Peter Haran

Peter Haran (1948-2025) joined the army in 1966 and first served in Vietnam during 1967-68 with 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, attached to a combat tracking team. As one of the first Australian dog handlers, he wrote of his experiences with tracking dog Caesar in the highly successful book Trackers: The Untold Story of the Australian Dogs of War (New Holland, 2000) and later co-wrote Crossfire: An Australian Reconnaissance Unit in Vietnam with colleague Robert Kearney. After two years as a dog trainer with the Army’s Tracking Unit in Sydney, Peter served a second tour in Vietnam as an infantry section commander with 3rd Battalion in 1971. He left the Army in 1972 and became a journalist with the Adelaide Sunday Mail.