Long tan, p.9
Long Tan, page 9
Ironically, years after Long Tan, one of my former soldiers claimed in Lex McAulay’s 1986 Long Tan book that I took a pearl-handled Colt .45 off a dead VC officer. I recall saying he had the enemy’s black steel Tokarev pistol mixed up with General Patton’s famous World War II Colt .45 and that from then on he could call me ‘General George the Ratcatcher’. As I came to learn over the years, soldiers, and others, often get the facts wrong. I recently read a similar claim in UK Colonel Stuart Tootal’s book Danger Close about 3 Parachute Battalion in Afghanistan – that after encountering IEDs and contacts few soldiers could give an accurate account of what, how and why the event happened, and they had no idea what went on outside their own limited field of vision. I take many stories with a grain of salt.
On 8 June 1966 we boarded a chartered Boeing 707 at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, and headed for Vung Tau via Manila and Saigon. At that point I was confident that all the hard yards had paid off. I knew all my soldiers were very loyal and extremely fit and at the same time very conscious of their own ability to react under pressure. The National Servicemen were keen to prove they were as good as Regulars. I appreciated that Delta Company was more than ready for whatever was waiting for them in Phuoc Tuy Province.
Brisbane parade prior to embarkation in 1966.
I realised I had to count heavily on my platoon commanders. 10 Platoon had Geoff Kendall, Gordon Sharp was my 11 Platoon commander and Dave Sabben led 12 Platoon. Gordon and Dave were National Service officers. Dave had actually volunteered for National Service when his conscription marble didn’t roll out. He was a computer expert, tall, good-looking, quiet, very intelligent, a capable man and always a good leader. He’d been born in Fiji. While he was training to be an officer at Scheyville in Singleton he topped most subjects and in map reading he scored an impressive 100 percent. But none of us are perfect and I chastised him one day when he turned up on parade in pointed, very shiny Italian shoes that were certainly not his issue. I ordered him to take them off and put on normal shoes. We are today still very good friends.
Sadly, Gordon Sharp, an unwilling conscript but with the intelligence and education that pushed him into officer school, was killed at Long Tan. With great respect to a man who sacrificed his life for his men, he tended to be more of a soldiers’ friend than a good leader. Just before Long Tan I replaced his platoon sergeant Neil Rankin with South African-born Bob Buick to back up Gordon. Neil Rankin and Gordon Sharp were two quiet men who played cards in the tents with their soldiers and became the men’s friends. I did not agree with this because a leader needs to be fair, firm and friendly but never over-friendly. When the chips are down your soldiers have got to act immediately and not let any feeling of friendship get in the way. Bob Buick has described how Gordon kept on playing cards the night of the enemy mortaring of Nui Dat, and had to be pushed to get the platoon on alert and ready for action.
Bob, although disliked by some for his typical South African bullish attitude, what some called arrogant, was a loyal and excellent soldier, and was to get half the remaining 11 Platoon men through the battle when Gordon was killed early on. They lost 13 out of 29 men, many in the first few minutes of encountering a NVA company that came forward from their jungle hide to investigate the earlier contact in which
11 Platoon had fired on a small patrol. Bob took over and controlled the guns and his platoon fire via the section commanders for well over an hour until they could withdraw when 12 Platoon eventually got up behind them. I cited Bob for the MM for his command and leadership and I regret not citing him for Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), but CSM Jack Kirby got a DCM and the protocol was such that Bob was relegated to MM. 11 Platoon as a group deserves the lustre of a DCM.
Some observers say my personal command ability saved my company; I guess it played a major part. That was my job. That was what I had been trained for. That was what I had to do on the day – direct the platoons, move them around, and get all the support that was available. But I want to emphasise that had it not been for Bob Buick’s ability to call in and direct close artillery fire, the whole of 11 Platoon could have been over-run, with the enemy rolling on to the rest of the company. 11 Platoon’s gallant stand gave me the time and space to organise a defensive position, more artillery, an air strike, ammunition resupply, and reinforcements, all of which contributed to saving the lives of most of our men. The helicopters would not have been able to hover over us and drop ammunition if the enemy had been there, or close nearby.
Geoff Kendall, with a kind round face, was born in 1941 into a struggling working-class family, his father serving in the Middle East and New Guinea in World War II. Geoff worked in odd jobs in the electrical industry, starting with Chandlers, then selling TV sets in his elder brother’s electrical business at Tara, in south-west Queensland. His main claim to fame was that he was a good rugby league player and played for Wynnum-Manly, Brisbane, and then Wynnum. He saw an advertisement for OCS Portsea and was selected and commissioned in December 1964. Geoff was inexperienced but in 1966 he was a good platoon commander, although he became a temporary liability after Long Tan. He went on to a good career in military intelligence and developed into an expert linguist, stationed with a UK Intelligence Unit in Hong Kong and then our 1st Division Intelligence Unit, retiring after 24 years to run a hardware store at The Gap, west of Brisbane city. Fully retired, he now lives on Bribie Island.
While I was not aware of it at the time, I am told that in July 1966 he apparently went to Vung Tau in an APC ‘ration run’ and left his Owen gun there, to be returned by the Military Police. After Long Tan he admits he went seriously out of control at times. He was involved in ‘borrowing’ jeeps, and in company with 11Platoon’s Lieutenant Paul O’Sullivan and a couple of other young officers, they borrowed a Land Rover ‘jeep’ from HQ ATF Nui Dat and set off for Vung Tau. After getting bogged in a ditch they then swiped a Vietnamese vehicle and a young lady was seriously injured. At Vung Tau, after leaving the vehicle parked with their pistols under the seat, when they returned after a visit to a local bar, it had gone. Reporting to the Military Police who had the vehicle, they were then charged. Paul O’Sullivan and Geoff Kendall were held back and court martialled, both losing seniority. They didn’t come back on the slow 16-day HMAS Sydney trip with us but were flown home, apparently arriving before us!
Meanwhile I had to move Geoff out of the company as I felt he was no longer part of my team. Geoff admits he was a silly young officer but he was getting a lot of Long Tan and Vietnam ‘crap’, he says, off his chest. And he had certainly earned the right to do that. Based on my own questionable earlier adventures, and as imparted to me by my commanding officer in Malaya, I had told Geoff, ‘It’s not what you do, but don’t get caught doing it.’ My warning sadly went unheeded. We still talk to each other, but I detect a lingering resentment at me having moved him on. I think he was most surprised that I pursued the upgrading of his MID to the Medal for Gallantry (MG) in 2008, the MC I recommended having been downgraded to MID by Major-General Mackay in the 1966 awards debacle.
I had two other sergeants in my company who were wonderful at their jobs. One was Sergeant Bill O’Donnell, our cook, who also came out on the odd patrol and somehow prepared food for 130 of us out of pretty ordinary 10-man tinned ration packs, helped by his two assistant cooks. He was adept at swapping slouch hats and Aussie beer for frozen US Army packs of chicken and steak to add to our diet.
Staff Sergeant Ron Gildersleeve, our quartermaster sergeant, looked after all the stores brilliantly. Ron had served in the Merchant Navy and came out of the Army with only two fewer medals than Victoria Cross winner Keith Payne – 21 versus 23! Ron had been in Korea and Malaya and his loyalty and efficiency was a boost for all of us.
My company sergeant major Jack Kirby was an intelligent ox of a man at about 110 kg. He had a wonderful sense of humour and the men liked him. On a parade at Enoggera just before we headed for Vietnam a lady brigadier came to farewell our battalion formed up in company groups. The brigadier on the dais was rather, well, cuddly. Jack was standing behind our company rear flank. He quietly muttered, ‘Men, you’re looking at the biggest cunt in the Army.’ From out in front I could hear the men behind me having a quiet laugh.
Jack Kirby was total guts. He never gave up during our runs at Enoggera even though his weight and height made it tough for him. He moved around the lines and talked to all the soldiers in all the platoons, not limiting himself to Company HQ. But he could surely bellow orders and the men knew he meant business. I appreciated his advice from time to time. He had common sense. He was my right-hand man and, above all, always loyal. Sadly he was to be killed by a tragic NZ artillery friendly fire disaster in February 1967.
Once in Vietnam, our 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) was made up of about 5000 troops – in former military times it would have been known as a brigade. 1ATF included a headquarters with a brigadier commander, Oliver David Jackson OBE; two Infantry battalions (5RAR and 6RAR); an artillery regiment of three batteries, each of six guns, with two Australian field batteries, 103 and 105, and the 161 NZ Battery; plus a US Army 155-mm battery of six guns mounted on tracks, like tanks; and a US 8-inch nuclear-capable battery of two guns used for long-range interdiction. 1ATF also carried engineers, signals and an SAS squadron.
Each battalion, with about 850 men and commanded by a lieutenant colonel (ours being Colin Townsend) had a HQ and four rifle companies, A, B, C and D, plus Administration and Support companies.
Each rifle company, like my Delta Company, had 125 men: a HQ, plus a support section with two machine guns, and three platoons each of 34 men made up by three sections of 10 men. Platoons also had a HQ, commanded by a second lieutenant or lieutenant, a sergeant, a signaller and a batman.
Companies had cooks, a clerk, storemen and attached medical orderlies. Also attached were two regimental signallers and a mortar fire control sergeant, plus an artillery Forward Observer team of an officer and two signallers.
It was usual for the 2IC and cooks and the like to stay on base, so on any given day, along with some sick, some on local leave, and some detached to Task Force HQ area duties, not all 125 members of any company would be out on patrol. One hundred and five went out to Long Tan.
Brigadier Oliver David Jackson.
When on the move, it was usual to travel in single file – or one-up or two-up with the HQ group behind the leading platoon, and 10 m between men. Within platoons there were the same formations. In defence it was customary to have two platoons up front with HQ centre rear and a reserve platoon in the rear, thus creating all-round defence, with machine gun arcs of fire linked to cover 360 degrees. On open ground a defensive layout could take up an area 400 m wide and similar in depth, but half that size in jungle.
Each platoon had a large and heavy PRC9 VHF radio transmitter, which was on the company frequency. Company HQ (CHQ) had a set tuned onto the platoon channel and also one to Battalion HQ, and we had one spare radio in Company HQ with which we could contact helicopters or fighter plane Forward Air Controllers if required. The three-man artillery party with CHQ had two radios on their artillery nets. The VHF radios could be quickly switched to cover any frequency and during the battle of Long Tan I think every unit in the Task Force was listening or switching between my two radio networks, one to HQ6RAR, the other to my platoons.
Each rifle section had an M60 machine gun, and there were two in CHQ Support Section for me to do whatever I wished with them. So in the company we had 11 M60s, about 65 SLR 7.62-mm rifles, about 20 Colt Armalite AR15 and AR16 5.56-mm (USA) rifles, and about 10 9-mm F1 Owen guns, which were mostly useless over the longer ranges in the Long Tan rubber plantation.
My lines at Nui Dat.
The Armalites were mostly old hand-me-downs from 1RAR and had problems, some say they were worn out. And I don’t think many came with cleaning rods to clear frequent separated bullet cases. Some of the reinforcements who came from 1RAR, like Bill Roche, had actually bought their own new Armalites from US Army stores at Bien Hoa for US$85. The SLR was the outstanding rifle, but perhaps not quite on a par with the smaller Russian AK47 Kalashnikov 7.62-mm assault rifle used by the NVA and Main Force enemy and pretty much worldwide these days. The AK47 designer passed away in 2014 and a media article said some 12 million had been made in various countries. The AK47 was rough compared with nicely machined weapons, but worked under most conditions when others often clogged with dirt.
The 7.62-mm SLR was a self-loading battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. During the Cold War it was adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, with the notable exception of the United States. It was one of the most widely used rifles in history, having been adopted by over 90 countries, but now replaced in most by the AK47, also 7.62 mm, but with a shorter round.
Our L1A1 SLRs were Australian-made after 1959, while in Malaya we’d used the UK issue of the original FN. SLRs were more reliable than the first Armalites and preferred by riflemen as the bullet stopped the enemy, full stop. But the lighter Armalites were preferred for use by commanders and others who were not ‘up front’ and they could be tucked under an arm while reading maps.
Every section rifleman carried about 110 rounds of ammo, and several also carried spare MG belts of 200 rounds. The SLRs in 1966 only had three issued magazines holding 20 rounds each – only 60 rounds loaded – and the other bullets were in cardboard boxes of 20, which got wet and soggy so all the ammo fell out into the mud when we were reloading. After Long Tan more magazines were issued and resupply ammo was pre-loaded in magazines.
There was no typical German Spandau magazine for the M60 (US version of the Spandau) belt ammo and we used to put plastic sleeping mattress tubes on them to try and keep the dirt off the bullets. I banned my soldiers from sleeping on issue plastic mattresses as the tubes had a habit of making squeaking noises which were not good news in quiet overnight patrol bases, so we cut them up for the M60 belts. Despite that, we had five of 11 M60s out of action by the end of the Long Tan battle. Like old Armalites, they did not like mud.
We had been issued with the man-carried 84-mm Karl Gustav anti-tank weapons in Australia but the Swedes would not provide ammunition for use in the Vietnam War, and so we were then issued with the lighter M79 grenade launchers and had at least two per section.
Our endeavours were always to get ourselves better equipment. Such is life in the Australian military, or it was then. I have been told that the soldiers still struggle to get top equipment for their tours of Afghanistan although they seem to have ample modern and good weapons even though boot soles often fall off. Last Anzac Day regular soldiers back from Afghanistan complained they were not permitted to wear their medals on their field dress and were unable to wear parade uniforms as their shoe soles were faulty. Surely an exception to usual protocol could have been made so they could march through Brisbane proudly wearing their medals in field dress?
We were supposed to spend two weeks in Vung Tau getting acclimatised but on 14 June we were called forward to the new Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat about 40 km north of Vung Tau, a week ahead of time. There were rumours of a possible enemy attack on the base. And there is no doubt that while no attack eventuated, the VC had plans to eradicate the ‘US Puppets’ at some time.
The camp was in a mature rubber plantation and the ground was wet red mud. We slept in our basic poncho shelters or hootchies until 16 x 16 tents arrived, and we then set about improving our standard of living. It was my philosophy that we needed a comfortable base so that we could rest after patrols. I could see that the base area was similar to the bases in Malaya and I told my men that any fool could be uncomfortable, but with a little effort, we could be very comfortable.
We dug drains and developed pathways using the aggregate gravel dug from trenches and even lined the paths with small banana trees brought in from an old plantation outside the wire, not that we had much wire at that time, nor any mines, as the hierarchy head-in-the-sand mindset was that the enemy would never attack our base. Our comfortable company base area became the source of another conflict with the CO, especially when I put barbed wire across the rear boundary in case enemy got through another company area.
The workforce was supplemented by men who chose ‘my punishment’ for misdemeanours rather than being formally charged. The only men who had to be referred to the commanding officer were those few guilty of accidental discharge of weapons or absent without leave after rare R and R breaks to Vung Tau, known as ‘Vungers’. One of the soldiers who had come to us from 1RAR when it went home was Terry Burstall. Terry was often ‘on the mat’ in my tent office and chose ‘my punishment’. Things in my company were a lot different to the time he was in 1RAR attached to 173 US Airborne Brigade at Bien Hoa. After Vietnam he was to get a PhD and become an author of two books about Vietnam, The Soldier’s Story and A Soldier Returns.
Our lines at Nui Dat.
Led by Jack Kirby, Sergeant Bob Buick, Quartermaster Senior Sergeant Ron Gildersleeve and Mortar Sergeant Don Thompson we purloined parts of alloy huts from US Army sources and built an Officers/Sergeants Mess and a large Canteen hut for the NCOs and soldiers. Our cook, Sergeant Bill O’Donnell, ensured we ate well.
