Engineers re-open Australian war route DPR/TV/1155

Australian and American engineers worked against the clock in Vietnam this week to re-open the supply line to the Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat. Late last week the Viet Cong blew a 100 foot gap in the bridge. Repairing and bridging the gap was too involved for the quick answer so an American floating bridge was transported to the site. It's worth two hundred thousand dollars and arrived in crates aboard a 20 truck convoy from Long Binh. Each completed pontoon and saddle assembly was put together on the roadway above the river and then loaded back onto the truck and moved up the road to make way for the next to be erected. The completed job took 36 hours and continued through the night under lights. Protection from further enemy assault was afforded by a company of infantry, tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Daily more than 100 tons of supplies move along this route from the big Australian logistics base at Vung Tau to the 5,000 strong Task Force area at Nui Dat. It's also the main road to Saigon and a connection of very great importance to the merchants and villagers of Phuoc Tuy Province. The first pontoon for the bridge was lowered into the river a little more than 24 hours after the explosion which wrecked the former concrete structure. The first shift of Army engineers worked 24 hours before they were relieved by fresh troops who want to work on the decking. The final job was to set up what's known as compensators. These are the humps at either bank which allow for the rise and fall of the tide. With the bridge re-opened the traffic began to flow again and Vietnamese locals surged across to the provincial capital of Baria, one mile away, on foot, bikes and other assorted vehicles. Also identified: Sapper Bob Perkins of Bollon, Qld.