75

Using the evidence

1 Mapping exerciseUse an atlas to mark on the map (Source 12.1) the placesmentioned on that page.

2 Creating and testing an imageFrom your existing knowledge or image of the Australiansoldiers in the Vietnam War, create a profile – a list oftypical characteristics – of the Australian soldiers whofought in that war. You should think about such things astheir average age, marital status, occupations, manner ofdeath, and so on.

3 Terendak CemeteryTerendak War Cemetery is in Malaysia. The bodies of anumber of Australians who were killed in the Vietnam Warare buried here. A study of the details of these men can tellus much about the nature of the Vietnam War and theAustralians who were killed in it.a Use the information in Source 12.2 to make a series

of statements about the age, marital status,occupation, manner of death, status as a soldier(Regular or National Serviceman) about the menfrom the Vietnam War buried there.

b Compare the details with the profile you created. Arethere any main differences? If so, try and explain whyyour picture might have been different. For example,you might be surprised that most were Regularsoldiers, when the image that is stressed is ofAustralian National Servicemen, or conscripts, beingsent to Vietnam to fight. You might be surprised atsome of the causes of death. And so on.

c There are only 20 names here. Where do you thinkthe other 500 Australians who died in the war areburied? You may need to research this question.

The Vietnam experience 1962–1973

A C T I V I T Y 12

F O C U S Q U E S T I O N SWhat was the nature of the Australianexperience of war in Vietnam?

Prepare a questionnaire to interview a returned service-man or nurse on their Vietnam experience.

Your task

Background briefing

The Vietnam War arose out of more than a century offoreigners’ occupation of Vietnam. It was a war forVietnamese independence, but also a civil war betweentwo competing philosophies.

Vietnam has always been subject to threats andinvasion from its large neighbours - particularly China. Inthe eighteenth century a new threat emerged – the Frenchinvaded the area, called Annam then, and establishedcontrol. They used the land as their colony, and created astrong French influence, though one which did notsuppress Vietnamese desires for independence.

In the Second World War the Japanese invaded, andVietnamese nationalists fought beside French troops todefeat the Japanese. After the victory over the Japanese, theVietnamese expected to gain their independence – but theFrench remained as colonial masters. Many Vietnamesetroops now turned to fighting the French.

In 1954 the French were defeated in the north at DienBien Phu, but in the south, Vietnamese leaders did notwant to be part of the pro-Communist system being set upby the north. The country was divided along the 17thparallel of latitude, with the south being supported by theUnited States, and the north by Russia and China. Thenorth began to send troops in to the south, supported bysoutherners sympathetic to their cause.

The main reason for the United States’ involvementwas a fear that communism would spread throughoutAsia. China had become communist in 1949, and theKorean War of the 1950s had seemed to show thespreading power and influence and threat of communism.The Australian Government shared this view, and wasready to support the United States in South Vietnam.

The United States began sending larger and largernumbers of troops to South Vietnam. Australian soldierswere in South Vietnam as advisers from 1962. In 1965Prime Minister Menzies, in an attempt to tie the UnitedStates to defence of Australia against any threat fromIndonesia, announced that Australia would send supportcombat troops. This included conscripted soldiers,National Servicemen, after 1966. These were chosen by aballot of all 20 year old males, though only a smallProportion of all eligible men were called up.

Australian troops served mainly in the Phuoc TuyProvince of Vietnam, at the Nui Dat base and the supplycamp at Vung Tau. Some also served in Saigon. The RAAFand the RAN also played important parts in the war – theRAAF in a supply and combat role, and the RAN in

delivering troops and supplies. The main task of theAustralians was to secure the Province in which they werebased. This involved fighting the North Vietnam RegularArmy soldiers based there, as well as the local Viet Congguerrillas, and denying them food, supplies and safeplaces.

In 1967 the Australian commitment reached its peakat about 8,300 in Vietnam at the one time. In 1970withdrawals began, and by 1972, the troops had virtuallyall been withdrawn, with security of the Province beinghanded over to the South Vietnamese Army. In 1975, afterthe withdrawal of United States’ support, the NorthVietnamese and the Viet Cong guerrillas took Saigon, andended the war with the reunification of Vietnam underCommunist rule. About 57,000 Australians served at sometime in Vietnam, with about 520 (different numbers aregiven by different authorities, depending on the criteriaapplied) dying as a result of the war.

76

Applying issues to today

7 Now that you have developed a set of possibleinterview questions, interview a veteran or invite a veteranto speak to the class.

Try to explore the changes in public attitudes inAustralia to the Vietnam War veterans. How can youexplain these changes?

Is the Vietnam experience an accepted part of the‘Spirit of ANZAC’ today?

Using the web

How do we know about what happened in the past? Thereis a short exercise on different sources for the death of oneAustralian soldier, Private John McQuat.

There is also a variety of evidence there on the Battleof Long Tan. What happened? How did this extraordinaryengagement develop? How certain can we be about theoutcome of the battle?

See the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee ofQueensland site at http://www.anzacday.org.au

4 Look at Source 12.3. Work through this evidence todevelop a detailed picture of the nature of the Australianexperience of the Vietnam War. Aspects you should takenotes on include:• accidents• ambushing• artillery / mortars• attitudes• disease / illness• ‘friendly fire’• impacts and consequences• mines• nature of the combat• off-duty life• patrolling• the enemy.

You may also find other aspects of the experience tocomment on, and to develop your interview questionsaround.

5 NursesLook at Source 12.4, on the experience of Australian Armynurses in Vietnam.

The typical RAANC nurse in Vietnam was in hertwenties, Australian-born, with a father who was likely tobe on the land or a clerical worker, and a mother engagedin home duties.

These women were Army Nurses and were posted toVietnam, rather than volunteering to go. They were poorlyprepared for the experience, receiving no special training.The first nurses found very primitive conditions, and hadto make do. Most served in field hospitals, and thereforetreated all aspects of war casualties - from inoculations andminor illnesses to massive gunshot and mine injuries.They treated enemy prisoners, as well as Australian, alliedand civilian victims of the war.

Most saw service at the hospital at Vung Tau, or inSaigon.a Decide what qualities you think service nurses in

Vietnam had.b Add any questions to the interview you are

developing.

6 Caring for the victimsLook at Source 12.5.a Why might soldiers suffer these problems more than

those who were not involved in a war?b What sort of help and services would these men and

women need?c Do you think that the Australian nation has a duty or

an obligation to care for these people? Why?

77

Source 12.1 Map of Vietnam

Cambodia

China

Danang

Dien Bien Phu

Gulf of Siam

Gulf of Tonkin

Hanoi

Hue

Laos

Mekong Delta

Mekong river

Nui Dat

Phnom Penh

Saigon

17th Parallel

Thailand

Vung Tau

John Rowe, Vietnam. The Australian Experience,Time-Life Books Australia, Sydney

78

Source 12.2 Vietnam War dead buried in Terendak Cemetery

Smith, Francis J, 21 September 1965, 1RAR, 25, Ouyen,Victoria, Soldier, single, Temp. Corporal, GSW to chest bysniper, R, Ben Cat, Bien Hoa

Field, Ronald E, 9 October 1965, 1RAR, 22, Lawson, NSW,Railway station assistant, married, Private, GSW to throat bysniper, R, Ben Cat

Ross, Thomas, 12 October 1965, 1RAR, 25, Dumfries,Scotland, Soldier, single, Lance Corporal, Enemy mine blast,R, Bien Hoa

Hillier, Reginald H, 29 November 1965, 1RAR, 26,Coonabarabran, NSW, Stockman, single, Corporal, GSW, R,Vo Dat, Binh Tuy

Simpson, Thomas, 9 December 1965, 105 FD BTY, 27,Geelong, Victoria, Railway worker, married, Gunner, Cerebralmalaria, R, Bien Hoa

Lees, Ronald V, 1 January 1966, AATTV, 37, Lidcombe NSW,Soldier, married, Temp. WO.2, GSW by snipers while driving,Quang Nan

Horne, Neville W, 8 January 1966, 1RAR, 19, NSW, Wagonoffsider, single, Private, GSW by sniper, R, Ben Cat,Binh Duong

Clark, Christopher, 8 January 1966, 1RAR, 20, England,Timber worker, single, Private, Killed in booby trap bomb blast,R, Ben Cat, Binh Duong

Wilson, Mervyn A F, 8 January 1966, 1RAR, 29, Granville,NSW, Cleaner, married, Private, GSW by sniper, R, Binh Duong,Phuoc Tuy

Bowtell, Robert W, 11 January 1966, 3 FD TP, 33, Turramurra,NSW, Soldier, married, Corporal, Carbon monoxide poisoningin Viet Cong tunnel, R, Ben Cat, Binh Duong

Phillips, Thomas D, 20 March 1966, AATTV, 38, Cardiff,Wales, Soldier, married, WO.2, Died of wounds to abdomen,R, Da Nang

Ruduss, Arthur, 12 June 1966, HQ 1 ATF, 29, Riga, Latvia,Soldier, single, Private, Wounds to back, R, Phuoc Tuy

Holland, Tony, 7 July 1966, 1 APC SQN, 21, England, Lubeoperator, single, Trooper, Died of injuries; looked down barrelof an OMG; it accidentally fired, NS, Phuoc Tuy

Checkley, Thomas W, 5 August 1966, DET 131 DIV LOC BTY,28, Buxton, England, Soldier, single, Gunner, Accidentallykilled when he fell from vehicle, R, Phuoc Tuy

Hanley, Maxwell P, 20 February 1967, AATTV, 31, Adelaide,Sth. Australia, Soldier, married, Temp. WO.2, Killed in action,R, Da Nang East, Quang Nam

Badcoe, Peter J, 7 April 1967, AATTV, 33, Adelaide, Sth.Australia, Army Officer, married, Major, Enemy assault;multiple GSW to body, R, Huong Tra, Thua Thien

Allen, Norman G, 10 November 1967, 7RAR, 21, Sydney,NSW, Clerk, single, Private, VC detonated a Claymore mine,NS, Phuoc Tuy

Birse, Robert, 10 December 1967, 4 FD REGT, 33,Turramurra, NSW, Soldier, single, Lieutenant, Died of grenadewounds; Australian soldier charged with his murder, R,Phuoc Tuy

Pearce, John G S, 14 May 1968, 1RAR, 22, Mosman, NSW,Woolclasser / Grazier, single, Corporal, Frag wounds, NS,Bien Hoa

Abbott, Dale, 30 May 1968, 1RAR, 21, Ashfield, NSW, Driver,single, Private, Killed in action; GSW to head, NS, Bien Hoa

Carroll, Ronald T, 4 August 1968, 3RAR, 31, Moree, NSW,Soldier, married, Sergeant, Killed in action; GSW to chest,R, Bien Hoa

Garrigan, John, 27 December 1968, AATTV, 40, England,Soldier, married, WO.2, Accidentally drowned when APCoverturned in Cua Viet River, R, Quang Tri

Archer, Gary A, 4 February 1969, 9RAR, 22, Sydney, NSW,Bootmaker, single, Private, Died in 106 US General Hospitalof burns from accident at Nui Dat, NS, Tokyo,Japan

Jellie, Alan D, 3 December 1969, 161 INDEP RECCE FLT. 2,Brisbane, Qld, Army Officer, single, 2nd Lieutenant, Plane shotdown during training flight, R, Phuoc Tuy

ABBREVIATIONS:

AATTV Australian Army Training Team Vietnam

APC SQN Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron

ATF Australian Task Force

DET Detachment

DIV LOC BTY Divisional Location Battery (artillery)

FD BTY Field Battery (artillery)

FD REGT Field Regiment (engineers)

FD TP Field Transport (trucks)

Frag Fragmentation (grenade)

GSW Gun shot wound

HQ Head Quarters

INDEP RECCE FLT Independent Reconnaissance Flight(aeroplanes)

NS National Serviceman (conscripted)

OMG Owen machine gun

R Regular soldier(enlisted voluntarily)

RAR Royal Australian Regiment (infantry)

VC Viet Cong

WO. 2 Warrant Officer Class 2(a senior non-commissioned officer)

79

Source 12.3 Eyewitnesses to war

AI remember the first night we spent outside the camp.

I think it was in a rubber plantation and there was a full

moon, everything was totally lit up and I think the

rubber trees had lost their leaves or something. I don’t

know whether it was defoliation or what, but you could

see every guy on the ground, a whole platoon, and I

was really scared then. A leaf would rustle, someone

would cough and I was ready to shit.

After a while you became accustomed to it. No-one

attacked you, you never shot anyone, you didn’t hear

any gunfire. It was sort of boring, hot, humid. You got

wet, you got eaten by the mosquitoes, the leeches.

You were tramping around in water, fighting your way

through bamboo and you became very, very blasé.

I think for the first two months that I was out with the

battalion we had not one single contact.

Bernard Szapiel, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam, William

Heinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, page 47

DI rolled over on my side hoping that the mudwould dry out the wound and help to stop thebleeding. The artillery was still coming in andit was dark by now and I knew I’d get no helptill morning at least. I kept hoping that theartillery wouldn’t get me… I was worriedabout my mother, and I kept thinking if I diedshe would be up shit creek, so I prayed a lotand made a lot of promises, but I’m afraid Inever really kept any of them after I got backhome. It was the longest night I’ve everknown. The artillery was still coming in andI can remember thinking, “This one’s goingover, and this one’s falling short, and thisone’s for you Jim.” … The other thing thatwas really worrying me was the thirst. I drankall my water and during the night I gotpainfully thirsty and reckoned if I couldsurvive the Viet Cong troops and the artilleryI’d probably finish up dying of thirst. I just laythere helpless and praying and trying to stayawake and wishing to hell it would get lightsoon.

Private Jim Richmond at the Battle of Long Tan,in Terry Burstall The Soldiers’ Story, University of

Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1986, page 129

CWe had to go out to the foothills of the Long Hais on asearch and destroy mission, July 21, 1969. It was aroundabout half past ten in the morning. We were pretty bloodyexhausted. We’d had a few light contacts and the tensionwas there because we knew we were in a mine area…

Doc was looking after the radio. He yelled out, ‘Skip, theYanks have walked on the moon’ … Next thing bang.I always believe Skip had stood on this mine, the jumpingjack, but a lot of my mates reckon I stepped on it.

We were there for hours. Shit, it was terrifying, becausethere were mines all around us. Jerry was hurt bad, andmy left boot was up near my knee, my right leg was broken.I was hit in the guts, shoulders, face, arms, upper legs.I’m still picking pieces out of my back today.

I dragged my leg back and I could feel the grating of thebones. My legs were at all different angles and I felt likeI was being burnt.

Frank Hunt, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam, WilliamHeinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, page 74

BThe most difficult incident I had was when we had beenambushing the movement of the enemy from the towns to theirsanctuaries in the mountains… One night, just after three in themorning, the enemy came through one pit, which wasn’t alert,walked through the middle of the position and tripped over ourten foot (rod) radio aerial. We were in shell scrapes and theenemy fell between me and my radio operator. We were bothimmediately bolt upright and although I tried to tackle this coveand grabbed him around an ankle, he got away and took off.We shot him but the next morning when we were following upthe blood trail one of the Diggers tripped an M16 mine. Itjumped out of the ground and killed three soldiers and woundedanother two. That was the start of a real test of leadershipbecause … to get back to base we had to pass through thevillage of Lang Phuoc Hai and the soldiers were weary and verymuch disturbed, and of course so was I.

But we had lost three killed, had a couple more wounded, andI sensed some soldiers were quite prepared to take revengeon this bloody town. I think this was because we had takencasualties and not taken out any of the enemy. I suspect thathad they been able to retaliate and killed a couple of the enemyin retaliation, then their feelings towards this town wouldn’thave been as they were. But in the event they just wanted to geteven. I linked up with the other half of my platoon and read theriot act, told them that it was absolute horseshit to contemplateseeking revenge on seemingly innocent people even though weknew that the Viet Cong were being supported by some of thepeople in this particular village. I thought it would help purge usof the experience by actually going down the main street of thetown. We did that and I must confess that I was very concerned- but we got through and out the other side and the discipline ofthe Australian soldiers came to the fore. That was good. It was atesting day.

David Kibbey, Infantry Platoon Commander, 7 RAR, 1970, in Gary McKay,Vietnam Fragments, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1992, pages 96–7

80

Source 12.3 Continued

GVic Grice was in front of me and he got shot, and I said tosomeone, “What happened to Vic?” and I don’t know who it wassaid, “He’s dead.” About ten or twenty metres after that I gotshot in the leg and went down.... It was getting fairly dark, so Ikept on crawling. There was enemy movement about and I sawabout six or eight VC moving back through the area where we’dcome. About this time I looked up and there was a Viet Congstanding over me with a grenade in his hand but no rifle. I didn’tknow what to do so I just screamed at him to piss off. I think hegot a bigger fright than I did, because he just ran off to the east.I found a dead Viet Cong and I pulled his gear apart and found aground sheet, so took this with me, and looked around for someplace to settle in for the night.Barry Meller in Terry Burstall The Soldiers’ Story, University of Queensland

Press, Brisbane, 1986, pages 84–85

FMy first experience of seeing someone shot was one

of our own blokes. One of our guys shot a nasho, shot him in the

chest from the hip with one round from his M-16. It happened

quite a lot over there. Like, you’d double up on your own section.

We were in a creek bed and one section went to the left and one

section went up the middle, and this nasho popped up. He was an

Italian and he looked like a nog. ‘Tex’ just saw this movement and

went blat.Ric, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam,

William Heinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, page 63

HThat was a really bad night. That was the nightwe had Penny killed. That’s a hard thing. Pennywas shot by one of our own blokes movingbetween pits and he was lying out there withtheir lights trying to draw our fire to find outwhere the machine-gun positions were.... Wewere under instructions not to fire and that wasfrustrating.

Penny was out the front and he was screamingout for his mum and I’m thinking to myself,‘Why doesn’t he shut up, why doesn’t he be aman? I wouldn’t yell out like that if it was me, Iwouldn’t yell out like that.’ I can rememberholding my hands over my ears and thinking‘Stop yelling out, Penny, the bastards will knowwhere we are.’ I didn’t want Charlie to knowthat we screamed out like that. I didn’t wantthem to know that we were as vulnerable asthat, that we weren’t invincible.

Ray Payne, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam, William

Heinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, p.108

IWe were walking along a railway track toget choppered out and Billy Carroll, whowasn’t an easy walker, tripped a couple oftimes. He was a bit of a tanglefoot the wayhe walked. ‘Listen, you better get thosegrenades inside your pouch,’ I said. He hadthem tucked on the sides of his pouches.‘Yeah, mate, she’ll be right.’ Well, that’swhat Billy was like. Rough and ready, but agood hand.

We lifted out to Bien Hoa and then wentback to our company lines on cattle trucks.They reckon Billy climbed out over thefront of the truck when we got there and agrenade fell out of his pouch and went off.I didn’t actually see what happened…

I looked around and saw Stoney Burke…and I saw a leg, which was I think BillyCarroll’s leg. Stoney Burke died in myarms, falling back saying, ‘Help me, helpme, oh God help me.’ Blood was pouringout of him. He was ashen. He was a faircomplexioned guy anyway, Stoney, but hewas ashen. I suppose you’d say the colourof death, if ever you’ve seen death. He wasjust peppered all the way through.

Gordon Piper, in Stuart RintoulAshes of Vietnam, William Heinemann/ABC,

Melbourne, 1987, page 60

EThe forward scout got about halfway along [a creek bed] andhe just died on the spot, he just crumpled and that was it.We didn’t see anything, we didn’t hear anything, he justcrumpled. They yelled out for the medic but I couldn’t movebecause we were pinned down by fire coming across thegraveyard.A very good friend of mine, he went out to try to fix him upand he only got to the stage where he was bending over him,he didn’t even get a chance to undo his medical bag, he justgot shot straight through the heart, from one side to theother. Another one of our medics got there and he got shotjust straight through the head. We couldn’t see anything, youknow, nothing…

They made me bag them up in the green bags and I can stillremember my friend’s face. He was smiling. I’d known himsince 1961, so I guess by the time of his death that wouldhave been five years, and we often used to sit at night afteroperations were finished and talk about what we would doonce we got back home. He was a married chap with fourkids I think. At that time, to me it seemed so unfair because,sure, I was married, but I had no kids, and maybe it shouldhave been me that had gone out there.

Peter Vandenberg, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam, WilliamHeinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, pages 169-170

81

Source 12.3 Continued

JIt was a funny fear, the first night on picket.Everything is new to you. I was in a bunker withthis guy, Herb. It was about ten feet square, allsandbags over the top, a gun mounted insidefacing out, and a big wire net out in front to stopgrenades being thrown in from the wire.

They had these fireflies in Vietnam and theylooked like torches and we’re staring into thedark, looking at these lights down on the wire.Our eyes were like saucers.

‘Is that a torch?’

‘I don’t know.’

Next minute we hear a noise out to the left, arustle. We were underneath rubber trees andthere were all these dead leaves on the ground.We hear this rustle through them and Herb says,

‘What’s that?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘It’s out there, go and have a look.’

‘You go and have a look.’

‘You go out.’

‘I’m not going out.’

I end up going out. I open the back door and assoon as I step out this mongoose cuts awaythrough the leaves. I’ve gone cold. I’m sweatingand I’m cold. God Jesus, you’ve got no idea ofthe fear.

Jeff Sculley, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam,

William Heinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, page 41

MSeeing the human face of war. One particular incident

I recall quite vividly … the VC had, unbeknown to us

at the time, planted anti-personnel mines around a tree,

a tree that the engineers had been having their lunch

under for a couple of days. Fortunately the Diggers

involved had moved on to another area but unfortunately

two of the local village children who were playing under

that tree were killed by the mine. A boy of about six or

seven years old and his sister who was about nine

years old. I was tasked by Battalion HQ to co-ordinate

the recovery of the bodies and return them to their

parents… This human side of war was pretty sad.

Another incident I recall was during a company

ambush. A lone NVA soldier wearing a pith helmet

came down the foot track and ... he was engaged and

killed. His body was checked for documents and the

interpreter was reading through his diary; the VC and

NVA tended to keep diaries, write stories, poetry and

that sort of thing. It transpired that he was an NVA

conscript who had separated from his unit and just

wanted to go home to his family. A young kid who

didn’t want to be in South Vietnam. He was down there

against his will, he just wanted to go home. Seeing the

person behind the uniform personalises war. Sad.

Rod Curtis, AM, MC, Instructor, Jungle Training Centre, Canungra,

1970–71 in Gary McKay, Vietnam Fragments, Allen and Unwin,Sydney, 1992, page 205

KWe were moving along a track and we saw a Vietnameseacross to the left through the trees, just one fellow in blackpyjamas. The company commander, for some reason knownonly to himself, called in artillery… and next minute abouttwelve rounds came out, nowhere near this fellow, whowould have been long gone, but landing right down the trackwe were moving along. We threw our packs up over the backof our heads trying to protect ourselves. There was nothingyou could do with artillery. It was all over in a few secondsand there’s been fellows killed, there’s been blokes wounded.Jack Kirby, who had been decorated for his actions at LongTan, was killed. He was a big, gruff, heavy man, a real fatherfigure to us all and he was dead. No reason.

We secured the area and called in a dust-off. I can rememberwhen we were taking his body out to the chopper on thestretcher the wind from the rotors blew the poncho off himand I can remember someone screaming, ‘Cover him up’.No-one wanted to see him dead. It was just so bloodypointless.

Ron Eglinton, in Stuart Rintoul Ashes of Vietnam,William Heinemann/ABC, Melbourne, 1987, page 167

CALL FOR FIRE ON SUSPECTED VIET CONG POSTTHE AUSTRALIAN company shelled by New Zealand artillery inVietnam on Monday was on patrol and had called for shelling of asuspected Viet Cong position nearby.

The first artillery rounds fell away from the target area and theAustralians radioed corrections to the gun positions.

The next group of shells fell among the Australians.

Casualties were evacuated by RAAF and U.S. army helicopters tohospitals in Vung Tau.

The men were members of D Company 6th Battalion, the RoyalAustralian Regiment, and 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery.

Killed were:• Warrant Officer II John William Kirby, 31, married of Brisbane,

Qld., a member of 6th Battalion.• Private Barry Walter Kelly, 20, single of Claremont, Tasmania,

6th Battalion.• Gunner Douglas Roy Powter (died of wounds) 21, single of

Parkes, NSW, 1st Field Regiment.

In Wellington, the New Zealand Minister for Defence (Mr. DavidThomson) said “In the type of warfare being fought in Vietnam whereartillery fire is called for close to friendly positions, such tragicaccidents are always possible despite the maximum number of safetyprocedures that are followed. There have been reports of similaraccidents involving allied forces in Vietnam.”

The Age 8 February, 1967

L

82

Source 12.3 Continued

Army Army Navy Air Total

NON-FATAL CASUALTIES ARA NS CMFTotal

Wounded in action 1 140 880 6 2 026 13 30 2 069

Injured/ill in action 171 150 1 322 9 – 331

Injured/ill – non-battle 426 249 2 677 28 26 731

Total non-fatal casualties 1 737 1 279 9 3 025 50 56 3 131

Served in Vietnam 41 910 2 858 4 443 49 211

Department of Defence figures in G. Pemberton (ed)Vietnam RememberedWeldon Publishing, Sydney, 1990 page 198

N Australian Non-fatal Casualties in Vietnam

AUSTRALIAN and American forces in Vietnam have

combined in a ground action against the Viet Cong near

Saigon. The action was disclosed in Saigon last night soon

after the first death of an Australian national serviceman in

Vietnam was announced in Canberra.

The Australian killed was Private Errol Wayne Noack, 21,

single, of Gilberton, South Australia. Private Noack, a

national serviceman of the first intake last July, died of gun-

shot wounds.

In Adelaide last night, Private Noack’s uncle, Mr. J. H.

Noack, said “If there is one thing we don’t want, it’s any

political propaganda being made out of Errol’s death. Mr.

Noack said that Errol, who had last been in Adelaide on May

8, had not been very happy when he learned that he was

being called up.

“But since there was nothing he could do about it, he

decided to make the most of it,” Mr. Noack said.

“I know we should be prepared to defend Australia, but I’m

very much against the idea of a lottery being used to pick

those who have to defend us.

“When a man’s life is at stake, it doesn’t seem quite fair.”

Errol was 21 on March 28. An only child, he lived for a long

time at his aunt and uncle’s home.

“He was like a son to us,” said Mr. Noack.

Errol’s father, Mr. W.H. Noack, who was working for

SAFCOL at Port Lincoln, first learned of his son’s death

early yesterday.

He was called on by a Minister of the Evangelical Lutheran

Church of Australia (the Rev. D.A. Cheney).

Soon after learning of Errol’s death, he telephoned his

brother in Adelaide and told him he would come to Adelaide

to make the funeral arrangements.

The Age 26 May 1966

NAM ACTIONFirst NS man killed in combined drive

O

AWM

CAN-67-886-VN

83

AWM FUR-66-658-VN

AWM CRO-68-576-VN

AWM

FOD-

71-2

58-V

NAW

MCR

O-68

-89-

VN

AWM SHA-66-1-VN

84

AWM

SHA-66-7-VN

AWM

CUN-66-161-VN

AWM SHA-65-220-VN AWM BEL-69-503-VN

85

Source 12.4 Nurses

‘… the over-riding concern for most of the Army nurseswas the condition of their own troops – ‘the boys’. Theirinjuries, from shellfire, explosions, gunfire and mines, werehorrific – so bad, in fact, that in any other circumstancesmany would never even have had to be treated, becausethey would have died before reaching a hospital. But achilling irony of the Vietnam War was that the system thatinflicted such unprecedented destruction had also refinedlife-saving procedures to the utmost. Helicopters werealerted by radio as soon as there was an engagement or‘contact’ with the enemy; in an operation known as ‘dust-off’, they plucked the casualties straight off the battlefieldand delivered them to the hospital where a highly efficienttriage system [the system of evaluating injuries anddeciding on a priority of treatment] sprang into action…

Once, while routinely cutting through an injured man’sshoelaces in triage, Trish Ferguson was appalled when hisfoot came away in her hand – only the boot had held it inplace. Sometimes the injuries were less obvious – shellfragments had to be meticulously removed, along with bitsof mud and scrub, before a minuscule perforation of theabdomen could be detected… [Del Waterman] remembers‘sitting with a needle picking out little pieces of rice-sizedlead shot for maybe an hour, and we’d be getting up to abag of this festered rice-shot that we’d pulled out. Some ofthe mines were so set that they’d go off at waist height,and there were horrendous injuries …’

… Few of the nurses had ever seen anything like itbefore. … Despite the seriousness of their injuries, thesoldiers’ survival rate was very high – only about 2.6 percent of those admitted to hospital died, about half themortality rate in the Second World War …

Del Waterman … accompanied the injured troops back toAustralia … Sometimes coffins had to be transported inthe body of the plane with the injured men. ‘One timewhich was particularly sad, we had two brothers, and onewas alive and one was in the coffin’, Del recalls. ‘He justsaid to me, “Look after him Sis, that’s my brother”.’ …

Programmed to put others first, the nurses soldiered on,shouldering the enormous emotional burden of their sickand dying ‘boys’. … for the women who had known theharrowing intimacy of sharing someone’s last moments,there would be no forgetting. As ‘Dusty’, an American Armynurse, tried to explain: ‘That act of helping someone die ismore intimate [than anything], and once you have donethat, you can never be ordinary again.’

Siobhan McHugh, Minefields to Miniskirts, Australian Women and theVietnam War, Doubleday, Sydney, 1993, pages 17–23 passim.

Source 12.5

CARING FOR VICTIMS TODAY

Arecent report on male Australian Vietnam War veterans,using a random sample of 641 who had served in

Vietnam between 1964 and 1972, arrived at theseconclusions:

• Vietnam veterans suffer post-traumatic stress disorderat a rate 20 times higher than other Australians

• They have higher rates of 31 chronic diseases

• They have an especially high rate of deafness, skinrashes, and “nerves”.

• They have higher rates of alcohol abuse, phobias andcancers than the general population

• About 20 per cent had experienced post-traumaticstress disorder, compared with 1 per cent of allAustralians

• Almost 43 per cent abused alcohol compared with 33per cent of the adult male population

• One quarter had experienced phobias

• They took tranquillisers, sleeping and stomachmedications and used skin creams at more than twicethe rate of the general population.

“We get the idea of these haunted diggers damaged by theirwar experience and who are medicating themselves withalcohol - this is the picture which emerges to me fromthese figures” said Sydney epidemiologist Dr Brian O’Toole.

“What it means is that you can’t send people off to war andnot look after them when they get back, because, probablyas a function of military service, they will have deterioratinghealth.

The results confirm a range of psychological problems informer warriors may linger 20 or more years from their warexposure.

Our research suggests that when a father is affected by warexperiences, the post-trauma disorder can also betransmitted to the next generation.”

Sydney Morning Herald 25 April 1996

[A study of the health of female Vietnam veterans, most of whomwere nurses, revealed that, like the males, they have a higherproportion of physical and mental problems than comparablesections of the population who were not involved in the war.]

AWM

COL-

67-1

40-V

N