New Zealand’s Vietnam War: SAS deployment – Terry Culley: the Battles

New Zealand’s Vietnam War from NZ.Gov

The Vietnam War was our longest and most contentious military experience of the twentieth century. Over 3000 New Zealanders served in South Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. Back home, the Vietnam War led to enormous political and public debate about New Zealand’s foreign policy and place in the world.

SAS deployment – Terry Culley

Reproduced with permission of Terry Culley NZ Gov.

Inaugural troop commander Terry Culley recalls news of the first SAS selection for deployment to Vietnam.

It was so widely accepted as being like a Christmas present that had finally come and that we 26 were the recipients of the present. That we were going to be representing the rest of the squadron being the first ones to be deployed to Vietnam. The fact that it dawned on us later that there were things to do before we could get to Vietnam would happen all in good time. It was just a joyous occasion for those who had been named but there was a sense of foreboding and a sense of being deeply upset by some who thought in their mind that their experience, their ranks, their overall performance in the squadron warranted that they should be in the 26 and they … some of them went away by themselves and had their own private sort of periods of contemplation, others sat in groups and whinged, as they would. But the 26 had already gone off to get their jabs and stabs from the hospital then come back and been told here’s your travel warrant, you’re going home for seven days and when you come back pack your bags, be on the truck — no buses in those days — be on the truck, we’re heading off for jungle training. 

Kiwi gunners

The Vietnam War was the first time New Zealand artillery forces had seen action since Korea and this time they were the first unit into action. On 16 July 1965, 161 Battery, RNZA, fired their first shots into the infamous War Zone D, near Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Kiwi gunners are renowned for their involvement several notorious early fire fights of the Vietnam War, including the Battle of Long Tan in 1966, the Tet Offensive, and operations Coral and Balmoral in 1968. Kiwi gunners were initially attached to the US 173rd Airborne Division in Bien Hoa. However, most of the 750 who served in Vietnam did so as part of 1ATF at Nui Dat. In 1966, New Zealand added another two L5 pack howitzers to its original four-gun arsenal to join forces with the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA) field regiments. In 1967, the L5s were replaced with 105mm M2A2 howitzers. The battery was involved in 17 major operations before their withdrawal in May 1971.

Infantry operations

In May 1967, a 182-strong rifle company dubbed Victor (V) was deployed from the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (1RNZIR) base in West Malaysia. The second Victor Company (V2) was in place when Whisky (W) Company formed-up in December 1967. The Kiwi infantry contingent integrated with 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) in March 1968 to form 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion. Over a five-year period, the nine New Zealand rifle companies rotating through Nui Dat engaged in a constant round of jungle patrols, ambushes, and cordon-and-search operations. Less than a week after arriving, Victor Company had its first enemy contact, leaving one Viet Cong killed, another possibly wounded and five suspects detained. [2] This inaugural, small-scale action characterised the pace and scale of infantry operations in Vietnam. V2 member Terry Brown recalls: “A day on operations was from before first light until last light, about 12–14 hours. Sometimes the entire time was spent patrolling, other times several days were spent in an ambush position.”

Air forces

Several pilots from the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) were seconded to No. 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flying Iroquois helicopters. From December 1968 another two RNZAF officers served as forward air controllers with the 7th US Air Force, until their withdrawal in February 1972. RNZAF transport aircraft were also active in Vietnam, not only for the duration of New Zealand’s military involvement, but also beyond in support of medical and humanitarian teams through to the end of the conflict in April 1975. In January 1969, a 26-strong New Zealand SAS troop joined the Australian SAS Regiment Squadron based at Nui Dat as ‘4 Troop’. NZSAS took part in intelligence-gathering operations in the Phuoc Tuy province, mounting 155 patrols over the two years of their deployment. Demand surpassed capacity for NZSAS reinforcements, with many troopers completing more than one tour and veteran gunners and infantry ‘grunts’ retraining to return to Vietnam with the SAS before the unit’s withdrawal in February 1971.

The Vietnam War was our longest and most contentious military experience of the twentieth century. Over 3000 New Zealanders served in South Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. Back home, the Vietnam War led to enormous political and public debate about New Zealand’s foreign policy and place in the world.

New Zealand service personnel and civilian volunteers were in the jungles, skies, hospital wards, training camps, villages, and offices of South Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. Joining the US-led campaign to curb the spread of communism in South East Asia, New Zealand’s military force in the Vietnam War peaked at 548 in 1968. Over seven years, more than 3000 served from Army, Navy, and Air Force. Thirty-seven were killed and 187 wounded. Around 200 non-combatant aid workers and medics complemented the khaki contingent, with a civilian surgical team first to arrive in 1963 – and last out of South Vietnam in 1975. Two civilians died. Although New Zealand troop deployments and losses were small in comparison to other wars, the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War was notable for the strength of opposition it drew, and for its ongoing effects within families and communities four decades after it ended.

Reserved entry

Vietnam was the first war New Zealand fought without its traditional ally, Great Britain. Increasingly strong defence ties with the US and Australia, forged through the 1951 ANZUS alliance, persuaded Prime Minister Keith Holyoake to respond to US calls for military support for the escalating conflict – albeit unenthusiastically at first. Averting the public outcry a combat deployment would create in an election year, Holyoake’s 1963 concession to US pressure took the form of a surgical team “armed with nothing more dangerous than scalpels.” [1] Trained civilian medics would treat war and accident injured Vietnamese under the auspices of the Colombo Plan. Launched in 1950, the plan was intended to help combat the spread of communism by encouraging economic and social development within poorer Asian countries. [2] Holyoake’s National Government was re-elected in November 1963. In June 1964 a 25-strong army engineer detachment (NEWZAD) followed the surgical team into Vietnam to work on reconstruction projects. Holyoake’s stalling tactics were this time deemed inadequate by US and Australian standards, and our non-combat engineering deployment was short-lived.

A combat commitment

New Zealand’s combat commitment to the Vietnam War came in July 1965, when an artillery battery replaced the non-combatant engineers. In April 1967, a tri-services medical team set up in Bong Son. A month later, the first company-strength unit of the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (1RNZIR) was deployed from its operational post in Malaysia where, since 1964, they were part of the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve in the Borneo Confrontation Campaign in Borneo. A second infantry company was deployed to Vietnam before the end of 1967. New Zealand army personnel also provided administrative support in Vietnam for those in action. V Force HQ staff operated out of Saigon, and 60 personnel were attached to the 1st Australian Logistic Support Group (1ALSG) at Nui Dat. The latter included two army nurses per rotation at the 1st Australian Field Hospital in Vung Tau. A New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) troop joined the Australian SAS in December 1968, and a small number of Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) personnel served as helicopter pilots or forward air controllers.

Fighting force

All servicemen who served in Vietnam were regulars or had enlisted to join V (Vietnam) Force, New Zealand’s contingent in the US-led ‘Free World Military Force’. Their objective was to help the South Vietnamese government halt the spread of communism, by defeating the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese bid to unify the country by force. New Zealand servicemen came from town and country, and a range of social and service backgrounds. Some were career soldiers; others joined the regular force to fight in the war of the day. Around 35 per cent were Māori. [3] The road to Vietnam for many started in school or as army cadets, or in the Territorial Force. More than half the troops in Vietnam went by way of Malaysia. Early infantry recruits were experienced in jungle warfare, having completed operations and exercises in Malaya and Borneo. In contrast, Gunner Pat Duggan recalls just a two-week stint of specialised training at Papakura Camp for those selected in the first intake of 161 Battery, RNZA. [4]

Every veteran has a defining memory of their time on operations – a particular firefight, a near miss, a comrade killed in action. V3 veteran Bruce Goodall recalls: “The trouble with contacts is the first one’s great. Second one not so bad. Third one you know what’s going to happen. Fourth one you’re starting to shit yourself. You start getting very wary, particularly when it’s coming time to get out.” The war in Vietnam was fought at close range in jungle terrain negotiated inch by inch, the ever-shifting ‘front line’ and elusive enemy made for tentative soldiering and little downtime on operations. While the war was ultimately lost by the allied coalition, the objective to seize the initiative in the Phuoc Tuy province was largely achieved, with provincial enemy forces rendered largely ineffective without outside support. [1]

Battle of Long Tan

On 18 August 1966, D Company of 6RAR set out on a sweep through an area from which VC forces had bombarded the 1ATF base at Nui Dat two days before. In the Long Tan rubber plantation five kilometres east of Nui Dat they encountered a combined North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) force estimated at 1500-2000 strong. Their task was made more difficult by an extraordinary storm that began early in the engagement. During the ensuing battle, D Company held off repeated attacks, with artillery support from 161 Battery and three other batteries at Nui Dat. Pinned down in the rubber plantation with D Company, a New Zealand artillery forward observer (FO) party – Captain Maurice Stanley, Lance-Bombardier Murray Broomhall, and Lance Corporal Willie Walker – helped direct devastating artillery fire on the enemy forces.

Tet Offensive

Early in the morning of 31 January 1968, North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces attacked around a hundred towns and cities in South Vietnam, breaking the Tet ceasefire tacitly agreed for the lunar New Year. The size and ferocity of the attack surprised the Americans and South Vietnamese but they regrouped and fought back. The communists, who had hoped for a popular uprising in support of their actions, instead met heavy resistance. While Whisky Company remained at the Horseshoe, Victor 2 Company took part in Operation Coburg in Bien Hoa province. For the New Zealand gunners Tet was a busy period – they fired some 6000 rounds and survived three enemy attacks against Fire Support Base (FSB) Anderson, 27 kilometres north-east of Bien Hoa. [2]

Attack on Fire Support Base Coral

FSB Coral was established by 1ATF north of Bien Hoa City to intercept and disrupt the approach of enemy forces towards Saigon and the large United States air base at Bien Hoa. On 12 May 1968, Coral was occupied by troops of 1RAR along with 102 Field Battery, RAA and 161 Battery, RNZA. Before an adequate defensive perimeter had been established, a North Vietnamese Army regiment attacked Coral. Fighting was intense and Viet Cong troops took over part of the firebase before being pushed back with assistance from 161 Battery.