Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

[guest0001]

At the boundary of the 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier (1APC) Squadron 2 Troop lines at Nui Dat, men of 1APC Squadron gather for an informal portrait. Identified left to right: 5713726 Trooper William Gloucester (Bill) 'Boss' Smith (crouching down), 1731106 Trooper John Joseph Delacey, 216502 Trooper Douglas Thomas (Doug) Lennox, 16666 Trooper William Gordon (Bill) Gelhaar, 214560 Sergeant Francis Alan 'Frank' Graham, 6708256 Trooper Paul Nicholas Macmichael, and 3786944 Trooper Anthony (Tony) John Welsh.

 

[guest0001]

Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. May 1971. A section of soldiers from C Company, 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) taking part in the battalion's final operation in Vietnam before returning to Australia later in the month. Carrying the section's M60 machine gun is Private (Pte) Ray Beattie (left) of St Kilda, Vic. Other members of the section are spread out to his left. The soldier closest to Pte Beattie is carrying a 7.62 mm Self Loading Rifle (SLR) and also a belt of ammunition for the M60 machine gun.

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Nui Dat, South Vietnam. 1969-06. Lance Corporal Bob Allen of Parkes, NSW, pauses after thirstily gulping his first cool drink in days. He had just returned to the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) Base in Phuoc Tuy Province after a patrol with the 3rd Squadron, Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment. Note his camouflaged face.

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Soldier in the background right appears to have a 30+ round mag on his 7.62mm SLR.

 

[gafkiwi]

Soldier in the background right appears to have a 30+ round mag on his 7.62mm SLR.

Its most likely a 30rd mag off an L4 (7.62mm Bren). It was a reasonably common practice.

 

[guest0001]

Corporal (Cpl) Peter Edward (Pete) Clements, 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron, sits on top of an APC on the deck of HMAS Sydney (en route to Vung Tau). Cpl Clements died on 27 August 1966, aged 21, from wounds received at the Battle of Long Tan.

Original description and photo sourced by www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1193356

 

[guest0001]

Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. 9 March 1970. A rifle was an extra burden for machine gunner Private (Pte) Paul McGrath of Orange, NSW, who was sharing the load of a soldier who had collapsed from the heat. Pte McGrath, a member of B Company, 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR), was taking part in the battalion's first operation only ten days after the battalion arrived on the troopship HMAS Sydney for its second tour of duty in the war zone. Codenamed Finschhafen, the operation took place east of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base at Nui Dat.

Original description and photo sourced by: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C325319

 

[guest0001]

A long refreshing drink from a water bottle as Private (Pte) Paul Large, 12 Platoon, D Company, 6 RAR, of Coolah, NSW, pauses during digging in on Operation Enoggera, the first mission by the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), against the Viet Cong. Pte Large was later killed in action on 18 August 1966 at Long Tan.

Original description and photo sourced by: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C310914

 

[guest0001]

Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. 24 August 1967. Soldiers from the Mortar Platoon of 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR), in the village of Dat Do during Operation Burnside. Left to right: 374177 Lieutenant David Tresise; 55235 Captain (Capt) H. D. Clively; unknown. Capt Clively, before he was commissioned, was the first Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of 7RAR.

Original description and photo sourced by: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C336162

 

[guest0001]

Remembering the Angels of the Vietnam War
The nurses who took part in the Vietnam War were employed at 1st Australian Field Hospital in Vung Tau, South Vietnam and their presence was a great morale booster for the New Zealand troops. Captain Daphne Shaw was awarded the ARRC (Royal Red Cross 2nd Class) for her services in Vietnam.
A New Zealand (civil) Surgical Team worked at the Provincial Hospital at Qui Nhon, South Vietnam from 1965 and had a number of Territorial Force nurses among their staff. One of them, Lesley Cowper died in Vietnam on 2 May 1966.



Claire Jacobson (1940-2007) was a New Zealand nurse from the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps based at the 1st Australian Field Hospital in Vung Tau

Jacqueline Steevens was Chief Nurse with the New Zealand Surgical Team at Qui Nhon, May 1965–April 1967. The sticker on her uniform — 'clean sweet pure' — was off a drink bottle.

Assistant Superintendent Avis Wilkes in Vietnam, circa 1971.

Nurse Leonie Bowden (née Clent) pictured at the New Zealand Red Cross base in Pleiku, South Vietnam, circa 1974-1975

Lesley Estelle Cowper served as a nurse with the New Zealand (Civilian) Surgical Team in Qui Nhon. She became seriously ill after contracting tuberculosis and died in a Saigon hospital on 2 May 1966.

Isabel Harris (nee Beaumont) distributes gifts to a soldier at BMH Changi in Singapore, circa 1970-1971.

 

[guest0001]

A group of soldiers from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) and the Australian Army Assistance Group Vietnam (AAAGV) gathering at the Tan Son Nhut airport to return to Australia. The decision of the newly elected Australian Labor Government to withdraw the last of the Australian troops from South Vietnam resulted in soldiers from the AATTV and the AAAGV departing from Vietnam in two RAAF C-130 aircraft on 18 December 1972.

Original description and photo sourced by www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1093907

 

[guest0001]

Escorted by officers of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), General (Gen) William Childs Westmoreland, Commander US Military Assistance Command Vietnam, pays a farewell visit to Australian troops in Bien Hoa province. The Australians had inflicted heavy casualties on a Viet Cong force which had attempted to overrun Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral and FSB Balmoral in north west Bien Hoa province only hours before Gen Westmoreland's visit. Left to right: 335116 Major Anthony William Hammett; Gen Westmoreland; and Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Harvey Bennett, Commander 1RAR.

Original description and photo sourced by:
www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1137578

 

[guest0001]

Portrait of two Australian soldiers attached to the tracking team, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR), with their black Labrador tracking dogs. Identified left to right: 1411134 Private (Pte) Denis Reginald Ferguson with dog Marcus and 43952 Pte Peter Haran with dog D6N03 Caesar. Both men are armed with 5.56 mm M16A1 automatic rifles and have just completed a patrol. Pte Ferguson served in South Vietnam with 2RAR from 1967 to 1968 and again from 1970 to 1971.Pte Haran served in South Vietnam with 2RAR from 1967 to 1968 and again with 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) during 1971. Dog Marcus served with 2RAR and 4th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (4RAR) and his fate is unknown. Dog Caesar served with 2RAR, 4RAR, 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) and 9th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (9RAR). He was retired to the British embassy in Saigon in July 1970.

Original description and photo sourced by:
www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1158908

 

[guest0001]

Members of 9 Section, 3 Platoon, A Company, 6 RAR. Identified left toright: 2781995 Pte Bernd Wolfgang (Bernie) Wesiak; unidentified; 17808 Corporal Wladyslaw (Wally) Sokoluk; 38698 Pte John Knowles; 2781935 Private Hilton John (Joe or Jock) Dolsen; 2781921 Pte Laurence John (Laurie) Doyle.

Original description and photo sourced by: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1176433

 

[BravoZulu]

Trooper Rhett Peacock of 2nd Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) gives a friendly 'Gday mate' to the photographer, Donald Barnby. Vietnam War, 1971.

Photo by the Australian War Memorial.

 

[BravoZulu]

'Roadrunner' is a named Recoilless Rifle vehicle that was operated by members of 9 RAR Anti-Tank Section in Vietnam, 1969. 'Roadrunner' was used not as an anti-tank weapon, but for convoy escort and as a direct fire infantry support weapon for patrols around the perimeter of Nui Dat and fire support bases.

Photo by the Australian War Memorial.

 

[digrar]

Portrait of 1735077 Lance Corporal Stephen Sanderson, 85th Transport Platoon, Royal Australian Army Service Corps, (RAASC), at Fire Support Base Le Loi. He is holding an M79, 40 mm grenade launcher. Australian troops often referred to this weapon as a wombat gun.

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A friend of the family was in 85 Transport Platoon at the time when this pic was taken.

At the Kangaroo Pad at the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) base, soldiers of 7RAR (Royal Australian Regiment) wait to board helicopters to commence Operation Finschhafen, the battalion's first operation of its second tour of duty in Vietnam. The men are fully armed and some have their faces smeared with camouflage paint. The soldier in the foreground is Private 55645 John Joseph Smith of 5 Platoon, B Company 7RAR from Cottesloe Western Australia. He is armed with an M72 66mm Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW). This weapon was not used after this initial operation because soldiers found it too difficult to move through dense vegetation with it slung across their back.

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5 Platoon, on the first tour, probably had one of the most iconic pictures taken of Australian diggers during the war. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C195204

Its most likely a 30rd mag off an L4 (7.62mm Bren). It was a reasonably common practice.

Probably more so in SASR.

Portrait of two Australian soldiers attached to the tracking team, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR), with their black Labrador tracking dogs. Identified left to right: 1411134 Private (Pte) Denis Reginald Ferguson with dog Marcus and 43952 Pte Peter Haran with dog D6N03 Caesar. Both men are armed with 5.56 mm M16A1 automatic rifles and have just completed a patrol. Pte Ferguson served in South Vietnam with 2RAR from 1967 to 1968 and again from 1970 to 1971.Pte Haran served in South Vietnam with 2RAR from 1967 to 1968 and again with 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) during 1971. Dog Marcus served with 2RAR and 4th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (4RAR) and his fate is unknown. Dog Caesar served with 2RAR, 4RAR, 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) and 9th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (9RAR). He was retired to the British embassy in Saigon in July 1970.

Original description and photo sourced by:
www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1158908

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Peter Haran wrote a series of books around the turn of the century. His one on the tracking dogs is bloody brilliant and worth tracking down.


Trackers: The Untold Story of the Australian Dogs of War By: Peter Haran Published: October 2000 ISBN: 9781864366051
Crossfire Australian Reconnaissance Unit in Vietnam By: Peter Haran, Robert Kearney Published: April 2001 ISBN: 9781864367218
Flashback : Echoes from a Hard War By: Peter Haran, Robert Kearney Published: April 2003 ISBN: 9781741100006
Shockwave Australian Combat Helicopter Crew in Vietnam By: Peter Haran Published: April 2004 ISBN: 9781741100457

 

[morris]

HMAS Sydney (the "Vung Tau Ferry"), aerobics

 

[TheKiwi]

...

Peter Haran wrote a series of books around the turn of the century. His one on the tracking dogs is bloody brilliant and worth tracking down.
...

I see what you you did there. ?

 

[guest0001]

Australia. 14 February 1969. Sister Dianne Lawrence, 23, of Killara, NSW (left), and Sister Patricia Yorke, 22, of Camp Hill, Qld, check out their tropical uniforms before departing for Vietnam to join other Army nursing sisters at the 1st Australian Field Hospital in Vung Tau. The two sisters will increase the nursing staff at the hospital to eight. Sister Yorke was trained at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane and the Queen Victoria Hospital at Launceston, Tasmania. Sister Lawrence was trained at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. Both women have been in the Army for 11 months.
Please review individual photos for descriptions

Original descriptions and photos sourced by: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C325786


Terrie Ross secures a sling on an Australian soldier at the 8th Field Ambulance, Vung Tau. Photo: Dennis Stanley Gibbons

VIETNAM, 1967. GROUP OF NURSES OF 8TH FIELD AMBULANCE. LEFT TO RIGHT, LIEUTENANT COLLEEN MEALY, LIEUTENANT MARGARET AHERN, CAPTAIN AMY PITTENDREIGH, LIEUTENANT TERRI ROCHE. THEY WERE THE FIRST GROUP OF AUSTRALIAN ARMY NURSES TO ARRIVE IN VIETNAM IN MAY 1967. (AWM Photo)

 

[guest0001]

Unidentified members of 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), inspecting a deactivated anti personnel mine (lower left) which was placed near a jungle trail by the VC. According to a newspaper report published in the Sydney SUN, on 30 November 1966, these soldiers made contact with a single VC fighter, who immediately dropped his weapon (a Mosin Nagant Model 1944 carbine) and ran to detonate an anti personnel mine from a remote location. The photographer Sean Flynn, who was travelling with the Australian patrol, began to photograph the unfolding event when he discovered the mine (partially visible left, foreground) which was wired and ready to detonate. Flynn shouted "Claymore!" whereupon the patrol leader raced to the mine, ripping out the wiring before the VC could detonate it.
Original description and photos sourced from:
www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1193250