Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

[uktabber]

HA, that is great!! Digger (GI) ingenuity.....how cool finding the old French car in the jungle and getting it running!! Bravo mates!

 

[digrar]

The main industry in the area around where the Australian Task Force was located was the French Courtenay Rubber Plantation, which was the location of the Battle of Long Tan. I'm under the impression that French cars were fairly common after the colonisation, but with a French Business in the area as well, the boys were much more likely to find a Citroen there than a 32 Ford.

 

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A soldier of Co 'B', 2 RAR, takes a break during a search and clear operation to read a letter from home. Photo taken: August 1970

Source: PFC Laszlo Kondor / The National Archives

 

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PHUOC TUY PROVINCE, SOUTH VIETNAM. 18 FEBRUARY 1970. PRIVATE LES COOGINS, 26, OF TOOWOOMBA, QLD, MOVES WARILY THROUGH THE JUNGLE NEAR A VIET CONG (VC) BUNKER SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN PHUOC TUY PROVINCE DURING OPERATION HAMERSLEY. LES WAS CARRYING OUT A RECONNAISSANCE BEFORE HIS UNIT, B COMPANY OF 8TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (8RAR), MOVED IN TO CHECK OUT AND DESTROY THE BUNKERS SITUATED ...IN THE LONG HAI MOUNTAINS. THE AREA WAS THE SCENE OF A BITTER FIGHT BETWEEN TROOPS OF THE 1ST AUSTRALIAN TASK FORCE (1ATF) AND AN ESTIMATED HARD-CORE COMPANY OF VC ON 15 FEBRUARY 1970. FOR DAYS THE MOUNTAINS WERE POUNDED BY AIR-STRIKES, INCLUDING A RAID BY GIANT B-52 BOMBER AIRCRAFT, NAVAL BOMBARDMENT BY HMAS VENDETTA AND ARTILLERY FIRE.

Source: awm.gov.au/collection/C36808 See More

 

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Vietnam War. Phuoc Tuy Province. 21 February 1970. Sapper Colin Heley of Liverpool, NSW, an engineer from the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), clambers out of a cave in the Long Hai Hills after finding a cache of rocket-propelled grenades which were added to a large pile of weapons and ammunition found during a sweep of the mountains by 8th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (8RAR) during Operation Hammersley. Photo by Sergeant John Fairley.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C36808

 

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FOUR INFANTRYMEN RUSH AN INJURED MATE TO A WAITING HELICOPTER FOR EVACUATION FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT AT THE 1ST AUSTRALIAN FIELD HOSPITAL, VUNG TAU. 56010 PRIVATE P. J. JOHNSTONE, FROM THE 8TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (8RAR), WAS HIT ON THE HEAD BY A FALLING TREE BRANCH DURING OPERATION PETRIE, SEARCHING FOR VIET CONG BUNKER HIDEOUTS. FROM LEFT, THOSE VISIBLE, CARRYING THE STRETCHER ARE CORPORAL LINDSAY CRAIG, 22, OF BROOKTON, WA, PRIVATE MERVYN RYAN, 22, OF EIGHT MILE PLAINS, QLD, AND 219497 PRIVATE DOUG JOHNSTON, 23, OF EARLWOOD, NSW.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C36733

 

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2790965 Private Peter Lawrence Simpson of Narrandera, NSW, leads Vietnamese soldiers on patrol through dense jungle in a combined Australian-Vietnamese operation. It was a shakedown operation for a Vietnamese battalion which had been retrained by members of B Company, 6RAR /NZ (ANZAC) (The ANZAC Battalion comprising 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment and a component from the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment). Elements of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) now have retrained three Vietnamese battalions of the 18th Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Division.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C321452

 

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Gnr Rangi Fitzgerald, 161 Battery, poses with a M60 general-purpose machine gun while on picket duty in Vietnam, circa 1970-1971.

Original description and photograph sourced by: vietnamwar.govt.nz/veteran/gnr-cr-fitzgerald

 

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Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. May 1970. Gazing tensely at the ground below as a 'chopper' (helicopter) inserts them in their patrol zone are Trooper (Tpr) John Pile of Newtown, NSW (left), and 1200111 Sergeant John (Jack) Gebhardt of Mount Yokine, WA of 1 Squadron, Special Air Services (SAS). Note the M16 rifle carried by Tpr Pile has an MX148 grenade launcher fitted under the barrel, and that all rifles have a modified flash suppressor on the end of the muzzle.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C326979

 

[digrar]

PHUOC TUY PROVINCE, SOUTH VIETNAM. 18 FEBRUARY 1970. PRIVATE LES COOGINS, 26, OF TOOWOOMBA, QLD, MOVES WARILY THROUGH THE JUNGLE NEAR A VIET CONG (VC) BUNKER SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN PHUOC TUY PROVINCE DURING OPERATION HAMERSLEY. LES WAS CARRYING OUT A RECONNAISSANCE BEFORE HIS UNIT, B COMPANY OF 8TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (8RAR), MOVED IN TO CHECK OUT AND DESTROY THE BUNKERS SITUATED ...IN THE LONG HAI MOUNTAINS. THE AREA WAS THE SCENE OF A BITTER FIGHT BETWEEN TROOPS OF THE 1ST AUSTRALIAN TASK FORCE (1ATF) AND AN ESTIMATED HARD-CORE COMPANY OF VC ON 15 FEBRUARY 1970. FOR DAYS THE MOUNTAINS WERE POUNDED BY AIR-STRIKES, INCLUDING A RAID BY GIANT B-52 BOMBER AIRCRAFT, NAVAL BOMBARDMENT BY HMAS VENDETTA AND ARTILLERY FIRE.

Source: awm.gov.au/collection/C36808 See More

OC Bravo Company was Major Michael Jeffery, who went on to be CO SASR, he had a long 7 year stint as Governor of Westerna Australia and another long 7 year stint as the Governor General of Australia. He also went to the same High School as @digrar something I'm probably more aware of than he is...

 

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South Vietnam. March 1971. Setting up a Claymore mine during an operation is Private Brian Wruck of the Gold Coast, Qld. He is a member of the 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). The words `front toward enemy' are stamped on the mine.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C325055

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1970-06. Aboriginal serviceman Corporal Vincent Roberts of Rockhampton, Qld, a member of 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), based on Route 15, is training a South Vietnamese bushman scout in the art of weapon handling with the M60 machine gun. 2RAR has set up road blocks to check vehicles and travellers for suspected Viet Cong and draft-dodgers.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C235365

 

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Battalion arrival 7th Battalion, RAR at Vung Tau Special Zone.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1180536

 

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Terry Hughes served with 161 Battery, RNZA in Vietnam, 1966-1967. In charge of the battery's No. 1 gun, he was at Nui Dat during the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966. Sadly, Terry passed away in July 2013.

https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/photo/terry-hughes

 

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Pte Dennis Griffin (left) and Pte Norman Booker (top) in Vietnam, 1967-1968. Norman Booker was M60 No. 2 with 4 Platoon, Victor 2 Company, 2RAR and 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion.

Source: https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-06. Outside the tent office of the senior member of the Military Police (MP) is the Provost Marshal, the Australian Army's top military policeman, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Seaton of Canberra, ACT (centre), checking the merits of the lightweight American M16 Armalite rifle which is used by MPs in the war zone. With him is Corporal John O'Leary of Indooroopilly, Qld (left), and Corporal Doug Emblem of Townsville, Qld. Both are members of the Australian Task Force Military Police detachment.

Source: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C312790

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. September 1971. Corporal Jeff Estreich of Mullimbimby, NSW, signals the directions to be followed as he leads his infantry section out through the barbed wire perimeter of the 1st Australian Task Force Base (1ATF) at Nui Dat. Still negotiating the defensive obstacle were Private (Pte) Wayne Warren of Natone, Tas, the section's machine gunner; Pte Graham Miller of North Cott...esloe, WA (partly obscured); Lance Corporal Bob Nugent of Cairns, Qld, the sections second-in-command; and 3799722 Pte Cees Mostaard of Northcote, Vic. The men were commencing a patrol with the 1st Australian Reinforcement Unit just a few days before leaving the unit and transferring to the battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR).

Description and photograph sourced by: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C327017

 

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South Vietnam. June 1970. A soldier from 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR) keeps watch while on patrol in the jungle during Operation Cung Chung.

Source: ww.awm.gov.au/collection/C339537

 

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Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. 9 March 1970. A forward scout has reported sighting a fire in the jungle and Sergeant Doug Fieldhouse of Fairfield, NSW, quickly moves to get a better look. He is the mortar fire controller with 5 Platoon, B Company, 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR). The battalion was on its first operation, codenamed Finschhafen, after arriving in Vietnam aboard the HMAS Sydney for its second tour of duty in the war zone.

Original description and photograph sourced by: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C325329

 

[digrar]

View attachment 238836

Note the Skippy badge on the brim. We ran that way through to the early 1990s when it was replaced with the rising sun badge, with Corps and Regiment badges being placed at the front pinned to the pugaree.