Last Out: 4Rar/Nz (Anzac) Battalion's Second Tour in Vietnam

288 Pages·2002·1.16 MB·English

by  Jerry Taylor

Last Out
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Last Out
4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion’s
second tour in Vietnam
Jerry Taylor
First published in 2001
Copyright © Jerry Taylor 2001
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Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Taylor,Jerry,1939– .
Last out:4RAR/NZ(ANZAC)Battalion’s second tour in Vietnam.
Includes index.
ISBN1 86508 561 8.
1.Australia.Army.Royal Australian Regiment.Battalion,
4th.2.Vietnamese Conflict,1961–1975—Regimental
histories—Australia.3.Vietnamese Conflict,1961–1975—
Regimental histories—New Zealand.4.Vietnamese Conflict,
1961–1975—Participation,Australian.5.Vietnamese
Conflict,1961–1975—Participation,New Zealand.I.Title.
959.70434
Index compiled by Russell Brooks
Typeset in 10.5 on 11.5 pt Garamond by Midland Typesetters,Maryborough
Printed in China by Everbest Printing Co.Ltd
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Last Out is dedicated to the members of
4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion
who served in South Vietnam in 1971–72,
and particularly to the memory of:
Pte B.C.Beilkin
Pte J.Duff
Pte K.H.Harding (NZ)
Pte K.M.Kingston-Powles
Pte R.J.Niblett
Pte B.M.Pengilly
Pte M.L.Rhodes
Pte R.J.Sprigg
Cpl A.C.F.Wilkinson
The role of 4RAR is to seek out and close with the enemy,to kill or capture
him,to seize and hold ground and to repel attack by night and day,regard-
less of season,weather,or terrain.
Extract from 4RAR Standing Orders,issued 14 January 1970
Contents
Foreword by LtGen D.S.McIver,CMG,OBE viii
Introduction by MajGen J.C.Hughes,AO,DSO,MC x
Prologue xiv
Part I Preparing for war
11 The sleeping sword 3
12 The men and the means 19
13 The golden key 35
14 To seek out and destroy 48
15 The single purpose 65
16 A duty to be careful 81
17 United we stand 99
Part II The sharp edge of battle
18 The enemy 123
19 Good morning,Vietnam 147
10 The quantum leap 162
11 Ironsides and foxhounds 187
12 The flowers of the forest 209
13 Last out 235
Author’s note 253
4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion in Vietnam 256
Glossary 258
Endnotes 262
Index 267
vii
Foreword
Lieutenant General D.S.McIver,CMG,OBE
Chief of the General Staff,New Zealand Army,1988–89
and
Second-in-Command,4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion,1971
For all of us who served in 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion,that period
has had a profound impact on our lives.Not only was all of our military
experience and training tested in that totally demanding and stressful
operational environment, but also we were participants in a unique
multi-national military organisation developed solely for operations in
South Vietnam,the ANZAC Battalion.
The 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, from which our
Battalion grew,had a core of regular army soldiers and was filled out by
conscripts.Their workup was completed in Townsville in an intensive
period of training which I was able to join for the last three months.By
the time I sailed with the main body of the Battalion on the stately,but
almost worn-out old aircraft carrier, HMAS Sydney, I had come to
know and respect them as soldiers and as friends.
The Kiwi component of the Battalion came directly from the 1st
Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, a regular army unit
serving in Singapore.They completed their workup there, physically
separated from the rest of the Battalion,but using the 4RAR Standard
Operating Procedures as the basis for their training. Brian Monks,
Company Commander Victor 6 Company, remained in close and
regular consultation with Battalion Commander Jim Hughes through-
out that period.The Kiwis arrived in theatre just before the Australian
main body and I remember my pride when I met up with them in Nui
Dat, looking trim and well prepared, many of them old friends with
whom I had served before.
It took a great deal of commitment and dedication from everyone
involved to make it all work—and it did! These two disparate elements
quickly locked together into a cohesive and effective fighting unit able
viii
FOREWORD
to deploy immediately onto operations under CO Jim Hughes.Over the
period of the 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion deployment they faced the
enemy together in tough and stressful combat and often provided
critical support one for the other; they played together (with the tradi-
tional Aussie–Kiwi rivalry that one would expect); they withdrew
together as the last operational component of the Task Force in Nui Dat
(our ANZAC Battalion was to be the last in the line) and, sadly, they
grieve together for comrades-in-arms lost in that unfamiliar, foreign
land.
We all owe Jerry Taylor a special debt of gratitude for taking on the
role of chronicler of this important and unique period in the military
history of our two nations. His research has been painstakingly exten-
sive, detailed and thorough. Not only does his book record the people,
places, events and circumstances that are a part of the battalion’s
history, but it also sets on the record the special ANZAC relationship
that was a central part of it—a relationship which saw its first expression
at Gallipoli and, today, continues to be at the centre of our mutual
commitments to peacekeeping,especially in our Pacific neighbourhood.
Through this book we will refight old battles,relive old experiences,
remember old friends and comrades and,maybe,contemplate the reason
for it all.I am sure it will become a valued possession for everyone who
had the honour to serve in 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion.
Don McIver
ix
Introduction
Major General J.C.Hughes,AO,DSO,MC
Commanding Officer,4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion 1970–71
In the years 1965–72 sixteen battalions of the Royal Australian
Regiment served in Vietnam. Five of those battalions were integrated
withNew Zealand infrantrymen and had the honour of carrying the
name ‘ANZAC’ in their title. 4RAR was the sixteenth battalion and,
therefore, the last to serve in Vietnam, and its title was 4RAR/NZ
(ANZAC) Battalion.The unit consisted of 181 New Zealanders and
835 Australians.
The Fighting Fourth, co-edited by Bob Sayce and Mike O’Neill,
was published by the Battalion in 1972 and provided a pictorial record
of the second tour in Vietnam (1971–72). A second edition was
published in 1990, by the Association of 4th Infantry Battalions. Jerry
Taylor recognised the need for a narrative military history to comple-
ment the pictorial record,and we are indebted to Jerry for his initiative
and detailed research that has resulted in this book,Last Out.
4RAR moved from Brisbane to Townsville in early December 1969.
The move was a Godsend because it resulted in new barracks and good
training areas; in addition, by joining 3 Task Force we had access to all
supporting units except tanks. Our direct support battery, 104 Field
Battery 12 Field Regiment, lived nearby. 2RAR had assisted 6RAR to
prepare for Vietnam, and we in turn did the same for 2RAR. Later
6RAR assisted us with training support: umpires for exercises, safety
officers,instructors and provision of ‘enemy’,equipment and ammuni-
tion. Each battalion in Vietnam sent home operational reports and
intelligence summaries; one-to-one correspondence was encouraged
between key appointments.I acknowledge the assistance that I received
from fellow Commanding Officers—John Church of 2RAR,and David
Butler and later David Drabsch of 6RAR.
x