'We Were Soldiers Too'
Introduction
Since 1972, a lot has been written about Australia’s involvement in Vietnam. I don't think I am wrong in saying, that a majority of these stories have been written about actual combat situations by our brave Combat Troops that were stationed up at the "Sharp End", Nui Dat. These men deserve all the accolades they get, they laid their life on the line, day in and day out, for their "Tour of Duty", no matter how long or how short that tour was. My tour was at the "Blunt End" down by the beach at "Vungers", Vung Tau, once called Cap St. Jaques, due to the early French occupation of South Vietnam. I was stationed at 2 AOD, the 2nd Advanced Ordnance Depot, situated within the confines of the 1st Australian Logistic Support Group, (1 ALSG) and it was my home for 10 months in 1971. I was once told by an old soldier, that the war was over by then, no doubt, in his view, it probably was, but I'm sure the families of those "Diggers" who lost their lives in the last 12 months of the war will disagree. I'm not sure if anything has ever been written about non combatant soldiers experiences and having said that, I realize that our experiences would not be anywhere near as harrowing as those of the troops that put their lives on the line every day. They were the ones who crossed the wire carrying out clearing patrol, recce patrol and setting up ambushes and each and every time that they carried this out was potentially, a life threatening or life changing experience. For the non combatant's down at Vunger's, most of us never experienced these sorts of dangers, we were required to do clearing patrols and set up ambushes outside of compounds of the ALSG, but the main aim of that was to repel pilferers, those members of the local population, whether they were friendly or communist sympathisers, who may have had the intention of breaking into the stores areas of units in 1 ALSG to steal whatever they could lay thier hands on. There were often times as well, when some of the locals would scavenge through the dump, where general waste from the ALSG was disposed of, looking for anything that maybe useful or valuable to them, from used clothing to building materials, something which they could use for thier own personal use or something which they could sell for finacial gain. Howewver, we did experience certain traumatic, or in a few cases, life threatening situations that would haunt some of us, later on in our lives, just as it did to those combat soldiers who suffered as a result of carrying out thier duties. In my opinion, alcohol was the main cause of most problems that have come to haunt those, who didn't actually experience combat situations, after all, alcohol was so readily available and unlike the combat troops, there was no such thing a 2 can's, per man, per day, perhap's. Alcohol was there for the taking, as much as you can pour down your throat between 1700 hrs and 2200hrs, 7days a week. With all this alcohol readily avaiable, combined with a certain amount of work related and emotional pressure, combined with a loaded SLR, F1 or 9mm Pistol and you have a recipe for a potential disaster and I experienced one of those mad moments.
A Moment in History
Being a member if the RAAOC, wasn't exactly the most exciting Corps in the army and if you were a young Gung Ho type of soldier, who wanted to see some action you would normally be an Infanteer or a member of the Armoured Corps or even an Engineer, all of these Corps would enable those adventure seekers to be exposed to the dangers of fighting the enemy face to face as was evident in many an American War Movies. However being a member of the Ordnance Corps didn't necessarily exclude you from the dangers of war, as was evident in the case of the first two soldiers to be executed by the Japanese during World War 2, those two soldiers were Cpl. R.E. Brevington and Pte. V.L. Gale and they were members of the Australian Army Ordnance Corps. These two brave men were captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore, within three months of their capture they managed to escape from the Japanese and alluded them for 6 weeks, they were eventually captured and returned to Singapore where they were imprisoned in the infamous ‘Changi Prison Camp”. They were both sentenced to be executed by firing squad, Brevington made an appeal to the Japanese officer in charge of the firing squad to spare Pte. Gale his life as he was only following orders. Eventually they firing squad shot the prisoners but Cpl. Brevington was only wounded, they shot at him again but still he survived, Brevington, by this time in tremendous pain pleaded with the firing squad, “For Gods sake, shoot me through the head and kill me". The firing squad fired another 10 volleys of rounds into Brevington’s body finally ending his suffering.
This story is not about Brevington and Gale, but it is about the fact, that you do not have to be a combat soldier to suffer the effects of war, even members Ordnance Corps or Service Corps or any other branch of non combatant Corps were at risk, when there is an enemy willing to kill to protect his country, there was always a danger, no matter what Corps that you belonged to, you too could become a casualty of war.
Below is an address given in early 2008 in Perth to a re-union of AOD personnel by Maj Joe Thursky (Retd)
We are gathered here at this hallowed ground to pay our respects to our comrades who gave their lives on active service for their country, and also comrades who have passed away since the end of the war. In addition, we should also remember the sacrifices of comrades who suffered grave injuries on active service, be it physical or psychological.
We should also pay tribute to the unseen casualties of the war, wives, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, fiancés, relatives and friends who missed our presence and support, particularly mothers with small children who endured considerable hardship during their partner’s absence, and all those who depended on our support.
I also believe that the South Vietnamese civilians assigned to 2AOD deserve our recognition. These people provided significant support with hard work, enabling the employment of more army personnel on military activities. I have no doubt that these people were severely punished by their new communist overlords for their support of allied military effort.
I think that a short description of the unit in which we served would be helpful to refresh our memories and acquaint our guests with 2AOD. In support of the Australian Task Force Group the 1 Composite Ordnance Company was raised, trained and equipped in Bandiana. Shortly after arriving in SVN it was reorganized as 1 Comp Ord Depot, which in turn morphed into 2AOD. This unit was probably the best trained and equipped major Ordnance unit to be sent overseas. Just as well, because the G and Q staff at AHQ in Canberra catastrophically underestimated the level of in-theatre ordnance support required to service the Taskforce group and other elements of Austforce Vietnam. It was only through their superior training and dedicated effort that a major debacle was avoided, especially in the early days of deployment.
The workload during the initial deployment was immense. The ordnance soldiers were assigned to digging trenches, filling sandbags, constructing machinegun posts and digging individual weapon pits near their accommodation. They were also required to assist in the protection of the base, mounting clearing patrols, standing pickets and manning the machinegun posts. During this intense activity they still had to continue to carry on with their normal ordnance supply function. All this activity took place in arguably the worst climate in the tropics. During the wet season deluge, humidity and heat and during the dry season 95% humidity and heat.
Despite the hardships and constant pressure of work, the morale of the unit was excellent. The co-existence between “nashos” and regulars was very good and friction was not evident. During our rare spare times 2AOD fielded a team in each of the three football codes – soccer, coached by Mike Buick – rugby union, coached by Ted Ellem – and aussie rules, coached by Wayne Closter. All three teams won their respective theatre championships.
I would also like to refer to the effect of the anti-war movement on our troops. Their feelings ranged from indifference to anger, mainly due to their belief that these often violent demonstrations only served to increase the anxiety of their loved ones. There was something obscene in the activities of rampaging students chanting “Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh”, throwing tomato juice at marching veterans and desecrating the cenotaph in Melbourne. They were so carried away that they did not realize they were playing into the very hands of terrorists, mass murderers and tyrants.
We who served knew the truth.
The anti-war movement throughout the western world believed that the war in Vietnam was a civil war of liberation, when in fact it was an insurrection by a violent minority led by Vietminh cadres and guerrillas left behind after the partition of Vietnam. I believe that the anti-war movement was nourished by false propaganda and any denials by government sources and fair comments by the media were considered to be lies and deception, whilst false reports and hostile propaganda by the Eastern Block were accepted as the gospel truth. It is worth relating that during the war, the deputy chair of the Moratorium Campaign went to SVN on a fact finding mission. On his return he told Dr Jim Cairns the fact that out troops were fighting North Vietnamese invaders, not the local population. He was promptly expelled from the movement for this “indiscretion”.
The greatest paradox of the anti-war movement was the perceived belief that the free people of South Vietnam actually desired and fought for a system which was known to them as being ruthless, violent and oppressive. But I wonder if the so-called progressives would live in such an environment. Whilst we were there, the South Vietnamese had ample opportunities to escape north, but they never did, despite the terrorist activities of the VC murdering teachers, professionals and intellectuals in front of the villagers and their families, in order to secure their cooperation.
In January 1968 the VC and the North Vietnamese Army mounted, during a customary ceasefire, what was to become known as the TET offensive. The VC were convinced that a successful major offensive will cause the South Vietnamese Government to collapse and a general uprising of the population. This never happened; the South Vietnamese fought like tigers and together with their allies defeated the offensive. The defeat was complete, including the decimation of underground communist cadres which surfaced during the battle. However the Western progressive elements, believing the communist propaganda, turned defeat into an unlikely victory. As a sequel to the war, hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese escaped from this worker and peasant paradise, many losing their lives in the attempt. It is curious that whilst we, the enemy of the people, were there, there were no boat people, because we were there to protect them. After the allies departed the communists took over not only in South Vietnam, but also in Laos and Cambodia, where a quarter of the population were murdered by Pol Pot and his henchmen.
After the war the question was raised –“was the sacrifice in vain because we lost the war?”.
I believe that we did not lose the war because the Australian Army was never defeated by the communists in battle. We were pulled out because the Western powers lost the support of their respective populations.
We can hold our heads high because we, in Defence Forces of Australia, did our jobs to the best of our ability with courage and determination. We of 2AOD lived up to the Corps motto Sua Tela Tonanti or To the Thunderer His thunderbolts .
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My name is Mick Cassidy, this is my story....
I was born in Brisbane on the 13th June 1949, A “Baby Boomer” by definition, I lived in the inner city suburbs of Brisbane, the youngest of three and the only son. My father was a Tramway driver and my mother worked many different jobs during my youth. I was an average youth from an average family, growing up without a care or worry in the world. I went to a Catholic school for my first four years of education, but the discipline by the Nuns was a bit too much for me to bear, so the remaining years of my education was done in the State School System. Not being a great scholar I opted to quit school at the ripe old age of 13, having failed two attempts at Grade 7 I figured I would enter the workforce. I tried my hand at a number of things, from a truckie’s offside to an apprentice painter until I found my calling as a junior storeman with the State Government. At age 17 I met my future wife, it was her father, an former career soldier, who suggested I join the military so I took his advice, in a manner of speaking and joined the C.M.F, so in April 1967 I enlisted, at the 1st Base Vehicle Depot at Gaythorne, Brisbane. During this time I married, and three months later my wife gave birth to our first child. With a family to support and still being so young, I was still not considered an adult at that time, I was struggling to support them, so I made a decision that would probably change my life forever. In February 1969 I joined the Australian Regular Army (ARA), I chose as my Corps selection, Ordnance (RAAOC), as it was Ordnance that I was with in the C.M.F. so I decided to stay with what I knew. I was sent to 1 RTB, Kapooka, for the mandatory 12 weeks of recruit training and then to Bonegilla to complete my Corps training. In September 1969 I was posted to the 1st Base Ordnance Depot in Brisbane, as a Storeman Technical and around about the middle of 1970 I volunteered for Vietnam, within a couple of months of volunteering I was sent to the Jungle Training Centre at Canungra to do my tactical training. Almost every Australian seviceman who went to Vietnam went through the rigors of two or three weeks training at Canungra, it was here that you were taught everything you had to know about jungle warfare, and survival. So as a fresh faced, steely eyed, jungle trained killer, I was sent back to my unit to await my posting orders for the steamy jungles of South Vietnam. In the latter part of 1970 I received my warning order telling me that I was being posted to 2 AOD, Vung Tau, South Vietnam, not exactly what I had in mind but never the less I was going and that was that. In February 1971 I was sent on pre-em leave, where I spent some quality time with my young family before departing for the Eastern Command Personnell Depot in Sydney, to await my departure for Sth. Vietnam
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