Cont.
After the Op. The Officers were lined up on the Parade Ground & given a dressing down by Lt Col Preese, the CO not to mention the RSM.

The Battalion withdrew the Owen Guns & issued the Officers, Section Commanders & Scouts with M16 & the rest were taken back to Australia. Enough to equip every Battalion in the Army. When 5 & 6 Battalions arrived in Country though they still had the Owen Gun. Apparently the Weapon had to undergo a lengthy trial before being issued out to the Battalions. Would you know it.

Unfortunately, you won't find this in "Official History" because it would be a source of embarrassment. Never-the-less this is the true story. We often joke about it at our Reunions at Woolgoolga every two years. CO's, RSM's The OC, Black Jack MacFarland's (dec) son & about 100 others always turn up although we're going outside the wire fast these days.

he first bit of the story. That missed the post.

On my first Op in Viet Nam my platoon came across a small group of VC in a cleared section of J. On the initial contact 1 dead 2 wounded & two escaped off to the north & two to the south. My section chased the two going north. The Scout hit one of them with a long burst from his Owen Gun at about 15 metres. I was about 5 metres behind him. Have you ever dropped marbles in to a bucket of water, That's what 9mm rounds look like hitting bare flesh. In slow motion. The VC kept running & we failed to find him even after following the blood trail. We did find an additional camp though.

ttbn I knew that Bruce Jenner kept the full meat and two veg, had silicone implants, put on a dress and called himself a "Woman called Caitlyn"? Do not tell me General Malcolm pulled the same stunt?
Sorry call me old fashioned but they are both having a laugh on us surely. Before you reply I won't call you Shirley again.

Hi there JAYB...

Your memory is astounding I gotta say. Half Col PREECE was CO of 1RAR I think, and you would've been at Coral or was it 3RAR? I thought it was 1RAR and a Coy of Kiwi 'drop shorts', were there as well? Nearby FSB Balmoral saw a lot with two separate battles and nearly 30 KIA? Except for the Centurions there might've been even more.

I wouldn't wish to spend time in a Tank despite the surrounding protective armour, the heat would've been tough, bad enough as it was outside the damn thing, with humidity + heat + dust, a real pressure cooker type of environment. You were saying you didn't like the SLR's too many 'sticky out' bits, which caught on just about everything? Be hard to find any military weapon system, that didn't catch on scrub and the like, the nature of the beast I expect.

Keep your powder dry JAYB PS: Have you been back by chance?

You're a bit mixed up there OSW. I was there in 65/66. 4 Sec, 5 Pl, B. Coy., 1 R.A.R., 173D (Sep) Airborne Brigade. Bein Hoa.

1 R.A.R. made up the third Battalion of the 173D Airborne. along with 1 & 2 503rd. Other Australian Units there at the time were P.W.L.H. now 1 Cav. They were a CMF Unit from Brisbane. 105 Battery, 1 A.L.S.C, 3 Field Troop Eng, 17 Construction Eng. 161 R.E.C.E. A RAEME unit. A Sig Unit, & the Australian Hospital. This Hospital Unit was transferred to China Beach when we left & is the Basis for the TV Series "China Beach."

In fact there were 19 Australian Units of the 32 Units of the Brigade at Bein Hoa. Although the Yank Units were bigger. Charlie Company, 1st Air Cav. was attached to us & transported us everywhere we had to go. A couple of times a day in Eagle Flights. 5 Seconds to get on 4 Seconds to get off whilst still moving forward. Wasn't that fun. 7 to 9 men per Chopper, no seat belts, mostly sitting on the floor or riding the Skids. WH&S would have been appalled. ;-) 1st Air Cav used to throw out an Ace of Spades every time they touched down. The Death from above Card. I had one for years but it's gone now.

Cont.

Coral/Balmoral were much later when 1 R.A.R. went back for its Second tour. It was the biggest & most successful battle of Viet Nam War. I wasn't involved. But I was at Ho Bo Woods. Between the two Chu Chi Tourist Tunnel Sites. There would have been nothing left at Ho Bo Woods after we left because they was a 7 plane B52 strike on it as we left. In fact My chopper was still on the ground after they had released their bombs. The Chopper Pilot was in a panic because we were chasing a young lad about 17 who had been sniping & purposely missing us for 7 days. He ran under a hut which had a tunnel that only went from one side to the other & wouldn't come out. My mate I& I dropped a grenade each entrance. It was quick. We claimed Half each.

When we made it back to the Chopper it flew sideways for about a K with the blades chopping through the grass. then we watched 30 tons of Bombs from 7 B52 obliterate the area. Spectacular. The Pilot was pissed off with us for making him wait so long. We did get the young fellers rifle. It was an old 1898 octagonal barrel Winchester. The Barrel had split & was bound up with Bamboo. I think we were lucky.