Australian servicemen in Vietnam were mystified over the disappearance of 36 dozen freshly baked, frozen meat pies.

Army headquarters in Canberra reported the day before that the pies were last seen on a bus bound for Sydney Airport where a jet was waiting to fly them to soldiers abroad.

The pies were the property of Corporal Paul Blackwell, 23, of Bexley, NSW, who bought them while on R&R leave.

Corporal Blackwell was commissioned by his mates to make the purchase for a pie night.

"Scotts 'Pies gave me a discount of $16 or $17 and the whole lot cost me $41.04," he said. "I rang up the airline and they agreed to let me carry the extra weight of pies as baggage. I put them aboard the bus in Sydney going to the airport, and that was the last I saw of them.

"The money doesn't worry me. It's just the principle of the matter.I got a bit hot under the collar when I found out."

Usually the only time Australian, soldiers in Vietnam were able to get their teeth into an Australian crust is when pie couriers return from leave in Australia. A complaint was made to the airline.

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110462623/11949466