Troops of 5RAR (5th Royal Australian Regiment ) move through a banana plantation during the final stage of Operation Hardihood in May, 1966. During Hardihood, Nui Dat and the surrounding area were secured and the various tasks associated with planning and establishing a new task force base in Phuoc Tuy province completed.
Two Members of C Company, 9RAR, Move Through Thick Jungle During Operation Surfside
Description
Two members of C company, 9RAR, move through thick jungle during Operation Surfside. A Centurion tank from B Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment, Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC), follows in support, 18 April 1969.
Private (Pte) Jack Doulis is Welcomed Home at Garden Island Dockyard, Sydney
Description
Private (Pte) Jack Doulis of NSW (New South Wales) is welcomed by four of his five children on the wharf at Garden Island Dockyard, Sydney, 26 April 1968. Pte Doulis, 7RAR has just disembarked from HMAS Sydney after his year in South Vietnam.
Second Lieutenant John ‘Lofty’ Dwyer of 1RAR In Front of Viet Cong Bunker
Description
Second Lieutenant John ‘Lofty’ Dwyer of 1RAR stands in front of a typical Viet Cong bunker in Ho Bo Woods during Operation Crimp. The bunker’s roof was constructed of hard packed, baked mud that set like concrete. January 1966.
Two Members of C Company, 9RAR, During Operation Surfside
Description
Two members of C company, 9RAR, move through thick jungle during Operation Surfside. A Centurion tank from B Squadron, 1st Armored Regiment, Royal Australian Armored Corps (RAAC), follows in support, April 18, 1969.
Sergeant Tom Birnie (right), with Unidentified Soldier on Patrol.
Description
Sergeant Tom Birnie (right), Platoon Sergeant of 4 Platoon, D Company, 2RAR and an unidentified soldier on patrol during Operation Coburg, Bien Hoa, January 1968. Sgt Birnie served in Vietnam for a second time with 2 RAR in 1970-71 and was accidentally shot by a sentry while re-entering his own platoon area after a reconnaissance patrol. He died of his wounds at 1 Australian Field Hospital on 25 March 1971.
Private (Pte) Stan Hodder from Queensland; Pte Terry Burstall from Victoria and Pte Peter Dettman from NSW, all from D Company 6 RAR, take a break from gathering weapons left on the battlefield after the previous night’s fighting during the battle of Long Tan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUSq7pxux4
Roman Catholic Chaplain With 1RAR, Gives Communion
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Captain Gerry Cudmore, a Roman Catholic Chaplain with 1RAR, gives communion to Australian gunners and American troops, Bien Hoa, 1965. Fifty-five chaplains served with the Australian Army in Vietnam between 1965 and 1972. They accompanied men on operations, ministered to them in the field and often carried their ecclesiastical tools in a pack that hung around their neck. One chaplain remembers: Mass celebrated on the ground, on an ammo box, in D Company Mess at the Horshoe, on a table in a deserted VC hospital camp, at dawn on a deserted beach…Michael O’Brien, Conscripts and Regulars with the Seventh Battalion in Vietnam.
The Body of Private Michael (Mick) Alwyn Bourke, 1 RAR, is Farewelled at a Ceremony at Tan Son Nhut Airbase
Description
The body of Private Michael (Mick) Alwyn Bourke, 1 RAR, is farewelled at a ceremony at Tan Son Nhut airbase before being flown back to Australia. Just weeks after arriving in Vietnam, 1RAR suffered its first casualties when Private William Carroll’s grenade pin caught and released as he leaped off a truck after the battalion’s first operation. The subsequent explosion killed Carroll, Privates Mick Bourke and Arie Van Valen, and an American, Private First Class D. Pierson. A further ten soldiers were wounded, including two Americans. 26 June, 1965.
Lighters Packed With 3RAR Vehicles Approach HMAS Sydney
Description
Lighters packed with 3RAR vehicles approach HMAS Sydney, at Vung Tau. The departure of 3RAR troops and vehicles was the first major move in the withdrawal of the Australian forces from South Vietnam, 6 October 1971.
Australian Lance Corporal Barry O’Brien Drying Captured Viet Cong Documents
Description
Australian Lance Corporal Barry O’Brien drying captured Viet Cong documents discovered by 7RAR (Royal Australian Regiment) in an earthenware jar in a Viet Cong training and supply village during Operation Santa Fe. Operation Santa Fe, in October–November 1967 was the first major operation in which the newly arrived Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam (RANHFV) took part. The joint ‘search and destroy’ mission in the north-east of Phuoc Tuy Province involved US, Australian and South Vietnamese troops and lasted for three weeks.
Monsoon in the Nam: Conditions were far from ideal at 1 RAR’s new home at Bien Hoa. The rudimentary amenities included the unsophisticated shower on the left, 1965. Image courtesy of Kerry Lampard.
Chaplain Ray Stachurski Administering the Last Rites to Private (Pte) Robert Buchan
Description
Chaplain Ray Stachurski, the New Zealand Army Roman Catholic padre, administering the last rites to Private (Pte) Robert Buchan, D Company 6RAR in a clearing near the Company Headquarters. Pte Buchan was killed in action in the north-east corner of Phuoc Tuy Province during Operation Marsden and his body was brought in on a stretcher from the contact area. 11 December 1969.
Private David Llewellyn, Farewells His Wife Before Boarding HMAS Sydney
Description
Private David Llewellyn, 1RAR, farewells his wife Jo before boarding HMAS Sydney for his first tour in Vietnam. HMAS Sydney sailed on 27 March 1968 with more than 100 1RAR troops who were returning to Vietnam for the second time.
An Aussie "digger" (soldier) from 7RAR moves through a creek during a patrol on Operation Cung Chung in June, 1970. This is WO2 John Francis Sexton, Company Sergeant Major (Bless His Heart). John did the two tours of Vietnam with 7RAR and was formerly of the SAS. Passed away 18 August 2005. RIP.
Delta Company 6RAR, Briefing in the Field Shortly Before His Company Returned to Long Tan
Description
Major Harry Smith from Queensland, Officer Commanding (OC) Delta Company 6RAR, holds a briefing in the field shortly before his company returned to Long Tan the day after the battle. Left to right: Maj Harry Smith; Second Lieutenant (2Lt) David Sabben, OC 12 Platoon; Corporal Phil Dobson, Company Medic; 2Lt Geoff Kendall, OC 10 Platoon; Sergeant (Sgt) Bob Buick (obscured by Kendall); Sgt Jack Thompson, Company Mortar Fire Controller, 161(NZ) Forward Battery; Pte Bill ‘Yank’ Arkell, Regimental Signaller; Lance Corporal Graham Smith, Regimental Signaller (with his back to the camera). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUSq7pxux4
