Australia's Increasing Involvement In the War

1964 SEES THE LARGEST ESCALATION

As mentioned in a previous post, the AATTV (Australian Army Training Team Vietnam), a contingent of 30 men arrived in Vietnam with the objective of training ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) in the use of weapons, jungle warfare, tactics and strategy. Meanwhile, Australian troops were also engaged in battles in both Borneo and Malaysia (1963-66). 

The threat of the spread of communism in Southeast Asia had become a worry for countries in the region; and the economic losses that would be incurred should communist interests overcome were far more than the allies were willing to incur.

It was in 1964 that the Australian support began to grow- at least from Canberra and the military. Additionally, up until this time, AATTV personnel were prohibited from engaging in operations with those they had trained; this, it is said, created a stressful scenario for those folks and eventually, due to circumstances, were forced to engage regardless. By the end of their tour, the AATTV unit would become the most highly decorated in the war.

A member of AATTV, Capt. Peter Shilston, confirming by radio
that the village he is about to search with South Vietnam troops
has been properly cordoned off.
[AWM FAI/79-0/0595/VN]

In August of 1964 the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) would send a "flight" of Canadian-built deHavilland Caribou, a tough, stocky utility STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) aircraft. Designated CV-2 and  later C-7 by the US Air Force, the stocky aircraft, with its upswept tail was capable of maneuvering on short runways. The Caribou saw intense duty during the Vietnam War, used by both the US and Australia. The aircraft could carry 32 troops, two jeeps or other light vehicles. It's tail gate allowed for paratroopers' use as well. The RAAF retired its last Caribou, A4-140 on 27 November 2009. It was donated to the Australian War Museum.

By the end of 1964 there would be 200 military personnel in Vietnam - including en engineer and surgical team as well as a larger AATTV team. In November 1964 conscription by ballot began and by April 1965 after some pressure by the Johnson administration, which had deployed US Marines to defend air bases, Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces he will send 1 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) to assist in defense of American bases. The 1RAR served under the US  173rd Airborne Brigade defending Bien Hoa AFB.

In May 1965 the first combat force of 1,100 Australian soldiers were deployed to the Republic of South Vietnam.

ENTER NEW ZEALAND

It would be in July 1965 that New Zealand would send 120 soldiers from the 161st Battery, Royal New Zealand Army (RNZA). These gunners were equipped with L5 pack howitzers. L5 Pack Howitzer (link) RNZA personnel and their equipment were based at Bien Hoa air base and provided support to the American 173rd Airborne Brigade under whose operational control they were placed. Along with the gunners came a detachment of engineers who withdrew back to New Zealand soon as they had complete the task of setting up for the gunners. Clearly, New Zealand was very reluctant to go all in with their allies in Vietnam, being still engaged in confrontation in Malaysia.

Although the mission of the 1RAR was, initially, to serve in defense of the air base- by the end of 1965, Australian troops were participating in offensive actions with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Most of these sorties were confined to areas within a 20 mile range of Bien Hoa. It was clearly a struggle for the single-minded, seasoned Diggers (a term Australian soldiers used to describe themselves) to remain under the command of the American MACV out of Saigon. Different tactical strategies, outdated weapons and gear, and some other issues caused the troops and their commanders to chafe. By March 1966 Canberra would announce its plan to establish an independent Australian Task Force (1ATF).

(to be continued)

Attributions: Some information take from "Australia's Military Involvement in the Vietnam War" by Brian Ross

Remembering Vietnam Veterans From Australia, New Zealand, and Canada

TO THOSE WHO WENT

**Read through series by clicking on NEWER POST at bottom of pages**

In July and August 1962, at the request of then-US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk- Australia sent 30 military advisers to Vietnam. Because of the experience the Aussies had with jungle warfare and counter-insurgencies in Malaysia and Borneo the Americans regarded their input as invaluable.

"Australia's initial commitment to supporting the American stance in Vietnam consisted of the deployment of a team of military advisers. On 26th July, 1962, the Minister for Defence announced Australia's intention to send 30 instructors to the Republic of South Vietnam, 4 going to the Military Aid Council Vietnam (MACV) Headquarters in Saigon, 22 to regional locations in the Hue area and 4 to Duc My.(1) This team would be headed by Colonel F.P. Serong, previously Commanding Officer at the Jungle Training Center, Canungra, Queensland and would fall under the command of the Australian Army Forces, Far Eastern Landing Forces Headquarters in Singapore.(2) The Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) arrived in the Republic of Viet Nam in August, 1962." Quoted from "Australia's Military Involvement in the Vietnam War by Brian Ross  (additional citations below)*

Personnel and aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force

Deplaning August 1964

Republic of Viet Nam

The Americans and Australians, with their varying types of experiences, possessed very different tactics and fighting styles.

"Whilst American instructors expounded the virtues of the rapid deployment of large numbers of troops, massive fire power, and decisive battles, Australians concentrated on individual marksmanship, the independence of platoons from battalion HQs, small scale patrols and ambushes. These differences frequently brought Australian advisers into conflict with their American superiors. The Australian policy of "economy of effort" was directly opposed to the American idea of "concentration of force".(6)

In addition to ground forces, eventually there would be medical personnel, air force personnel, infantrymen, tankers, and naval forces hailing from Australia and New Zealand. These combined forces were known as ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). This would be the first war which involved New Zealand that did not include forces from Great Britain.

And, although the Canadian Government was not involved politically or militarily, many Canadians joined or allowed themselves to be drafted into the US Military- mainly in the Marine Corps and the US Army.

We will focus our spotlight on each of these nations and their involvement with the war in Vietnam and that includes any and all medical personnel whether military or civilian. We will first begin with the largest contingent to serve in Vietnam, and that would be the folks from Australia whose Army is known as "Diggers". The soldiers from New Zealand, nicknamed "Kiwi" because of the presence of images of their national bird on emblems. The origin of the nickname "Digger" has been widely debated. Knowing that our friends from Oz love a good argument, we will stand by to see their comments!




Attributions: (1) p.8, Australia's Military Commitment to Vietnam, Paper tabled in accordance with the Prime Minister's Statement in the House of Representatives on 13 May 1975. (2) p.1, Horner, D.M., Australian Higher Command in the Vietnam War, Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No.10, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National Univsersity, 1986. (6) pp.56-58, McNeill, I. "Australian Army Advisers: Perceptions of Enemies and Allies".

Disconnect

THE WAR IN MY LIVING ROOM

On June 6, 1969 I graduated from high school. At the time, we were living just outside of Washington, DC in Northern Virginia. My father was at the Pentagon with the US Navy. From the time we left Newport News the previous summer, I had become more aware of the Vietnam War and what it was doing to my generation. Between 1963 and 1969, everything changed in the United States. Everything. John Kennedy had been assasinated  and this, it seemed to me, was when the real shock of brutal reality entered my world. It got progressively worse as the war continued to escalate, Americans were dying in the streets and on the battlefields of SE Asia, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is murdered in April 1968. By the time Robert F. Kennedy threw his hat in the ring as a democratic candidate for the presidency the country was in a social upheaval of staggering depth. RFK would end up shot in the head in a breezeway at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was June 1968.  And as I matured and grew, significant historical events took place all around me. I thought the peace and civil rights movements were powerful and so, fell in behind them both. What was not to support? It was imperative that we get out of Vietnam and bring the boys home. Getting behind the civils rights movement just made sense. The method and manner of the non-violent revolution was working. But it seemed there were forces far more effective that wanted no part of equality and peace.

Television was our opiate. It's true. Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian professor who coined the term "the medium is the message" was right on. My brothers and I would sit glued to that 19" Zenith black and white TV as the world unfolded before us.
SHORT VID ON MARSHALL MCLUHAN:

Endless Haunting

SOME THINGS YOU CAN'T FORGET

I was probably in the 9th grade when I became aware of the Viet Nam war. That would make me about 14 years old so it was 1965. We were living in Newport News, Virginia where my father was in the Navy serving as Supervisor of Shipbuilding at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. This was in the days when the Navy Department still owned the facility. It has been privatized since. Many great naval vessles have come out of there.

Amidst the angst and euphoria of adolescence and puberty, Hullabaloo and Shindig, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Monkees and Ed Sullivan, mini-skirts and go-go boots, there were mind-numbing race riots, anti-war protests and those horrific black and white scenes of the war. We actually "watched" the war on television. The first time this had ever happened. Technology had a sharp edge too.

There were marches against this war in Southeast Asia. The mention of it on the evening news was always prefaced with something like: "And in Viet Nam today...".  Usually it would have to do with the thousands of Viet Cong that the US Forces had killed and captured. It would also report how many Americans had been lost or wounded. Every night. Night after night you would hear the grim statistics. It was so alien and so foreign that the newscasters at first didn't know what to call it. Southeast Asia. Indochina. Vietnam.

Because television in 1965 was still predominantly black and white in most households, the grainy footage of action in Vietnam was tricky. It made me think of a John Wayne movie. Not because of anything other than the fact that the guys were obviously Americans and they were wearing the same types of uniforms, helmets, boots, etc. that those guys did in the movies. It was just NOT real to those of us kids whose peers were about to be the biggest wave of drafted fodder for that war. The guys fighting in 1965 had been born in the latter days of World War II.  And it made a difference, just those few years, because their whole vision of patriotism, war, army, the red, white, and blue, Mom and apple pie and all that stuff still existed and still resonated mightily with many of them. And they went into this hell as born patriots.

It wasn't until the reality that the Greatest Generation, to some Vets, dropped the ball and let the military down throughout the waning days of the war. It has been long believed by many that had the politicians stayed out of the war and let the military do its job, the war would've ended much sooner than it did. And much differently. We will never know. And today's examples of Iraq and Afghanistan are not much changed as far as who is minding the store. On the other hand, many believe that General William Westmoreland, commander of MACV and his "war of attrition" coupled with the "search and destroy" strategy were responsible for failures on the ground and the many deaths of young American soldiers and their Vietnamese counterparts, the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam).

By the time my segment of the Boomer generation came along-born in '50-'52 - we were scrambling. Whether it was by taking heed to the protest songs of Baez, Seeger, Dylan and the rest or physically attending a march or demonstration in front of the City Hall or the Admission Offices of a college or high school-kids were on the march. While some were protesting, others were being drafted. Women were not allowed to go to combat. And that, for me personally, was a good thing. I would've been the perfect age for the draft. I graduated from high school in 1969. But the reality is, not a lot of kids my age were being drafted. You see, I happened to be living in privileged neighborhoods. The Washington, DC suburbs and the Tidewater area of Virginia. Everyone knows now that the Vietnam War, for all intents and purposes, was fought by blue-collar America. By African Americans, Southerners and Urban Northerners and Midwesterners. The children of the wealthy, unless they signed up, pretty much did not get drafted into the military. Please read this great book that gives you a birdseye view of what every kind of person was thinking about Vietnam. "Long Time Passing" by Myra McPherson. 

Whether to war or for peace we were marching.

Remember, the average age of a soldier in VN was 19. In World War II it was 26. We were kids. We were all just kids.

Nobody EVER in my memory took the time to explain what the Vietnam war was all about and why the American presence was so pivotal. No teachers, not my parents, no one. And still, on the television-now in color-we saw glimpses of this war, one and a half worlds away and still didn't understand it.