Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1967-12. 2782252 Private Joe Maiurano of Chester Hill, NSW, and A Company, 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR), decorates a rubber tree with Christmas decorations and a fold-out version of Santa Claus.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-12. Newly arrived members of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), preparing their base camp for the Christmas season. Private John Carter of Wyalla, SA (left), and Lance Corporal Warren Bartlett of Arncliffe, NSW, putting final decorations to a rubber tree outside their tent.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-12. Newly arrived members of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), preparing their base camp for the Christmas season. Private John Barnes of Mullewa, WA (left), and Lance Corporal John Phillips of Coleraine, Vic, putting final decorations to a rubber tree outside their tent.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967-12. Newly arrived members of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), preparing their base camp for the Christmas season. Private Bob Green of Cairns, Qld (left), and Private David McKenzie of Launceston, Tas, putting final decorations to a rubber tree outside their tent.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-01. Australian troops from the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base leave aboard an M113 armoured personnel carrier (APC). The troops were engaged in an operation against the Viet Cong. Note the picture of a kangaroo painted on the APC to the left and the word `Westland'.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-01. Australian troops from the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base leave aboard an M113 armoured personnel carrier (APC). The troops were engaged on an operation against the Viet Cong. Note the number 30A on the back of one of the APCs and the Army jeep at right.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-01. Private George Skell of Georgetown, Tas (left) placing a snake in a glass jar, to add to the collection at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base. With him is Corporal Bob Richards of Ermington, NSW. Both are members of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR).

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-02. Dozens of Viet Cong (VC) mines, mortar bombs and hand grenades were exploded at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base by Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Brett Nolan of Tocumwal, NSW (left), an expert on enemy weapons. SSgt Nolan and Sergeant Dave Poulton of Armidale, NSW, examine a wheelbarrow of VC explosives before the detonation. Both soldiers are members of the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE).

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-02. Warrant Officer Class 1 Darryl Erickson of Gaythorne, Qld (right), carrying a load of enemy explosives to a fellow engineer at a demolition site. Dozens of captured Viet Cong mines, mortar bombs and hand grenades were exploded at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-03. As US Army Iroquois helicopters swoop in to pick up members of 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), from the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base, Private Doug Poole of Athol Park, SA, maintains radio contact with the pilots. The troops were being lifted south of the Task Force Base to the Long Hai Hills, where Operation Pinnaroo was underway.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1968-03. Troops from 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), move into waiting US Army Iroquois helicopters at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base. They were lifted south of the base to the Long Hai Hills where Operation Pinnaroo was underway.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1966-06-18. Private Tony Purcell of Mansfield, Vic, and the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), baling water out of his weapon pit in the task force base after a heavy storm as his comrade mans the machine-gun. The Battalion is digging in on its first operation as the monsoon season, with daily deluges of rain, moves into Vietnam.

 

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Vietnam. 1966-11-28. Viet Cong (VC) who tried to hold up the advance of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), in their jungle stronghold east of Task Force base Nui Dat, were quickly suppressed. A soldier searching through the effects of a dead VC who tried to set a claymore type mine for the Australians. The body of the dead man lies on the left.

 

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1970. Nui Dat, South Vietnam. November 1970. Corporal Arthur Wallis, 21, of Preston, Vic, sharpening a knife in preparation for carving the three prime hams he has prepared for Christmas. He is one of 200 Army cooks who have been sharpening their wits, and their knives, to give Australian troops in Vietnam a slap-up Christmas lunch and dinner.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. January 1971. Craftsman Dennis Norman, 23, of Young, NSW, an amateur magician, serving as a national servicemen in Vietnam, staged a show at a party for Vietnamese children of the staff at the new Jungle Warfare Training Centre. Craftsman Norman is seen here performing a trick using playing cards, while four children look on intently.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967. Craftsman Alex Mitchell of Dunedoo, NSW, checks a model of a Cessna 182 that members of the 161st (Independent) Reconnaissance Flight based at Luscombe Field, have been making between operations. The plane has a 6ft 4in wingspan and is 4ft 10in long.

 

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Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1967. Farewells are said and the new chaplain welcomed to the All Saints Club, Parish Church, 1st Australian Task Force Headquarters. Paying respects at the change over service are, left to right, Captain Ian Wells of Cottesloe, WA, Corporal Mal Elliott of Alexandria, NSW, the new padre, Major Jack Gardiner of Holsworthy, NSW, the departing chaplain, Major E. D. Bennett of Moorebank, NSW, Private 1st Class Albert Tapo of Colorado, USA, and Gunner Mervyn Smith of Burwood, NSW.

 

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Vietnam. 1967. Wireless communications are vital for troops based at the Horseshoe, a strongly fortified outpost east of the 1st Australian Task Force Headquarters at Nui Dat. Looking out of the underground command post are Private Colin Lucht of Guildford, NSW (left), and Private Harvey Cook of Swansea, NSW. Both men are from 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR).

 

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South Vietnam. 1967. Sappers from the 17th Construction Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), drill for water at the Horseshoe, an extinct 100ft volcano which has been heavily fortified, east of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Headquarters at Nui Dat, in Phuoc Tuy Province. Here they operate the only drilling rig of its type used by military units in Vietnam.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. 1967. The biggest king cobra killed by Australian troops is the claim of these men of the 1st Australian Reinforcement Unit. To give some idea of the size, it takes about eight Australian diggers standing shoulder to shoulder to fill the gap from the snake's head to its tail. The snake was caught and killed in a running night battle when it moved in on the occupants of a four-man tent.