Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

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1966. Two pilots prepare to leave on a sortie, in support of the 5th and 6th Battalions, Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR & 6RAR), from Vung Tau airfield, South Vietnam. Close up in the front is 33192 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Peter Montague Middleton, Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), Air Medal (US), of Black Rock, Vic. Flt Lt Middleton has previously served in the Second World War flying in the South Pacific campaign, flying Meteors during the Korean War and now flying Iroquois helicopters in Vietnam. At the back of the cockpit is 39642 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Clifford Mitchell (Cliff) Dohle of Hughes, ACT.

 

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5 July 1966. Loading their 81mm mortar during Operation Enoggera are Private (Pte) Gordon Mears of Rockhampton, Qld (left, with bomb), and Pte Dale Misfield of Toowoomba, Qld (checking aim on the lensatic sight). Both soldiers are members of the Mortar Platoon Support Company, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). Enoggera is the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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5 July 1966. Private Dale Misfield of Toowoomba, Qld, and a member of the Mortar Platoon Support Company, 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), shelters from the blast while firing 81mm mortar on the Viet Cong, during Operation Enoggera. Enoggera is the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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25 June 1966. Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), Lieutenant Colonel C. Townsend of Ashgrove, Brisbane, Qld, leaves an Australian Army helicopter after reconnoitring a Viet Cong village during Operation Enogerra.

 

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25 June 1966. Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam. c. June 1966. Soldiers of 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), on board International MkIII GS cargo trucks lined up ready to move out of the task force base area to search the supposedly empty village of Xa Long Phuoc which was a former Viet Cong dominated village. This search and destroy operation was code-named Operation Enoggera and was carried out between 21 June to 5 July. Large amounts of rice and medical supplies were found and more than twenty tunnel complexes destroyed. (Donor W. Cox)

 

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25 June 1966. Tunnel talk between the Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), Lieutenant Colonel Colin M. Townsend of Ashgrove, Brisbane, Qld (left), and Major Warren Lennon, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, during Operation Enogerra. The engineers were given the task of exploring, mapping and demolishing a complex tunnel system found in a Viet Cong village.

 

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25 June 1966. Corporal Ross Thorburn of Floreat Park, WA (left) and Lance Corporal Ron Rockliffe of Campsie, Sydney, NSW, emerge from a Viet Cong tunnel with armloads of captured rifles during Operation Enogerra. The two soldiers, engineers from 1 Field Squadron attached to the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), for the duration of the mission, searched the tunnel system and found the arms cache after infantry had occupied a Viet Cong village.

 

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25 June 1966. Pistol packing "tunnel rat" Lance Corporal Ron Rockliffe of Campsie, NSW, prepares to drop into a tunnel system during Operation Enoggera with the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).

 

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25 June 1966. Torchlight search by 37834 Sapper (Spr) Raymond Bellinger, of Melbourne, Victoria as he crawls along a Viet Cong tunnel during Operation Enoggera. Spr Bellinger was one of a team of engineers who searched hundreds of yards of Viet Cong tunnels after the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), had occupied a Communist village.

 

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25 June 1966. "TUNNEL RAT" CORPORAL (CPL) BILL WHITFIELD, OF LIVERPOOL, NSW, EMERGES WITH HIS TORCH FROM A VIET CONG TUNNEL AFTER HAVING SEARCHED IT DURING OPERATION ENOGGERA. CPL WHITFIELD AND OTHER ARMY ENGINEERS WORKED WITH INFANTRYMEN OF THE 6TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT, (6RAR), TO SEARCH THE TUNNELS AFTER OCCUPATION OF A COMMUNIST VILLAGE.

 

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5 July 1966. Rations packs are held on Operation Enoggera for the headquarters of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), by Private Greg Rigby, 21, of Gladstone, Qld. Enoggera is the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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5 July 1966. A find, a cache of hidden Viet Cong rice, is shown to Lieutenant Colonel Townsend of Ashgrove, Brisbane, Qld (left) by Private Ron Aslan, 9 Platoon, C Company, 6 RAR, of Fremantle, WA, during Operation Enoggera, the first operation for the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).

 

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5 July 1966. Scooping up rice in a hidden Viet Cong cache is Corporal Mal Black, 9 Platoon, C Company, 6 RAR, of West End, Brisbane, Qld, during Operation Enoggera, the first operation for the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).

 

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5 July 1966. Rice from a newly discovered Viet Cong cache is shown to Private John Bartrim, Company Signaller, 6 RAR, of Ayr, Qld (left), by Major Brian McFarlane, Officer Commanding C Company, 6 RAR, of Kingsgrove, Sydney, NSW during the first operation, Operation Enoggera. Both soldiers are serving with the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).

 

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5 July 1966. Bagging rice from a newly discovered Viet Cong cache by 2781668 Lance Corporal Eric (Rick) Bensley of Ariah Park, NSW (left), and Second Lieutenant Stewart Penny, Platoon Coomander, 9 Platoon, C Company, 6 RAR, of Roseville, Sydney, NSW. Both soldiers are serving with the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), during Operation Enoggera, the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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5 July 1966. Soldiers with the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), removing rice from a newly discovered rice cache on Operation Enoggera, the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong. Identified are: Lance Corporal Bill Allender of Manning WA and Corporal Geoff "Mousie" Robinson of Mudgee, NSW, members of 8 Platoon C Company, 6 RAR.

 

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5 July 1966. Examining a Viet Cong rice cache discovered outside a deserted village during Operation Enoggera, the battalion's first operation, is Private Neil Reeve of Huon, Tas, a member of 9 Platoon, C Company, the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). They found a tunnel system, and many hidden rice caches.

 

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5 July 1966. Helping to stack bags of rice recovered from a hidden Viet Cong cache is 55186 Private Ronald Francis (Ron) Aslan of Fremantle, Perth, WA (left). Private Aslan is a member of 9 Platoon, C Company, the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). Operation 'Enoggera' was the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong. They discoveres a tunnel system and many rice caches.

 

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5 July 1966. Scraping out the bottom of a newly discovered Viet Cong rice cache is Lance Corporal Bob "Vic" Morrow of Kangaloon, NSW. Bob is serving with 9 Platoon, C Company, the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). He is taking part in Operation Enoggera, the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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5 July 1966. Bagging rice from a newly discovered Viet Cong cache is Private (Pte) Bill Allender of Manning, Perth, WA, and of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), and Pte Bill Warren of Oakleigh, Melbourne, Vic, and of 5RAR (right). Both soldiers were taking part in Operation Enoggera first operation against the Viet Cong for 6RAR.