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Subscriber only Leslie Palmer needs medication to sleep, haunted by the seconds 51 years ago that killed eight of his mates and left him with lifelong physical and mental injuries. The Vietnam War veteran and president of Mackay Veterans Group suffers a severed nerve and post-traumatic stress disorder but he counts himself lucky after the incident on February 28, 1970. Mr Palmer said he and his 8th Royal Australian Regiment battalion comrades had been chasing the enemy through Vietnam s Long Dien mountains. We knew we were in a minefield, Mr Palmer said. We did the prodding of the bayonets into the ground to make sure there were no mines in front of us.