Photos Aussies and Kiwi's in Vietnam

[guest0001]

28 May 1968. Surrounded by Australians, wounded North Vietnamese prisoners lie on makeshift stretchers and wait to be evacuated from Balmoral.

 

[guest0001]

28 May 1968. BIEN HOA PROVINCE, SOUTH VIETNAM. 1968-05. BLINDFOLDED NORTH VIETNAMESE SOLDIERS CAPTURED AFTER HEAVY FIGHTING AT FIRE SUPPORT BASE (FSB) BALMORAL IN BIEN HOA PROVINCE AWAIT HELICOPTERS TO TAKE THEM FROM THE BATTLE AREA. TROOPS FROM THE 3RD BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (3RAR), REPULSED AN ESTIMATED TWO BATTALIONS OF NORTH VIETNAMESE SOLDIERS WHO STORMED THE BASE FOR FOUR HOURS. FORTY-EIGHT ENEMY BODIES WERE FOUND AFTER THE FIGHTING ENDED. Photographer Richard William

 

[guest0001]

28 May 1968. A wounded North Vietnamese soldier lies on an improvised stretcher of branches lashed together at Fire Support Base (FSB) Balmoral in Bien Hoa Province, after a fierce battle on 28 May, 1968, between troops of the 3 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), and an estimated two enemy battalions. Six North Vietnamese soldiers were captured after the action and at least forty eight were killed when they hit the Australian base with mortars and rockets and followed up with a ground attack. Note the helicopter in the background probably to evacuate the wounded.

 

[guest0001]

28 May 1968. Blindfolded North Vietnamese soldiers captured after heavy fighting at Fire Support Base (FSB) Balmoral in Bien Hoa Province wait to board a helicopter to take them from the battle area. Troops from the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), repulsed an estimated two battalions of North Vietnamese soldiers who stormed the base for four hours. Forty-eight enemy bodies were found after the fighting ended.

 

[guest0001]

28 May 1968. Bodies of two North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers with discarded weapons, including an AK47 assault rifle and RPG-2 (rocket-propelled grenade) launchers and projectiles. The NVA dead lie just outside the wire of FSB Balmoral in front of the positions held by two Centurion tanks CS32 and CS32C of 2 Troop, C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment.

 

[guest0001]

28 May 1968. Bien Hoa province, Vietnam. The dead bodies of about nine North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) lie sprawled in and beside a bomb crater in front of FSB Balmoral, after they were killed by a bomb dropped by a United States Air Force (USAF) B52 bomber. (Donor G. Murray)

 

[guest0001]

3RAR Command Post in the background at FSPB Balmoral. Photo supplied by Bobby Ellis [May 1968]

 

[guest0001]

3RAR Command Post at FSPB Balmoral. Supply by Tom Spring [May 1968]

 

[guest0001]

Huey being loaded at FSPB Balmoral. You can see them loading the two captured NVA two bikes! Photo supplied by Gordon Sanderson [May 1968]

 

[guest0001]

Gordon Robertson at FSPB Balmoral. Photo supplied by Gordon Sanderson [May 1968]

 

[guest0001]

FSPB Balmoral. Photo supplied by Gordon Sanderson [June 1968]

 

[guest0001]

Enemy fired mortar fin at FSPB Balmoral. Supply by Tom Spring [May 1968]

 

[guest0001]

17 May 1968. The Commander, US Military Assistance Command, General William C. Westmoreland (left), speaks with Private E (Ted) Farrands of Bellevue, WA (right), a member of 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), during operations in Bien Hoa Province. General Westmoreland was making a farewell visit to Australians who had inflicted heavy casualties on a Viet Cong force which attempted to overrun Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral and FSB Balmoral.

 

[guest0001]

Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam. 1968-05. The Commander, US Military Assistance Command, General William C. Westmoreland, meets Major Geoff Cameron of Downer, ACT, intelligence officer for the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF). General Westmoreland made a farewell visit to Australians who had inflicted heavy casualties on a Viet Cong force which attempted to overrun Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral and FSB Balmoral. Note the armoured personnel carrier (APC) in the background.

 

[guest0001]

Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam. 1968-05. General William C. Westmoreland, Commander, US Military Assistance Command (left), speaks with the Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), Lieutenant Colonel Jim Shelton of Inverbrackie, SA, during operations in Bien Hoa Province. General Westmoreland was making a farewell visit to members of the Australian Task Force, who, only a few hours earlier, had been attacked by the Viet Cong at Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral and FSB Balmoral. Behind them is a Centurion tank of the 1st Armoured Regiment, Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC), which is supporting the Task Force.

 

[guest0001]

Bien Hoa Province, South Vietnam. 1968-05. The Commander, Military Assistance Command Vietnam, General William C. Westmoreland (left), speaks with the Commander, 1st Australian Task Force, Brigadier Ron Hughes, during Operation Toan Thang. General Westmoreland paid a quick visit to Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral, about twenty five miles north-west of Saigon, after the Australians had driven back the Viet Cong attacks on the base on 1968-05-13 and 1968-05-16.

 

[guest0001]

BIEN HOA PROVINCE, 1968-05. THE COMMANDER, MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND VIETNAM, GENERAL WILLIAM C. WESTMORELAND (CENTRE), SPEAKS WITH THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE 1ST BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (1RAR), LIEUTENANT COLONEL PHILLIP BENNETT, DURING OPERATION TOAN THANG. GENERAL WESTMORELAND PAID A QUICK VISIT TO FIRE SUPPORT BASE (FSB) CORAL, ABOUT TWENTY FIVE MILES NORTH-WEST OF SAIGON, AFTER AUSTRALIANS HAD DRIVEN BACK TWO VIET CONG ATTACK ON THE BASE ON 1968-05-13 AND 1968-05-16.

 

[guest0001]

BIEN HOA PROVINCE, SOUTH VIETNAM. 1968-05. THE COMMANDER, US MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND, GENERAL WILLIAM C. WESTMORELAND (CENTRE), INSPECTS CAPTURED COMMUNIST WEAPONS DURING A FAREWELL VISIT TO THE AUSTRALIAN FIRE SUPPORT BASE (FSB) BALMORAL, IN BIEN HOA PROVINCE. GENERAL WESTMORELAND ARRIVED ONLY A FEW HOURS AFTER THE AUSTRALIANS HAD BEEN HEAVILY ATTACKED BY ROCKETS AND MORTARS BY AN ESTIMATED TWO NORTH VIETNAMESE BATTALIONS WHICH SUFFERED HEAVY CASUALTIES AND LOST A LARGE QUANTITY OF ARMS AND AMMUNITION.

 

[guest0001]

17 May 1968. General (Gen) William Childs Westmoreland, Commander US Military Assistance Command Vietnam, speaks to an unidentified Australian soldier, with moustache, during 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.

 

[guest0001]

17 May 1968. 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. Escorting Gen Westmoreland is 2289 Colonel Donald Beaumont Dunstan, Deputy Commander, 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) (left).