

©
Stan Maizey
Second-in-Command
5RAR 1st tour Dec '65 - Dec '66 |
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Much has been written
about our involvement in South Vietnam,
particularly of the battles. In my article,
I would like to divide it into two parts.
The first part will be about the 5th
Battalion's (5RAR) preparation for the tour
and the logistic difficulties met up until I
left the Battalion in December 1966. In the
second part I would like to highlight some
of the operational aspects of the Task Force
(1ATF) from December, 1966 to August 1967.
I was
posted as Second in Command (21C) of 5 RAR in December,
1965, arriving at Gallipoli Barracks, Holsworthy in
early January, 1966. The Commanding Officer (CO), Lt Col
John Warr, was visiting 1 RAR at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam
but had left instructions for the training he required
until his return.
At this stage, the Battalion
was mostly a nucleus of regular army
officers, non commissioned officers and men.
Consequently, the personnel establishment
including first reinforcements, started to
arrive during January, 1966 especially from
the National Service (NS) Officer Training
Unit, Scheyville (near Windsor, NSW) and
from the various NS recruit training
Battalions.
Whilst no official
announcement had been made, it was
understood 5RAR would replace 1 RAR in
April/May, 1966. Correspondence between
opposite numbers of the battalions was
taking place and the logistic information
included:
 |
bring as much
timber/flooring as possible, |
 |
scale holdings
for at least six months, not three months as
shown in the various equipment tables, |
 |
get a "fisheye"
lens for the movie projector, |
 |
be aware of the
various United States (US) codes, codeword's
(such as Dust Off, for casualty evacuation),
and requisition procedures, |
 |
get used to US
rations. |
Training concentrated on
shooting, platoon drills, company movement, helicopter
assimilation and getting to know one another. During
February and early March, 1966, each company was phased
through a company training exercise in the Gospers
Training Area and the Jungle Training Centre, Canungra.
Finally, in March a Battalion exercise under the
direction of the CO took place in the Gospers Area to be
followed immediately by an exercise under the direction
of the 1st Brigade (commanded by Brig Tim Vincent).
During this training, the Q
staff was extremely busy ensuring the
Battalion was properly equipped.
Unfortunately the Ordnance Depots refused to
accept our indents as they were multi-listed
and not single item indents (that is, one
item to one page, this required all of the
Battalion Clerks to be seconded to the
Quartermaster (QM) for about 10 days to
rewrite the paperwork). Then, because no
formal announcement had been made regarding
5RAR replacing I RAR those items on the
equipment table regarded as warlike stores
were returned - Not Approved. Lastly, where
we tried to scale our holdings for six
months (not three months) the Staff
Officers, HQ Eastern Command refused to
approve the extra holding or stated "the
item is to be taken from I RAR in situ." It
was not until late February/early March,
1966, with the announcement that the
Australian commitment was to be
significantly increased to a two battalion
Task Force with supporting arms and a
logistic support group (IALSG), that indents
were reluctantly processed. However, with
the introduction of NS in June, 1965 many
items of clothing and equipment were in
short supply and the Ordnance replacement
system was sadly lacking. For example, some
soldiers had only one set of jungle green
uniform (other than his protective dress -
usually recycled khaki summer uniform), most
soldiers had only one pair of General
Purpose (GP) boots with steel insert, so
each soldier was issued with one pair of
1944 Tropical Studded boots, all soldiers
had their entitlements for basic webbing,
but in all cases there was little or no
reserve in the Battalion Q Store. (War
Scale Vietnam Check List).
The final Battalion training
exercise saw the Battalion using a range of
equipment recently received and still in
protective packaging. The exercise was held
in foul weather so with the connivance of
the Regimental Medical Officer (RMO) we
managed to get a rum issue for all ranks
through the supply system.
During the preparatory
phase, and on advice from 1RAR, we tried to
shed our Anti- Tank (ATk) weapons, an
84mm Rocket
Launcher (Carl Gustav) held by the rifle
companies and a
106mm
recoilless rifle (RCL) held by the
Anti-Tank Platoon, (ATk) but to no avail.
The latter equipment was mounted on a Land
Rover and after discussion within the
Battalion, the Armourer, Sgt Mick Henrys,
came up with the idea to mount a machine gun
on the vehicle, primarily for convoy
protection. These six vehicles became known
as "Sports Cars" and were invaluable in
their modified, albeit illegal, role. We
were required to take the ATk equipment to
war where they languished in the Q store,
except for two
106mm RCL
which were located either side of the flag
pole guarding Battalion Headquarters in the
base area. At the same time, and with a
submission by I RAR, to support our request
we tried to amend the Equipment Table to
obtain more M60 General Purpose Machine Guns
(M60 GPMG),
radios and
telephones for base area defences but this
was refused with the comment "not until the
CO has personally established the need,"
read how we overcame this deficiency later
in the article.
During the build up of men
and materials, as bad as the Ordnance system
was, the Engineer and Medical systems were
magnificent. The Engineer system provided us
with
a good supply of timber and the School of
Military Engineering at Casula provided
instructors for training in mines and booby
traps, barbed wire fencing and sandbagging.
The Medical system, particularly 2 Camp
Hospital at Ingleburn, provided instructors
for First Aid, Health and Hygiene training,
vital stores and priority to members of the
Battalion with respect to inoculations.
In April 1966 the Battalion
Advance Party flew out, to be initially
fostered by 1 RAR at Bien Hoa, then to
proceed to the sand dunes at Vung Tau to
establish a camp for the Battalion prior to
the occupation of the base camp at Nui Dat.
One company and all the Battalion stores and
vehicles departed in mid April 1966 on HMAS
Sydney while the remainder of the Battalion
flew out from Richmond RAAF base in Boeing
707s over a period of three weeks. In mid
May 1966 the last element of the Battalion,
including myself departed for South Vietnam.
On arrival at Saigon's Than Son Nhut airport
we were disembarked and received our weapons
and equipment. We then embarked onto a US
C123 transport
aircraft for the flight to Vung Tau. We
waited nearly two hours, closed up, in
atrocious heat and humidity before take off.
On arrival in country, it was immediately
obvious that some of the stores we were
required to take over from 1 RAR were
unserviceable from normal fair wear,
especially tentage and the
MI6 rifles. The rifles arrived without
cleaning accessories and the armourer was
required to fashion cleaning rods from heavy
gauge fencing wire.
Life at Vung Tau was hectic
with acclimatization, getting to know the
supporting troops,
the jargon and aerial reconnaissance's of
Phuoc Tuy Province (some of these were
decidedly hair raising). The US 68 Aviation
Company based at Vung Tau air base deserves
special mention because this unit provided
wonderful support whenever required. Prior
to leaving Vung Tau we had an officers'
Dining In at the Pacific Hotel (a big French
colonial hotel taken over by the US as
Officers quarters) where the aviators were
present. The Battalion provided the cooks
and stewards and the Band played a
tremendous rendition of "Those Magnificent
Men in their Flying Machines", which brought
the house down.
Operation Hardihood, the
clearing, then occupation, of the Task
Force's base camp at Nui Dat, began in mid
May 1966, with initially the US 173rd
Airborne Brigade and then in late May 1966,
5RAR came under command 173rd Bde for the
final phase of the operation. The Battalion
was assisted by a company of 1 RAR. During
the operation the Battalion was very active
to the North of Nui Dat and had many
contacts, mostly with groups of three to
five Viet Cong (VC). Unfortunately, we had
our first Killed in Action (KIA),
Pte E.W. Noack,
an national service soldier from South
Australia. In early June, 1966, the contacts
diminished and it was decided to commence
occupation of the' TF base camp at Nui Dat.
Just prior to the rear echelons of the
Battalion and the TF moving into the area,
the Battalion was warned of a likely assault
by 274 VC Regiment. The CO called for an
urgent re-supply of ammunition, particularly
belted ammunition for the
M60 GPMG's,
Claymores and
mortar rounds. While
the ammunition was being assembled I asked
for helicopter support, from 68 Aviation
Company, to lift the ammunition forward. The
Q staff has removed most of the packaging to
reduce weight and bulk but there was still a
considerable amount to move. When the
helicopters arrived, I asked the pilot how
much, by weight, could/would each aircraft
carry. In typical US nonchalance the pilot
replied 'Fill it (the aircraft) up' which we
did. When we could put no more in he gave
the thumbs up, lifted off about one metre,
bounced the aircraft and got to about three
metres then moved forward, bounced again and
was airborne.
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