Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

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25 June 1966. Alert patrol moves into a Viet Cong village during the first operation carried out by troops of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). The patrol, part of Operation Enoggera, is led by Private (Pte) Brian Firth of Grafton, NSW, armed with an M60 machine gun, and Pte Colin Brown of Holland Park, Brisbane, Qld, followed by Pte Les "Shorty" Vine of Sydney, NSW, followed by Pte Peter Jamison, all members of 10 Platoon, D Coy 6RAR.

 

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5 July 1966. Lance Corporal (L Cpl) Eric Bensley of Ariah Park, NSW, lights a cigarette for Lance Corporal Frank Parker of Nimmitabel, NSW (right), during Operation Enoggera. Both soldiers are serving with C Company, the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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5 July 1966. Private Rodney Rowe of Mackay, Qld, and of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), samples a bunch of "captured" bananas from a plantation near a Viet Cong village during Operation Enoggera.

 

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5 July 1966. Private Jim Barrett, 20, of Inala, Brisbane, Qld (left), and Pte Tim Whelan of North Balwyn, Melbourne, Vic, watch Corporal Jim Gurney of Stafford, Brisbane, Qld, play a stringed musical instrument during Operation Enoggera, the first operation against the Viet Cong. All are members of C Company, the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).

 

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5 July 1966. Souvenir from Operation Enoggera is a Viet Cong jungle hammock, discovered by Private Hedley Stewart of Irymple, near Mildura, Vic, and a member of 9 Platoon, C Company, the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). Operation Enoggera is the battalion's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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June 1966. Craftsman George Jenkins ejects a shell from an M17 rifle as he evaluates it. The weapon is American, old, dating back to World War 1, was captured from the Viet Cong during the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), Operation Enoggera.

 

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5 July 1966. Two-nation co-operation in the air as an American Iroquois and an Australian Army Sioux helicopter land at a bush clearing to carry out command tasks for the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), during their first mission, Operation Enoggera.

 

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Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam. June 1966. Soldiers of 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), rest during Operation Enoggera, a search and destroy operation in the supposedly empty village of Xa Long Phuoc which was a former Viet Cong dominated village. Operation Enoggera was carried out between 21 June to 5 July with large quantities of rice and medical supplies being found and more than twenty tunnel complexes destroyed. (Donor W. Cox)

 

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25 June 1966. Xa Long Phuoc, Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam. c. June 1966. A large cache of rice in bags found in the village of Xa Long Phuoc where 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), were conducting a search and destroy operation. The people had been moved out earlier from the former Viet Cong dominated village. Operation Enoggera was carried out between 21 June to 5 July with large quantities of rice and medical supplies found and more than twenty tunnel complexes destroyed. Note the wire netting to prevent birds and squirrels damaging the rice.

 

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25 June 1966. Xa Long Phuoc, Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam. c. June 1966. A small building, probably a temple, stands in the village of Xa Long Phuoc where 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), were conducting a search and destroy operation. The people had been moved out earlier from the former Viet Cong dominated village. Operation Enoggera was carried out between 21 June to 5 July with large quantities of rice and medical supplies found and more than twenty tunnel complexes destroyed.

 

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The Village of Long Phuoc (bottom of map) was located within 'Line Alpha', 2000 metres south west of the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat.

 

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6RAR boarding United States Chinook helicopters.

 

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Into action go troops of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), as they make their first assault landing from American Chinook Helicopters in South Vietnam. The Battalion pushed out from a landing zone and dug in in hostile territory on their first operation, against the Viet Cong.

 

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Vietnam. 1966-06-18. Diggers of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), move across a rice paddy during their first operation against the Communist Viet Cong.

 

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Vietnam. 1966-06-18. Heads down for safety as American Iroquois helicopter lifts off behind diggers of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), after the first airborne assault landing.

 

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Vietnam. 1966-06-18. Lance Corporal Colin Lithgow of Belfield, NSW, was helped from the landing zone by Private John Hedges of Footscray, Vic (left) and Corporal Ron Nichols of Parramatta, NSW, after he sprained his ankle while jumping from a helicopter during the first airborne assault landing by the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR). Lithgow of D Coy 6RAR was later killed by a CHICOM mine while on Operation Ingham on 1966-12-22.

 

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Nui Dat, Vietnam. June 1966. Two soldiers from 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR) begin to set up living quarters amongst the rubber trees of a young plantation, an area used for the base camp for 6RAR.

 

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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. 1966-06-18. Private Jeff Darby of Bunbury, WA, and the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), shovels dirt as he digs a weapon pit in a rubber plantation, on 6RAR's first operation against the Viet Cong.

 

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Vietnam. 1966-06-18. Private Brian Burke of Charters Towers, Qld, mans an M60 machine gun to defend the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), against surprise attack by the Viet Cong as it digs in during its first operation.