Brigadier Russell Lloyd OBE, MC (RL) - Patron

Tony Thorp - Chairman/President  tonyles@iinet.net.au
Terry Whitwam - Secretary   whitty@iinet.net.au
Ed Harkin - Treasurer    monty2@ozemail.com.au
Rick Ryan - Assistant Secretary  advisor@echidna.id.au
Gary Sutherland - Assistant Treasurer
Ron Almond - Committee Member  salmond1@iinet.net.au
Jim Harrower - Committee Member
Eric Lloyd - Committee Member
John Nolan - Committee Member/
                       Welfare Officer          jono379@bigpond.com
Frank Sykes - Committee Member
Percy White DCM - Committee Member
Arthur Shelton - Social Committee Member
Syd Wells - Committee Member   sydnanny@bigpond.com

In addition to the above I must add the following members who were involved at various stages of the preparations for the reunion.

Bob 'Sooty' Smith - State President - Sooty sadly is no longer with us.
Jim Harrower - Past Chairman - Jim had to stand down because of health reasons.
Graeme Millington - President - Graeme had to stand down due to his son's ill health.
Barry Long - State Secretary - Barry stood down due to poor health.

Finally, to those members who donated to and supported our fundraising efforts and to Arthur and Margaret Shelton for their continuous assistance in fundraising events. Thanks a lot, because without you, we would have been in dire straits.

G'day all,

From all reports, the 40th Anniversary Reunion was a huge success. I have had the opportunity to talk to many of those who attended and many sought me out at the various functions to say what a great time they were having.

Friday, 30th August 2002

Cocktail Reception:  This was held at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle.  This hotel was the central point of accommodation for many attending and thus became a bit of a watering hole in between functions.  On Friday afternoon, for example,  those who registered at hotel reception, seemed to drift towards the bar area where they met other Team members who were already partaking in a few ales etc.

With the cocktail party commencing at 1800hrs, members eventually headed for their rooms to change.  The cocktail party in itself was a great affair. The ladies looking resplendent in their after five outfits and their men just as good.  Plenty of finger food and drinks,  a short welcome speech by Tony Thorp - State President and we all got down to mixing and meeting up with our mates and wives.

This event concluded at 2100hrs and yes, you guessed it, many ended up at the watering hole downstairs and remained there until around 2330hrs.  There are still players and stayers.

Saturday, 31st August 2002

Memorial Service:  With the skies threatening to open up on us, we were transported by bus to Kings Park, Perth for the service. Gary Sutherland AATTV WA Branch had control of this event and what a fine job he did, ably assisted by RSM - Reg Bandy AATTV.

Under the Team banner (donated by Don Cameron AATTV and refurbished by Al Bacon - Honorary member) we marched to the cenotaph behind the Army Band Perth. The sun came out and the service commenced with a welcome speech by Gary Sutherland.  Religious ceremonies were conducted by Monsignor Gerry Cudmore (well known to Vietnam veterans and fellow Team members).  It was good to see Graeme 'Stumpy' Edwards Vietnam Veteran and member of the Leader of the Federal Opposition  as part of the official party.

The Address was given by Major General John Hartley - National President of AATTV Association and what a speech it was. Off the cuff by the look of it, as I could not see any notes and the General eyeballed the assembly as he spoke. Everything was going fine until we were to sing the National Anthem and the heavens opened up. Only for a minute but it was enough for all to go clambering for umbrellas and raincoats.

The general opinion was that the service was great and if the official party had been on time (10 minutes late) we would have missed the rain.  However, that aside we were more than lucky as the weather only got worse from that point on.

Reception - Government House: We embussed to Government House for a reception in the Government House Ballroom where the speaker was His Excellency the Governor - Lt Gen Sanderson. Once again members, wives and next of kin mixed and ate and drank as they were welcomed to the State by Lt Gen Sanderson - Vietnam Veteran.

Formal Dinner: The formal dinner was held at the Fremantle Sailing Club on Saturday night, 31st  August 2002.  The guest speaker was Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC K St J Cit WA. Mike Jeffrey was the past Governor of Western Australia and a Vietnam Veteran who has always had close ties with The Team.  Many Team members present at the dinner have asked for the text of the speech given by Mike Jeffrey. Here it is:

By Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC K St J Cit WA

Brig and Mrs Lloyd, Mr and Mrs Thorp, Maj Gen and Mrs Hartley, Monsignor Gerry Cudmore, Brig Ted Serong and Rose Mary Serong, Brig and Mrs Hughes, Mr and Mrs Payne, other distinguished guests, including all former members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam and their families, the 16 US and NZ  advisory present ladies and gentlemen.

It is a singular honour to have been invited to attend your 40th anniversary reunion dinner in the presence of such a  distinguished gathering, and equally so as a non- member of the Team to have been asked to address this quite special gathering of a group of men who have contributed so much to Australia’s proud military history. Speaking personally, although I have had a wonderfully full and exciting life as a soldier and as a former governor of this state, the one regret I have always had, but never mentioned until tonight, was never to have served with such an illustrious group of trainers, advisors and commanders of South Vietnamese and Montagnard forces.

Your record of service is exemplary. Some of you like Ossie Ostara, Ray Simpson and Kevin Gabriel served for up to 60 months in the Team and another six of you for 40 or more. Many more of you did two tours with the Team whilst others did one and another with the Australian Task Force or associated units and headquarters.

Your battle record is superb. In your 10 years of active service 1962-72, you lost 33 of the 992 members posted. In the process AATTV was decorated with the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm unit citation and the US Army Meritorious Unit Commendation.

In the field of individual gallantry and performance of duty, no unit on the Australian Army Order of Battle has a prouder record.

· 4 VC’s (Kevin Wheatley, Peter Badcoe, Ray Simpson and Keith Payne), who with his wife Flo is with us tonight.
· 2 DSO’s, 3 OBE’s, 6 MBE’s, 6 MC’s, 20 DCM’s, 15 MM’s, 4 BEM’s, 4 Queen’s Commendations and 49 MID’s.
· Add to this, numerous US awards including 1 DSC, 18 Silver Stars and 64 Bronze Stars along with some 376 Republic of South Vietnam awards.

And yet this history of distinguished service and individual gallantry comes as no surprise to me. As a young Duntroon cadet 1955-58 we were taught our military skills by future team members of the likes of Rusty Troy, George Chinn, Arthur Stanley, Ron Perkins and Don Strachan; splendid warrant officers whose soldierly demeanour and instructional skills made such an impact on me and hundreds of my compatriots that their faces are as clear in the mind today as they were 50 years ago. (Talk about Chinn). Captains Laurie Clark and Russ Lloyd were young officer instructors at Duntroon at the same time; wonderful leaders and teachers of the military art. Laurie went on to become Chief Training Advisor of the Ranger Training Cenre at Duc My whilst Russ commanded the Team in distinguished fashion in 1969-70. Alec Preece and Russell McNamara were senior instructors at Duntroon in those early years who both went on to command the Team.

Similarly in my first posting to the SAS as a subaltern in 1959 these were the sergeants, later to serve in the Team, who trained me; Roy Weir, gentleman Jim McFadzean, D J Neville (Trees and Crocodile story), Ray Simpson (Cobber), Clem Kealy, Joe Flannery and George Chinn to name but a few. Ray Burnard, Keith Kirkland, Brian Wade, Graham Belleville (KIA), Don Robertson, Geoff Skardon, Ian Gollings and Ian McNeil were my officer compatriots at the time who went on to serve with the Team.

In my later postings to the SAS, members who had served the Team with distinction, included John Sheehan, Frank Sykes, Tony Thorpe, John Pettit (KIA), Jock Thorburn,  Barry Young and Bruce Sutherland. They were all the beneficiaries of that superb trainer of Special Forces, Laurie Clark whose Recondo selection and patrol course program, suitably adapted over the years, remain a cornerstone of SASR success to the present day. John Murphy, one of the finest officers ever to serve our Army and who had the presence of mind to establish “Australia House” in Danang as a focal point for the Team to meet, particularly for the annual ANZAC Day service, was a close friend. John took the first SAS squadron to Vietnam where his earlier service with the Team must have contributed immeasurably to his splendid work as a squadron commander.

Then from the proven training grounds of the RAR and PIR in which I also had the honour to serve, were comrades in arms of the likes of Adrian Clunies - Ross (a magnificent officer and later 2IC of 8RAR), George Mansford (The Mad Galahs), John Healy, Stan Krasnoff, Barry Peterson, Bill Brydon, Keith Sticpewich, Ken Stoker, Ross Buchan (sadly now very ill), Vin Murphy, Larry McGarry, Ian Teague, Jim Devitt, Neville Wilson and scores of others whom I don’t have time to mention tonight.

The point I wish to make, is that in the quality and qualities of these men, with their professional backgrounds and attitudes, the Team was always going to be something special, something unique; and although operating mainly in ones and two’s, a close band of brothers, united in pride in themselves, their mates and in the uniform they wore.

I have taken great pleasure in reading Ian McNeil’s excellent history “The Team.” In so doing I have tried to visualise your lives as advisors, trainers and commanders in support of the Army of the Republic South Vietnam compared with those of us who were serving with formed Australian units, mostly in Phuoc Tuy Province As a company commander with 8RAR the battalion enjoyed 12 months dedicated work up training in Australia of the highest order, in which we were relieved of all duties, and at the end of which companies and then the battalion were fully assessed for battle proficiency at Canungra. On arrival in South Vietnam in December 1969 we had a period of a few weeks work up training operating just outside our brigade base at Nui Dat, practising with our Australian and NZ gunners, our tanks, cavalry, engineers, helicopters and logisticians. We were a very well prepared battalion; possibly one of the best prepared ever to serve overseas. (8 inch guns episode).

You on the other hand arrived in country in ones and twos, where after a quick briefing in Saigon, you were posted to South Vietnamese or Montagnard units you didn’t know, where language was always a major problem, where training standards in many cases were inferior, where fire support and rapid casualty evacuation was not guaranteed, where diet was different, and where unit morale in some cases was low. Within hours of arrival to your new unit you could be in action, where sustained personal courage and example was often required to hold your force together, to save it from possible panic and disintegration. Yet you did not give up or complain, even during the later years when the war was going badly and many at home turned against our involvement. Rather, like the true professionals you were, you simply got on with the job, to your lasting credit and that of the Australian Army and its fighting reputation.

I cannot hope to encapsulate in a few minutes, the totality of your 10 years of outstanding service in Vietnam, but certain stories in Ian McNeil’s book are indicative and made an indelible impression on me.

Warrant Officer Conway’s death in a mortar pit repelling a battalion sized night attack on Nam Dong Special Forces camp in July 64 in which his US boss Captain Donlan won the Medal of Honour.

Warrant Officer Collinson and Jock Irvine rescuing a badly directed airdropped D6 bulldozer urgently needed for airfield construction at the SF campsite of A Do whilst under heavy, close and repeated attack from an enemy who badly wanted the same dozer.

Captain Barry Peterson and his capacity to weld his Montagnard Truang San force into a highly successful counter revolutionary warfare group for which he was made a tribal chief and his role in containing the Montagnard uprising in 1964 against the South Vietnamese authority and for which he was awarded the Military Cross.

The courage of Warrant Officers Egan, Shepherd and Macdonald during the heavy fighting in retaking Hue during the 1967/68 TET offensive, a series of battles in which the VC were decisively beaten, losing some 45,000 KIA, but in the process winning the critical psychological and PR war with their temporary occupation of Hue and Saigon.( Napalm, Mi Lai, and Police Chief Saigon).

Warrant Officers Waters and Birnie in the battle of Tun Taven in which the 400 strong unit they were advising lost 65 killed and 90 wounded and in which only Captain Deane of the battalion advisory group remained unwounded.
Then our four VC winners:

· In April 1967, Peter Badcoe in the Hue area, leading three separate assaults on different occasions and with different units across open ground and under extremely heavy fire before being killed in the last. There have been suggestions that under different circumstances Peter could have been awarded a second Victoria Cross.  And finally,
· In November 1965, Kevin Wheatley unwounded himself, but electing to stay, fight and die with his badly wounded mate WO Swanton after the CIDG company they were supporting fled under heavy attack at Tra Bong near Binh Hoa. My old friend Felix Fazekas displayed great personal courage and leadership in the same action.
· In May 1969, Ray Simpson and Keith Payne showing sustained and unbelievable courage in separate
tri-border operations with Mike Force battalions and in Ray’s case in the presence of the AATTV commander Russ Lloyd. Can you picture a scene where a wounded Australian warrant officer after two days of heavy fighting in which his battalion withdraws in confusion under repeated heavy VC assault, decides that he will infiltrate back through enemy lines at night and alone, to rescue his US advisor buddies and as many lost and wounded troops as he could?  He does this not once, not twice, but on four separate occasions during the night and saves some 40 of his men from death or capture, including several of his fellow advisors. Well done Keith Payne.

At this point the question is inevitably asked, was it worthwhile? Was it right to be there in the first place and did you and we fellow Australians in the Task Force do a good job? General Peter Cosgrove has been reported as saying that in hindsight, whilst we did a good job, we should not have been there.  This will always be a subjective judgement but on balance I can’t agree. For a start I think it can be somewhat counter productive to look at such questions with the benefit of hindsight. Political leaders don’t have that luxury; they have to make decisions based on assessment of the political, military and social imperatives of the time. So very briefly, what were those imperatives?

I think the big mistake is to look at Vietnam in isolation, as many people today tend to do. You will recall that the end of WW 11 saw the start of the long, bitter and fiercely contested cold war, with Russia and China very much involved in supporting communist revolutions world wide. The West was first tested with the Berlin airlift in 1948 when it was denied access to West Berlin. Then came Korea in 1950, which if it had been lost, would have posed a tremendous potential communist threat to Japan, followed by the Hungarian uprising in 1956, brutally suppressed by Russia. The Cuban missile crisis in 1962 was a near run thing that took us close to nuclear armageddon.

Meanwhile in Indo China, the Geneva conference of 1954 officially recognised colonial France’s defeat by the communist Vietminh, and declared a demilitarised zone at the 17th parallel. Agreements were signed in the vain hope of opening the way for internationally supported accords to peacefully resolve problems between the north and south.

However, North Vietnam left secret communist cadres in the south and later used neighbouring Cambodia and Laos quite improperly as a supply line for its regular military forces and the Vietcong, to support its operations in the south. These cadres provided a powerful guerrilla network for intelligence, supply and terror when the French left. Over time the ensuing insurgency movement developed into full-scale invasion, in part sponsored by President Diem’s refusal to hold elections in the south, but nevertheless in serious breach of the Geneva accords. 400,000 North Vietnamese catholics fled south as a result.

The situation was so serious, the South East Asia Treaty Organisation was established in Bangkok to try to prevent other Asian countries such as Cambodia and Laos falling to communism like “dominoes” and to inhibit the Vietminh from establishing control over South Vietnam.

Because of the totality of the global and regional situation I have just outlined, Washington was determined not to allow South Vietnam to go communist and in 1962 undertook a major build up of forces in Vietnam. Australia followed suit. The rest is history, but we should never forget that in 1965 whilst the Vietnam conflict was in full swing, the communist PKI attempted to take control of Indonesia, only to be thwarted by the quick reactions of Generals Nasution and Suharto, whilst Thailand sat sitting on the fence looking to see which way to jump.

One can only speculate what the region would have looked like if North Vietnam had been allowed to take control of the South unimpeded in 1954 and used the substantial battle trained forces and resources it had available for employment elsewhere in the region. Similarly on the potential impact on the Malayan Emergency, Thailand and Indonesia if there had been no resistance in South Vietnam.  There was thus in my view very sound strategic reasons for the commitment to Vietnam, including the buying of breathing space for the other key players in the region. The problem was not so much in the strategic decision to support South Vietnam, but in the strategy employed to prosecute the war. Fundamentally the political and military objectives were never synchronised; a fatal mistake that was not repeated during the Gulf War of 1990 when the political objective was simply to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait and the military commanders were given the freedom of action, the resources and the time to do that without political interference.  As an aside, it is of interest to note that because of the superior tactics employed, we Australians had everything under control in Phuoc Tuy Province and one wonders if those tactics could have been employed throughout the rest of South Vietnam, whether the outcome might not have been different.

But to conclude, I believe passionately that Vietnam was a just cause in the circumstances of the time and I hope that each of you and your families feel that way too. But whatever you feel in respect to the strategic or moral justification, of this you can be sure; as members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, whether you served as advisors, trainers or commanders, you did your duty as directed by our government of the day, in a manner that has brought lasting credit and widespread admiration of your professionalism, your courage and your dedication, to your mates, your units and to the Australian Army.

Well done AATTV veterans and especially to the wives, children and families who supported you. Hold your heads high always, in the knowledge of a job well and faithfully done in the conflict that was Vietnam.

Thank you, and a very happy 40th birthday to you all.

For more photos of Formal Dinner, Click on Image

Team BBQ: The Team barbecue was held on Sunday, 1st September 2002 at the Special Air Service Sgt Mess at Swanbourne Barracks, Fremantle, Western Australia.  This was the final get together for Team members and their guests.

A luck would have it, we could hold the BBQ in the mess as outside it was blowing constantly at around 80 knots.  This aside, Team members, dressed casually began to wind down with a few quiet ales.  The culmination of the festivities ended with a fly past of a Caribou "Wallaby Airlines".  If the weather was kinder to us, a few more things would have happened but the reaction of the Team, it was good for many to see the Caribou after all these years.

For more photos of Barbecue, Click on Image

I would like to thank all Team members, their wives and guests for attending the AATTV 40th Anniversary Reunion and trust that many of us will meet up again in Canberra for the AATTV 45th Anniversary.

Take care and Persevere,

Rick Ryan
Webmaster

The following is the schedule of activities for the 40th reunion.

Friday 30 August 2002

1800hr to 2100hr  Cocktail Party
Location:   Esplanade Hotel (The Island Suite)
Dress:   Suit or Jacket and Tie.  Ladies, after five.
Transport:   As already detailed.

(2100hr to Whenever) Continuance where ever chosen.

Saturday 31 August 2002

1100hr to 1200hr  Memorial Service
Location:   State War Memorial, Fraser Avenue in Kings Park.
Dress:   Suit or Jacket and Tie, Beret (if available) medals to be  worn.
Transport:   Depart Hotel 0945hr wait for onward movement to next venue.
 

1230hr to 1430hr Reception
Location:   Government House Ballroom, St Georges Terrace, Perth
Dress:   As for memorial service
Transport:   Depart for Fremantle 1445hr

THE DINNER

1900hr   Pre dinner drinks
1945hr to 0100hr  Silver Service Formal Dinner
Location:   Fremantle Yacht Club, Mews Road, Fremantle
Dress:   Dinner suit or Lounge suit with miniatures, Ladies, after five.
Guest Speaker:  Maj Gen Philip Michael Jeffrey AC AO CVO MC (Retired)
  Maj Gen Jeffrey will be accompanied by his wife.

Transport:  Individual arrangements.
 

Sunday 1 September 2002

1100hr to 1500hr  BBQ & Farewells
Totally informal gathering. The SASR Museum will be open, timing to be advised.
Location:   SASR Sergeants Mess  Campbell Barracks, Swanbourne.
Dress:   Neat casual (no cam’s)
Transport:   Depart Hotel 0930hr