Australians in Vietnam

[Wildcat]

Found this great site with loads of info. Well worth a read for those interested8)
index

 

[FLYBOYJ]

My brother talked about Australians in Viet Nam - ferocious soldiers

 

[Screaming Eagle]

good ones too

 

[Emac44]

Thanks Wild will have a good recce on this site later stage. Will place it in favourites to read later thanks digger

 

[Aggie08]

On the Australian Special Air Services:
"580 SAS soldiers served in South Vietnam. There were 298 contacts with the enemy, inflicting 492 kills, 106 possible kills, 47 wounded, 10 possibly wounded and 11 taken as prisoners. 5366 enemy were sighted in 801 separate sightings. The Australia and New Zealand casualties were one(1) killed in action, one(1) died of wounds, one(1) killed in a grenade accident, two(2) accidentally shot on patrol, one(1) missing on a hot rope extraction and one(1) died of illness."

Impressive!

 

[Wildcat]

Yep, the "phantoms of the jungles" as they were known were feared amoungst the VC/NVA.

 

[lesofprimus]

I've met a couple Aussie Vietnam Vets in the past, as well as my fathers high regard for them... They were, and are, excellent operators...

 

[Wildcat]

Here's a nice colour doco about Aussie soldiers in Vietnam, enjoy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2-OOQo13c

 

[Airframes]

Great vid, thanks Peter !
Brought back a lot of memories, as the uniforms, webbing, weapons (apart from the Austen) and radio were virtually identical to those I used in the jungle in the very early 1970's, with the Paras - I could almost feel the mossies!
And old SAS friend of mine, who sadly died a couple of years ago, worked alongside Australian SAS in Vietnam (of course, 'officially', he wasn't there!), and had great respect for them, and other Aussie troops.
A movie worth watching, starring the usual gang of Aussie actors, is 'The odd angry shot' - well made and fairly realistic, given the limitations of the big screen.

 

[nuuumannn]

A movie worth watching, starring the usual gang of Aussie actors, is 'The odd angry shot' - well made and fairly realistic, given the limitations of the big screen.

That is a good film, Terry. My uncle served a 13 month tour of Viet Nam and fought alongside Aussies and US troops. He lives in Sydney now. He volunteered, as did the New Zealanders that went, but the Aussies were conscripted.

 

[mikewint]

Yes and Yes again as I have posted many times, the Diggers were some of the toughest troops in Vietnam. They stuck those poor guys in the middle of (the aptly named) Phuoc Tuy province (just SE of Saigon). Initially they established a base on the sea coast near Vung Tao but they were soon ordered to establish a base a Nui Dat a big hill about in the middle of the province which had been and was a VC stronghold. We flew in some teams to sound out the villagers about moving to give more security to the base. When they refused they were forced out which made for bad relations later on.
The Diggers (GIRL) at China beach
Digger Dogs
The Diggers were provided Air Conditioned tents
The Diggers were a clean group
Aussie USO show

 

[parsifal]

I trained with the SAS before a stint in the small boats unit. bl**dy tough b*stards. Nearly broke my jaw during a boardex, then I did a stint at their jungle warfare school at Canungra eating the local wildlife for a week. we were supposed to defend the flag from their infiltration. Never knew what hit us. I never want to do that ever again. .