Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

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• May 4, 2021

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. October 1970. Captain Charles Watson, Second in Charge (2IC) of 26 Transport Company, Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC), and Task Force Maintenance Area. This photo was taken especially for his son Andrew, aged four and a half years. In a letter to Army, Mrs Watson said Andrew was wondering why there were always pictures of other children's fathers, and never his own. The Army cameraman called and found Captain Watson doing a radio check in the operation's room.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. November 1970. Identical twins Keith and Paul Scott (both centre) enjoy a cold Victoria Bitter (VB) beer back in base at the 1st Australian Task Force Base (1ATF), at end of an operation. They are serving with the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), and are sinking a cold one, enjoying a can of beer, with their mates, Sapper Niven Heavisides of Dandenong, Vic (left), and Corporal John Beninfield of Toowoomba, Qld.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. November 1970. It was party day at the 1st Australian Task Force Base (1ATF), as the headquarters entertains about eighty children from the Baria Orphanage. Sister Vera Michalsky of Ulverstone, Tas, nurses a Vietnamese baby as three other young children look on. Sister Michalsky, along with other nurses from the Australian Field Hospital at Vung Tau, helped entertain the children.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. November 1970. World War I Battle is celebrated as, Cambrai Day, the birthday of the Armoured Corps. Taking part in the 53rd Anniversary of the Battle are Centurion Mk 5/1 tanks from A Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment, and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) from B Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment. The parade was the largest display of massed armour assembled in one place.

 

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South Vietnam. June 1967. Ground crew members of the 161st Independent Reconnaissance Flight, a unit of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) in Vietnam, lay down sheets of metal interlocking strips on a runway completed for the Cessna aircraft and Bell Sioux helicopters operating out of Nui Dat. Supervising the work (second right) is the Flight Engineer officer, Captain Peter Robinson of Geelong, Vic. As the monsoon wet season is due to start this month, the work of keeping the aircraft mud free on the ground is being stepped up.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-08. Members of the Signal Troop of 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), in various states of undress with their leader, 2nd Lieutenant Peter Harnwell of Cootamundra, NSW (second from right), reading the orders for the day. Others are left to right: Bombardier Alan Hutchenson of Herston, Qld, Gunner T. (Tassie) Harlow of Huonville, Tas, Gunner Gill Freeland of Yarrowonga, Vic, Gunner Max Duthie of South Yarra, Vic, Gunner Bob Lemm of Adelaide, SA, Gunner Barry Bussingham of Northampton, WA, and Gunner Ron (Bluey) Stephenson of Mount Isa, Qld. They are play-acting for the camera.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-08. Members of the Signal Troop of 4th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), were avid fans of the American television comedy series F Troop. The gunners built their own stockade around their headquarters, similar to the one in the series. Hamming it up for the camera in various states of battle undress, the signaller gunners pose for the official opening of Fort Harmful. Left to right: (back row) Bombardier Alan Hutchenson of Hersten, Qld, Gunner Bob Lemm of Adelaide City, SA, Gunner Gill Freeland of Yarrawonga, Vic, Gunner T. (Tassie) Harlow of Huonville, Tas, Gunner Max Duthrie of South Yarra, Vic, (front row), Gunner Barry Bussingham of Northampton, WA, Gunner Ron (Blue) Stephenson of Mount Isa, Qld, and Gunner (Gus) Roach of Orange, NSW.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-09. Private Larry Acker of Victoria Park, WA, checking a film to be shown at the soldiers' open air movie theatre at 2RAR /NZ (ANZAC) (The ANZAC Battalion comprising 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment and a component from the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment), Private Acker is a member of the two man amenities team which handles more than 120 films for screening at unit theatres in the Task Force area every week. Apart from handling the films distribution, the team distributes books, newspapers, sporting equipment and gift parcels from organisations such as the Australian Forces Overseas Fund.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. August 1970. Commander 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF), Brigadier William G. Henderson, joins officers and men of B Squadron 3rd Cavalry Regiment, for a memorial service to Trooper David Doyle, accidentally killed in Phuoc Tuy Province last month. The non-denominational service was attended by about 140 men, many of whom were relieved briefly from operational committments so they could return to the 1ATF base for the commemoration of their fallen comrade.

 

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Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. 25 April 1971. Entertainers from Western Australia visited soldiers in Phuoc Tuy Province. They played to enthusiastic audiences in Saigon, Vung Tau and Nui Dat. On stage here vocalist Kelly Green (centre) urges the audience to sing along. She is supported by Peter Harries (right); Jon Gianatti (far left), Maree Gianatti (obscured) and comedian Max Kay (in kilt). Here the group is performing for the soldiers at Fire Support Base (FSB) Beth, the headquarters of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR). Harries also toured Vietnam in 1968.

 

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The Honour Board for 3 Troop, A Squadron, 3 Cavalry Regiment, Royal Australian Armoured Corps, at the 1st Australian Task Force base. The board records the names of the operations in which the Troop has been involved up to the end of 1967. Soon afterwards, a new Troop Leader took over who did not like the board's `Black Chook' motif and, in a very unpopular move, he changed it to a red dragon motif. After his departure, the `Black Chook' motif was re-instated.

 

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The Honour Board for 3 Troop, A Squadron, 3 Cavalry Regiment, Royal Australian Armoured Corps, at the 1st Australian Task Force base. The board records the names of the operations in which the Troop has been involved during the first three months of 1968. The red dragon motif on the board was the choice of a new Troop Leader who had taken over at the beginning of 1968 and who did not like the Troop's original `Black Chook' motif. The change was a very unpopular move and, soon after the Troop leader's departure, the `Black Chook' motif was re-instated.

 

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An Iroquois helicopter of No. 9 Squadron RAAF being prepared for a "People Sniffer" mission at Kanga Pad at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base. The "People Sniffer" or Airborne Personnel Detector Mk3 was a device for detecting by scent the presence of humans on the ground beneath the aircraft, as it flew at treetop level. At right, Warrant Officer 2 Trent Keary, Air Intelligence Section, Detachment 1 Division Intelligence Unit, 1ATF, is attaching the air sample probe for the "People Sniffer" to the skid of the helicopter. The major components of the device consisting of a large metal box with smaller boxes on top of it are visible in the doorway of the aircraft.

 

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A winch in a trailer on which are wound tethering lines and cables to a barrage balloon about to go aloft over the US 173 Airborne Brigade base. The cables lead to three PRC25 radio communications sets attached to the balloon. The Australian Field Operational Research Section (FORS) had attached radio equipment to the balloon as a means of increasing the distance over which communications could be maintained with Special Air Services (SAS) units operating in the field. The balloon was on loan from the US 7th Air Force.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 17 February 1967. Members of C (Charlie) Company, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) sitting on Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) await the start of Operation Bribie. Seven members of 6RAR were killed and twenty six were wounded during the operation. During the battle, one of the APCs was destroyed by a direct hit from enemy recoilless rifle (RCL) fire killing the driver and wounding the commander. Unable to move it, the Australians set fire to it so that the Viet Cong could not salvage any working parts. After leaving it overnight, the Australians returned to find `Du Me Uc Dai Loi' (roughly translated to `Australians get stuffed') in Vietnamese, painted on the APC in blood. (Donor P. McNamee)

 

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Dec 1971. A group of vehicles which have been withdrawn from the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat back to Vung Tau, in preparation for their return to Australia. Some of the vehicles identified are M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carriers, two Land Rovers, an International F5, 6x6, 5 ton truck and an M113A1 Fire Support Vehicle (FSV) with the call sign four two (42) and named 'THE SANDGROPER'. The FSV is part of A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC).

 

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Dec 1971. A group of vehicles which have been withdrawn from the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat back to Vung Tau, in preparation for their return to Australia. Some of the vehicles identified are two M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carriers (background), a Land Rover (right) and two M113A1 Fire Support Vehicles (FSV) (centre and left). The FSV (centre) has the call sign four one (41) and is named 'BEWITCHED'. The tracked vehicles are attached to A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC). Note the volley ball net set up in the background (right).

 

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1968. Four unidentified airmen of 9 Squadron RAAF carry out routine scheduled maintenance on a Bell Iroquois UH-1H helicopter. They are changing an engine on this Lycoming turbo powered aircraft. With 16 aircraft on strength, aircraft maintenance was carried out round the clock to maintain operational support to the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) at Nui Dat. The maintenance crews normally worked from 0800 to 1700 six days a week. They were then relieved by a duty crew, comprising an airman from each of the major technical categories, who were on standby to carry out emergency service in response to continuing operational demands on the squadron after normal daily flying tasks.

 

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1968. The 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base in Phuoc Tuy Province as viewed from the south. 1ATF established the base in May 1966 and handed it over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in November 1971 as 1ATF withdrew from South Vietnam. The base was some eight km north east of the provincial capital Baria and 27 km north east of the port of Vung Tau, the location of the 1st Australian Logistic Support Group (1ALSG). The dominating feature of the base was the hill named Nui Dat (in Vietnamese meaning mountain or hill of soil) between the airstrip to its north (Luscombe Field) and the smaller helicopter landing zone (LZ) Kangaroo Pad to its south. (Black and white version of the same image is held at P02975.064).

 

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21 August 1969. Diggers of 4th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment - New Zealand (Anzac) (4RAR - NZ (Anzac)) operating in and around Fire Support Base Betty along with the diggers of 104 Battery, Royal Australian Artillery guns firing day and night, the mortars are seen, Kiwis ambushing, the construction of an observation tower, Support Company and the tracker dogs, Administration Company and C Company are represented, the diggers getting a shower from the mobile shower unit, the set ends at Nui Dat with the farewell concert and the farewell memorial service with the Padres.