldiers of 5RAR soldiers showed a woman 'stripped naked being dragged along the track by one leg and eventually dumped unceremoniously in a shallow grave'. LT GEN Daly, on viewing the film was clearly disgusted since the woman and another male enemy soldier had been photographed earlier, fully clothed. Daly commented to his superior that 'you can draw your own conclusions as to what happened to that woman.' Daly ordered that the film be destroyed immediately and the incident was never publicised. * NOTE 2: In 1968, Minister for the Army, Phillip Lynch told parliament that a female enemy soldier hadn't been water tortured. In fact, Cabinet documents released thirty years later revealed that she HAD been and Lynch knew that- one of the 'standard interrogation techniques' taught at the ironically named 'Intelligence Centre. And in 2010, former SAS SGT Peter Barham admitted he had been present at that torture as an interpreter. Interviewed by the Fraser Coast Chronicle's veteran reporter, Toni Mc Rae, Barham said the two soldiers involved weren't good at it. 'The soldiers told me I to tell her they would also pull her nails out, stick objects up her orifices and do just about anything very painful that you could imagine.' Barham was later posted to a secret SAS base in Perth away from prying journalists. So- deceiving parliament, journalists, veterans themselves, and the community is an on-going exercise by the Army. It's why the historian and the AWM Director, GEN Steve Gower refused to answer questions from Frank Walker. What happened to the men of the 2nd D&E Platoon is just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to duplicity within the Australian Defence Force- and the upcoming Royal Commission into Child Abuse (June) is soon to target the very same high-flyers who are responsible for the deceit, and the abuse endemic within the military