A Vietnam veteran has told the story of Frankie from the famous song ‘I Was Only 19′.

Bill Wilcox was 21 when he was sent to Vietnam.

On July 21, 1969, several units became trapped after detonating a minefield in the middle of the jungle.

Sapper Bill Wilcox was one of those sent in to save them.

He was helping a man onto a stretcher when an officer accidentally set off another mine and left Mr Wilcox with major wounds to the left side of his body.

He survived an 18-hour surgery and, all these years later, he’s preparing for another Anzac march in his hometown of Oberon.

He told Ben Fordham one of the men involved in the tragedy was Frankie, the soldier in the song ‘I Was Only 19′.

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