VISION 2019 " to rebuild a Cambodia free from landmine contamination"

Tony "Bomber" Bower-Miles was a young engineer in the Australian Army when he first went to Vietnam in the late 1960's. Land mines, in particular US made M16 anti-personnel mines, were one of the major threats faced by our troops, and much of Bomber's work involved cleaning up their aftermath along with other explosive ordnance devices (EOD's) positioned by the enemy and used to great effect against Australian troops.

In 2001, Bomber returned to South East Asia, putting his minefield breaching and clearance skills to work in the task of locating and destroying some of the 4 to 6 million land mines that still contaminate Cambodia. On a shoestring budget, Bomber established the Vietnam Veterans' Mine Clearing Team. In early 2008 the Vietnam Veterans Mine Clearing Team - Cambodia Inc was registered as an incorporated entity in Queensland. (IA:36313) and registered with the Australian Government Business Register (ABN.22 868 580 912).

These days, Bomber, Mac McGregor and Gerry Lyall physically and financially support the Cambodian Self Help Demining operation, a Non Government Organisation (CSHD NGO) and were directly involved with the CSHD's accreditation and certification as a demining organisation with the Cambodian authorities and continues to support them with the donations of concerned Australians. In 2009 alone the CSHD put almost one hundred families back on land that has not been used for decades. Land that was killing people a year ago, is now being put to productive use.

Each of the Mine Detectors purchased from Minelab (Aust) for the de-mining operation in Cambodia is named in honour of one of the Engineers killed during the war in Vietnam. The entire list of those Engineers can be found in the
Engineers - Roll of Honour (3 mb file) .

VVMCT Photo Albums can be viewed here. Album 2 - Album 3 - Album 4 - Album 5 - Album 6 - Album 7.