 2 Platoon was in trouble and the Australians were forced to fight hard in order to survive , with numerous acts of heroism on both sides . Repeatedly exposing himself to the fire to throw grenades and to direct his platoon 's fire , Ross dragged two of his wounded men to safety during the fighting and despite being wounded in the leg by shrapnel he refused to be treated until the other wounded had received first aid . Meanwhile , Private Dennis Bathersby , although wounded in the right arm , remained behind his M60 throwing two grenades with his left arm and only withdrawing in order to drag another wounded Australian to safety . Finally , after his right arm went numb , Ross ordered Bathersby to hand over his machine @-@ gun and he was evacuated to the rear . Elsewhere , Private Keith Downward , one of the forward scouts , after edging forward to within 10 metres ( 11 yd ) then single handedly charged one of the Viet Cong machine @-@ guns , killing the operator and capturing the weapon before then dragging a wounded Australian soldier out of danger despite himself being wounded . Amid the chaos , a wasp nest in a nearby tree was disturbed , and a number of Australians were so badly stung that they were incapacitated and also needed to be evacuated . 
