Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

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Vietnam War. January 1972. Using a high pressure hose to clean a grader during preparations for its return to Australia is Field Engineer, Sapper Brian Diprose. Sapper Diprose is a member of 198 Works Section, Royal Australian Engineers (198 Wks Sect, RAE). Photo by John Ford. [AWM FOD/72/0009/VN]

 

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Vietnam War. Phuoc Tuy Province. May 1971. Colonel Vu Duy Tao, Commandant of the Vietnamese Army Signals School, looks through a spectrum analyser at the Australian Army's 110 Signal Squadron's transmitter station at Vung Tau. With him is Corporal Graeme Bloom. Colonel Tao, who is also the senior Vietnamese officer in the Vung Tau Special Zone, was on his first official visit to the squadron. Colonel Tao inspected the squadron's facilities including the major relay station, the transmitter station and the signal tower. Photo by John Ford. [AWM FOD/71/0268/VN]

 

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Vietnam War. Phuoc Tuy Province. October 1970. Private Kevin Wells, 176th Air Dispatch Company, Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC), operating a Caterpillar 966C forklift which is carrying a 500 gallon rubber bladder (also referred to as a seal drum) filled with water. The activity is happening at the Task Force Maintenance Area, Nui Dat. Seal drums were colour coded to identify the contents, white for water, red for petrol (also referred to as MoGas) and yellow for diesel. Photo by Second Lieutenant Paul Asbury (RAASC). [AWM P08445.010]

 

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Vietnam War. Phuoc Tuy Province. 19 August 1966. After the Battle of Long Tan, weary men of Delta Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), gather on a landing zone to eat a quick meal of rations before returning to the battlefield. The Company fought in an epic lone stand against a crack enemy battalion. More than 250 Viet Cong dead were later counted. Identified L-R: obscured unknown, Corporal Ross McDonald, Corporal Kevin (Chicko) Miller, Private Vic Simon, next three unidentified, Private Ian Campbell? [AWM FOR/66/0671/VN]

 

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Vietnam War. Phuoc Tuy Province. 22 March 1967. After loading a seriously wounded comrade onto a US Army UH-1 Iroquois dust-off helicopter, four members of 11 Platoon, D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), hurry away from the chopper as it prepares to take off. The injured man, Private Kenneth Mathieson, was wounded by friendly fire in an accidental clash between 11 and 12 Platoons at the start of Operation Portsea. He was medically evacuated to Australia where he died at the Repatriation General Hospital (RGH) Heidelberg on 11 May 1967. Photo by Denis Gibbons. [AWM P04657.008]

 

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Vietnam War. Nui Dat, Phuoc Tuy Province. c August 1966 - June 1967. Soldiers enjoy a cold beer at the A Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) canteen. Among the group in the foreground are Private Gordon Best, Private Ross Standring, ?, Private Andy Dewar. Photo by Private David Buckwalter (6RAR). [AWM P05528.015]

 

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Vietnam War. Phuoc Tuy Province. October 1967. Soldiers of 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC) (The ANZAC Battalion comprising 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and a component from 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment), parade at their Nui Dat base to mark the Battalions 22nd birthday. The troops were reviewed by Brigadier Stuart Graham (centre), with Commanding Officer of 2RAR, Lieutenant Colonel (Chick) N. R. Charlesworth (right). A tracker dog from 2RAR was also present. Photo by Bryan Campbell. [AWM CAM/67/1025/VN]

 

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Vietnam War. c January - May 1967. Mail Call. (L-R) Corporal Ross Smith, Private Peter Bennett and Private Mal Atkins, all soldiers of 3 Platoon, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), read letters received while on patrol. Photo by Private David Buckwalter (6RAR). [AWM P05528.007]

 

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Vietnam War. March 1969. Members of Mortar Platoon, Support Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR), form a human chain to move rounds to a mortar pit. Photo by Sergeant David Combe. [AWM COM/69/0136/VN]

 

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Phuoc Tuy Province. 18 October 1968. A No. 35 Squadron DHC-4 Caribou flying in tight formation with another Caribou seen through the rear cargo door

 

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No. 1 Squadron, Australian Special Air Service Regiment (1 SASR), leaving for a long range recon patrol during Operation Coburg in Bein Hoa, Vietnam, early 1968.

The four Special Air Service Regiment members are dressed in tiger stripe pattern camouflage uniforms and carry M16 and SLR rifles while passing a rifleman from 7 RAR. Note the 30 round magazine and the disruptive tape and the modified additional foregrip of the SLR rifle. SASR were gathering information for the Battalion Headquarters of 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR).

 

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Duc My, South Vietnam. August 1971. Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Wayne Shennon of Mt Gravatt, Qld (left), explains the intricacies of a booby trap in a mock Viet Cong village

 

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Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Duncan Strachan, 48 (right), Commanding Officer of a Night Operations Advisory Team (NOAT), at Cho Gao in South Vietnam's Delta region, has an after parade drink of Coca Cola with Bombardier (Bdr) Ron Miller, 19, who is with a Mobile Advisory Training Team (MATT) in Phuoc Tuy Province and is enjoying a drink of Victoria Bitter (VB) beer. Both are members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) and are the youngest and oldest in AATTV at the current time. Behind the right shoulder of Bdr Miller is 439150 Captain Leonard (Len) Murray Opie. The men have just attended a ceremony where the AATTV were awarded the United States Army Meritorious Unit Commendation by United States Army General, Creighton W Abrams, Commander US Military Assistance Command Vietnam (COMUSMACV). Each member of the AATTV are entitled to wear the small scarlet ribbon with gold metal frame above their AATTV patch, near the shoulder. WO2 Strachan also served in the Second World War and the Korean War.

 

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Marked with 'x' symbols in this November '65 photo are Dasher Wheatley and Butch Swanton. This is the Tra Bong A-Team in Quảng Ngãi Province under Commander of AATTV Captain Felix Fazekas (3rd from left, front row). A few days after this photo was taken Fazekas, Wheatley and Swanton accompanied a unit of the Civil Irregular Defence Group consisting mainly of indigenous highland troops on a search and destroy mission. On arrival at their designated area, Wheatley and Swanton’s group detached from the company.
Wheatley’s platoon came under enemy sniper fire from a village wounding a CIDG soldier. Swanton picked up the wounded man and and carried him to the relative safety of the jungle beyond the rice paddies. Wheatley, realising that they faced a superior force, radioed Fazekas for support. Before they could reach refuge, however, Swanton suffered a serious gunshot wound to the abdomen. Wheatley, who had been providing covering fire for Swanton, rushed to the fallen Australian. He radioed for an air strike and a medical evacuation before he began dragging him to cover.
When Wheatley stopped briefly to return fire the CIDG medic reached Swanton and bandaged his wound. Seeing the CIDG troops withdrawing to the jungle, the medic pleaded with Wheatley to leave the dying Swanton. Wheatley refused and, under heavy machine gun fire, continued to drag Swanton toward cover, around 200 metres away. When Wheatley neared the edge of the wooded area, CIDG Private Dinh Do came to assist him to some heavy undergrowth. Dinh Do also pleaded with Wheatley to leave Swanton but he again refused. When the Viet Cong were within 10 metres, Dinh Do turned and fled. As he left he saw Wheatley pulling the pins from his last two grenades, his other ammunition being exhausted. Dasher was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, Australia's highest military honour for bravery.

 

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South Vietnam. January 1968. WO2 Chris McEvoy (right), prepares to move his platoon out on patrol near Sa Huynh in Quang Ngai Province. WO2 McEvoy, a member of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), is working with the Mobile Strike Force, a reactionary unit which is part of US Special Forces. Photo by Sergeant Richard Crothers. [AWM CRO/68/0040/VN]

 

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Australians talking to a Nung sentry at Australia House (AATTV), in Quang Nam Province, Danang, South Vietnam in Sept 1965. AWM Photo DNE/65/0345/VN but has no names recorded with the photo.

 

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AATV advisors working with Mike Force.

 

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Warrant Officer 2 Keith Owen (Windy) Winbank, a member of the AATTV, and a young Vietnamese girl named Hahn from the village of Tra Bong in Quang Ngai province smile as they are photographed together at a Mobile Strike (Mike) Force camp at south Danang. When the Viet Cong attacked and attempted to overrun Hahns ' village in February 1966, US artillery shelled the approaches to the village to try to stop the attack. However, some of the shells fell short and exploded in the village, shrapnel from one hitting Hahn in the face and tearing away her nose and right eye. WO2 Winbank came across Hahn, now morose and withdrawn, when he was posted to Tra Bong later in 1966. He arranged for her to be taken to Danang where surgeons removed one of her ribs and rebuilt her nose and her eye socket for a false eye.

 

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WO2 R.M King of the AATV enjoying a beer with a local.

 

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Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Danny Burke of Salisbury, Qld, ready to move off in his jeep for another day's work in the coastal city. WO2 Burke is the administration warrant officer at Australia House, home away from home for the men of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in the northern region.