Australian War Memorial. Photographs, Film and Sound "bradbury.xml" Guide to David Bradbury's 'Frontline', Vietnam 1962 - 1972 Photographs, Film and SoundCanberra, ACT Photographs, Film and Sound. Australian War Memorial, 2005. All rights reserved. Processed by: Antoni Rudnicki, 2004Encoded by: Antoni Rudnicki, Assistant Curator - Film Date completed: April 2005 Finding aid written in: EN Summary David Bradbury's Frontline 1978–79 Three hundred minutes of sound; 36,500 feet of film; three boxes of documentation. Film Collection, Photographs, Film and Sound Section, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT The collection includes film, sound, transcripts and related documentation pertaining to Frontline, a documentary by David Bradbury on Australian news cameraman Neil Davis's 11-year experience covering the Vietnam War for Visnews. The film, sound and supporting documentation include the out–takes and final version of Frontline, correspondence and interview transcripts with Australian journalists who covered Vietnam, and footage shot by Davis for Visnews, with accompanying dope sheets. Administrative information Provenance:

In 1977 the Australian War Memorial awarded David Bradbury a Research Grant of $4,500 to aid the production of his Masters thesis, which proposed to document in film format "Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War as seen through the television camera lens and the eyes of the correspondents covering it". The project evolved into the documentary film Frontline. As part of a further grant in 1980 Bradbury deposited a print of Frontline at the Memorial. In 1990 the Memorial acquired the original film and sound material, documentation and transcripts, as well as Davis's Visnews footage relating to Frontline.

Access:

Open

 Restrictions on use:

Copyright of materials described in this guide is governed by copyright law in Australia. For further information contact the Senior Curator of Film & Sound.

 Preferred citation:

David Bradbury's Frontline

 Additional information

PR00223 Papers of Neil Brian DavisBradbury's films Public Enemy Number One and In the eye of a storm.

 Keywords: Subject War correspondents; Photographers; Vietnam 1962 – 1972; Southeast Asia; Cambodia Names Neil Davis Biographical note

David Bradbury

Born in Sydney in 1951. Bradbury attended Australian National University in Canberra from 1970 to 1972 and worked part-time and during summers at the Canberra Times, the Canberra Courier and the ABC before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in political science and history. Following a stint working as a journalist at Radio 2GO in Gosford, NSW, Bradbury joined the ABC in Sydney in 1973 as a radio and television news journalist. In 1974 he took up a Rotary Graduate Fellowship studying broadcast journalism towards a Masters in Journalism at West Virginia University, USA and developed the initial Frontline concept for his thesis. In 1975 the Fellowship culminated in a two-month summer school course in Rome where Bradbury received instruction from veteran foreign correspondents from three US networks. By the time the filming of Frontline began in 1979, Bradbury's experience gained from working as a freelance journalist in Europe included coverage of the Spring Revolution in Portugal, the overthrow of the Greek military junta and the last days of the Shah's regime in Iran. For six months he worked in Tehran for the National Iranian Radio and Television before returning to Australia. In 1977 he went to Papua New Guinea to capture the first-ever interviews with the Free Papua Movement guerrillas in their struggle against the Indonesians. Bradbury's oeuvre of widely-acclaimed documentaries includes: Public Enemy Number One (1981); Nicaragua - No Pasaran (1982), recipient of a special certificate of High Merit at the 1985 Academy Awards; Chile: Hasta Cuando? (1986); State of Shock (1988), which focuses on the consequences of cultural ostracism of Aboriginal Australians; and The Battle For Byron (1996), a film about the community fight for the preservation of Byron Bay, a popular holiday location on the eastern-most point of Australia. A prolific documentary film-maker, Bradbury continues to make powerful messages through his use of the film medium.

References:

Tim Bowden One crowded hour (Sydney: Collins, 1987)

Scope and content note

History of the collection Bradbury donated archival footage as part of the 1977 Australian War Memorial research grant for his Vietnam documentary film that eventually became Frontline. Frontline was filmed in 1978. Bradbury's initial theme of Australian correspondents who covered the Vietnam War is difficult to realise as Australian journalists were not in Vietnam for any continuous length of time. But from these preliminary interviews Bradbury captures some rare footage of Australian correspondents reflecting on the media coverage of the war, and catalyse a change in the direction of the film. The focus of Frontline shifts as Bradbury, acting on suggestions from other Australian correspondents, finds a natural subject matter in Australian Neil Davis, whom he meets that year while on leave in Sydney. Davis, a cameraman for Visnews, an international news agency, in his 11th year covering the war had more exposure to combat than any soldier. Interviews of Bradbury for Frontline were shot in 1979 in Bangkok as Bradbury and Davis were denied visas to enter Hanoi. In between Davis's assignments filming action of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia from the Thai border. Billed as "an eyewitness account of the Vietnam War" Frontline features Davis's Visnews footage.Series 1: Frontline This final version of the film Frontline was released by David Bradbury in 1980Series 2: Out-takes Forty-one out-takes of interviews with Neil Davis from footage filmed for FrontlineSeries 3: Visnews footage filmed by Neil Davis in Vietnam, 1964–74 Thirty seven Visnews film items shot by Neil DavisSeries 4: Out-takes of Frontline Twenty-eight interviews with correspondents other than Neil Davis including: Tim Bowden, journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South East Asia 1965–67; Mike Carlton, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1966–67 and 1970; Anthony Ferguson, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1964–69; Cynthia Ferguson, wife of ABC journalist Anthony Ferguson, South Vietnam 1964–1969; Noel Bennell, journalist for Channel 10, South Vietnam 1972; Phillip Koch, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1967; Brian Peck, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1968–70; Kim Simmons, wife of ABC journalist Donald Simmons, South Vietnam 1960–66; Donald Simmons, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1960–66; Jim Revitt, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1966–67; Gerald Stone, journalist for News Limited, South Vietnam 1965 and the ABC, South Vietnam 1970; Mike Willesee, journalist for the Daily News, Macquarie Broadcasters, South Vietnam 1967 and the ABC, South Vietnam 1969 and 1970; Graham McInerney, photographer for the Adelaide Advertiser, South Vietnam 1968–69; Dennis Warner, journalist for the Herald & Weekly Times, South Vietnam 1964–72 and John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, South Vietnam 1966–68; Pat Burgess, journalist for John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, South Vietnam 1965, 1966 and 1967–68; Peter Leyden, cameraman for News Limited, South Vietnam 1969; Robert Greenwood, cameraman for the American National Broadcasting Company Inc (NBC), South Vietnam 1966; Ian Mackay, journalist for the Independent Television News (ITN) and the ABC, South Vietnam 1965–66; Alan Hogan, journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam 1975; Don McLeod, cameraman for Columbia Broadcasting Commission (CBS), South Vietnam 1975; Brian Taylor, cameraman/correspondent for the ITN and the ABC, South Vietnam 1965–66; Les Profitt, cameraman for the ABC, South Vietnam 1965; Darrell Ford, photographer Australian Army Intelligence Corps Headquarters Australian Force, South Vietnam 1966; Trevor Murrell, editor for the ABC, South Vietnam 1962–72; Les Wasley, cameraman for the ABC, South Vietnam 1975; Bill Pinwell, a journalist for the ABC, South Vietnam and Cambodia 1967–71. Series 5: In the eye of a storm out-takes Fourteen out-takes of interviews with Neil Davis In the eye of a storm footage shot by David Bradbury. Series 6: Original sound tapesThirty-eight items, two of which relate to Neil Davis and 32 of which relate to other correspondents, plus one recording of sound effects and three recordings of Lyndon Johnston.Series 7: Related documentationDavid Bradbury's research and list of questions for Davis and other interviewees; content listing for various cuts of the film; negative report sheets listing camera rolls; transcripts of interviews; dubbing charts; two original posters for Frontline; Frontline editing worksheets; storyboards, sheet music played during credits.Neil Davis's personal notes and letters to David Bradbury; letters from other war correspondents to David Bradbury; selected Visnews dope sheets; collection of press clippings on Frontline. ABC Radio Guide; 12 black-and-white photographs of Australian war correspondents; transcript of Tim Bowden's interview with Neil Davis.

Collection list Collection Number: Collection title and date: Frontline, 1979 Out-takes of interviews with Neil Davis, 1979 Visnews footage filmed by Neil Davis, 1964–74 Out-takes of Frontline Out-takes of interviews with Neil Davis, 1978 Original sound tapes Related documentation 1964–74 Collection description & item list Series 1: Frontline,1979 Frontline Accession number Title, date and descriptionFormat and duration Note F10474 David Bradbury's documentary film on Australian television news cameraman/correspondent Neil Davis and his experience of the war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Davis had spent 11 years covering the war mainly for Visnews and, later towards the end of the conflict, as freelance cameraman. He saw the escalation of the war from the direct American involvement in 1964 to the fall of the governments in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Davis was the only western journalist to film the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam during the North Vietnamese invasion in 1975 and his footage taken of the North Vietnamese tanks crashing trough the gates of Presidential Palace has become one of the iconic images of that war. Bradbury skilfully combines contemporary interviews with Davis shot in Australia and Thailand with period film, much of which is made up of Davis's own striking footage filmed in front line combat. The story of the war and Davis's sympathy for Vietnamese and Cambodian people and personal ethic to portray the truth emerge in the interview segments. Davis was committed to trying to show the war from the Vietnamese and Cambodian perspective to try and balance the coverage by the broadcasting networks which tended to show only the United States involvement. Frontline has won numerous awards and was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for best documentary. 16mm; sound; colour; 54 min 4 sec
Series 2: Out-takes of interviews with Neil Davis, 1979 The out-takes are from Bradbury's interviews with Davis in Bangkok for Frontline Accession numberTitle, date and description Format and durationNotes and accessories F10475Interview with Neil Davis Roll 1 (Frontline out-takes), 25 January 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes a free fire zone and its impact upon Vietnamese peasants; attitude of United States soldiers and their experience of the Vietnamese; Viet Cong opinion of their enemy. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 41 sec. Bradbury calls out that this is Roll 3 at start of take 1; interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10476Interview with Neil Davis Roll 2 (Frontline out-takes), 25 January 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes the training and equipment of United States (US) forces and how they were poorly deployed; compares the effectiveness of US forces and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) against the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA); VC offensive tactics; ARVN offensive tactics; US defensive tactics. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 49 sec Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cut was made; interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10477Interview with Neil Davis Roll 3 (Frontline out-takes); 25 January 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes Viet Cong (VC) tactics used against United States (US) and Australian troops; Australian troops' jungle warfare tactics, and how the VC adapted to them; Australian troops' casualty rate due to landmines and booby traps; achievement of Australian, US and South Korean forces; his opinion on the value of their achievement. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 53 sec Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10478Interview with Neil Davis Roll 4 (Frontline out-takes), 25 January 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV); Viet Cong (VC) and compares their rifles and mortars to those of US forces; consequences of faults with the US M16 assault rifle; armoured vehicles in the monsoon season. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 35 sec. Related item: transcript. F10479Interview with Neil Davis Roll 5 (Frontline out-takes), 25 January 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes the US media focus; casualty statistics; his reasons for accompanying South Vietnamese forces; how naive US correspondents misinterpreted and misrepresented events. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 44 sec.Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10480Interview with Neil Davis Roll 6 (Frontline out-takes), 25 January 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes major events leading to the United States defeat; media representation of the Tet offensive and the US political and public reaction; the narrow focus of US media reporting the war; begins relating circumstances surrounding the execution of a Viet Cong by General Loan. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 43 sec.Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10481Interview with Neil Davis Roll 7 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent continues relating circumstances surrounding the execution of a Viet Cong by Police Chief General Loan; a later encounter with General Loan; the impact of colour TV over black and white; US media censorship compared with Britain and Japan; US Defence Department's policy restricting showing of US casualties and his opinion on this. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 41 sec.Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10482Interview with Neil Davis Roll 8 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes his opinion on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) censorship policy; the reason for Visnews' existence; how his film was cut to present a distorted picture of the Vietnam war to Australian viewers; how Visnews wrongly believed the war was over with US withdrawal; his affinity with Asian people. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 59 sec. Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10483Interview with Neil Davis Roll 9 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes his film presentation style compared with that of the TV networks; how his films were historical footage; how the course of the war was changed by the media; the 'man with the white flag' incident; his opinion on physically helping, and filming to help. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 44 sec.Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10484Interview with Neil Davis Roll 10 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes personal repercussions after filming 'the man with the white flag' incident; how it was eventually eclipsed by the My Lai massacre; compares his editing to that of the TV networks; why he continued working for Visnews despite United States offers; why he worked for NBC filming the fall of Saigon. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 36 sec.Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made; Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10485Interview with Neil Davis Roll 11 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes his opinion of Visnews' presentation of his film; hard hitting stories sometimes downplayed in the editing; filming the overall story to show the good and bad aspects; the degeneration of morals because of the United States presence; prostitution as an envitable result of war; corruption in the South Vietnamese forces; wide spread practice of phantom troops the reason South Vietnamese units were under strength. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 38 sec. Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10486Interview with Neil Davis Roll 12 (Frontline out-takes), 1979. Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes reasons behind the alleged disorder of South Vietnamese troops; how President Thieu's withdrawal from the Central Highlands in 1975 demoralised the South Vietnamese forces; the M16 assault rifle and the effect of its' high velocity rounds when they hit a body; how he came to become a war correspondent; feelings about his work since the end of the war in Indo China; lessons learned from combat experience. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 35 sec.Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10487Interview with Neil Davis Roll 13 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes how a South Vietnamese double agent arranged for Davis to meet the Viet Cong; how a United States officer friend of Davis held off for three days the B52 strikes when Davis went with Viet Cong; effects of carpet bombing and cluster bombs. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 40 sec. Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10488Interview with Neil Davis Roll 14 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes the effects of the B52 bombing and napalm, a Vietnamese village after a naplam attack and how an angry peasant women threw the body of a dead dog at the feet of a United States officer; brief description of going to film a Viet Cong village; vital defensive role of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) around Khe Sanh; hostility between United States Marine Corps and Army Air Cavalry and how some Marines fired on the relief helicopters at Khe Sanh; briefly on the beginning of the war in Cambodia then film runs out.16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 33 sec.Related item: transcript. F10489Interview with Neil Davis Roll 15 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes his working in Vietnam 1964-1975; distribution of his film through out the world [sound brief drops out]; accompanying South Vietnamese troops for his first combat experience; the sounds made by the weapons just like on war films; his preferring to stay in Asia after developing a love for the people and land. 16mm; sound; colour; 8 min 17 sec. Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10490Interview with Neil Davis Roll 16 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes his field equipment with demonstrations and close ups of the Bell and Howell DR70 16mm silent, Cinema Products CP16 sound on film cine cameras and portable cassette sound recorder; reasons for working alone; boots and pungi sticks. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 33 sec.Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10491Interview with Neil Davis Roll 17 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes how the Viet Cong combined booby traps and ambushes; dangerous jungle creatures and the story of how an American sentry was carried off by a tiger; awareness of booby traps; crossing rivers; the difference between the war in South Vietnam which was fought in the paddy fields and jungles to that in Camdodia which was fought for the control of the highways; war zone taxi service and noodle sellers in Cambodia. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 49 sec.Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10492Interview with Neil Davis Roll 18 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent describes the lead up to the Cambodian war; the symbolism of the Cambodian flag and how it was carried before the troops in battle; President Nixon and Henry Kissinger forcing Cambodia into war; how Nixon and Kissinger's tactics failed Cambodia; His opinion of Nixon and Kissinger as war criminals. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 40 sec. Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10493Interview with Neil Davis Roll 19 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes his opinion on film as history; his efforts to present history as it happens and some of the difficulties in achieving this; why Visnews did not use 'the man with the white flag' story; the reasoning of filming at the front line; description of hand to hand fighting in Cambodia. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 54 secInterview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10494Interview with Neil Davis Roll 20 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes hand to hand fighting methods in Cambodia; filming during close fighting; taking up a weapon to defend a position that was being overun; explains why it was sometimes impossible to get action footage in a battle; his refusual to take film of soldiers firing after a battle; staged action shots common practice with some of the news networks; hearing President Nixon on the radio announcing a ceasefire in Indo China while beseiged in a Government outpost in Cambodia; did not believe in Nixon's "peace with honour" statement. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 40 sec. Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10495Interview with Neil Davis Roll 21 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes events during the siege of Kompong Selai, Cambodia; how besieged government troops hunted the Khmer Rouge as food; the tenacity of the Cambodian Government troops in the defence of Phnom Penh; United States desertion of Cambodia; his feelings towards the communists after a rocket attack on a primary school, and his reasons for continuing filming this. 16mm; sound; colour; 12 min 1 sec.Interview concludes as sound only for 1 min 27 sec after film runs out; original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10496Interview with Neil Davis Roll 22 (Frontline out-takes), 5 February 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, opinion that General Westmoreland was brillant in logistics but not in tactics; the United States (US) scale of commitment and the ratio of combat troops compared to support troops; ratio of US to South Vietnamese dead; media portrayal of the war; censorship in the US and Australia;the policy of not showing US casualites on television; eighty or ninety cameramen or correspondents killed during the war in South Vietnam and his injury count. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 12 sec. Original negative cut for use in 'Frontline'; title filler 'Scene extracted' spliced in where the cuts was made. Related item: transcript. F10497Interview with Neil Davis Roll 23 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes his feelings regarding the twenty to thirty close correspondent friends killed in the war; the heaviest fighting of the war at Quang Tri and the seige of An Loc during the North Vietnamese 1972 Spring Offensive; shell shock among the beseiged troops and the story of one ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) soldier's captured tank; South Vietnamese helicopter gunship attack on a village while with the Viet Cong; inflitration by Viet Cong agents. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 44 sec.Interview concludes as sound only after film runs out. Related item: transcript. F10498Interview with Neil Davis Roll 24 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes his first experience in combat; how the first shot was just like in the movies; learned latter that how green he was and that he was lucky to survive his first year; learning to 'do as the soldiers do'; relative safety of the front line; prefering the bullets of the front line to the shrapnel of the rear; effect of shrapnel; tactics of advancing troops; seeking cover, reactions and luck in combat situations; ninety percent experience and ten per cent luck; example of luck when out of the five men in one patrol he was with a Viet Cong chose to shoot the radio operator. 16mm; sound; colour; 9 min 53 sec. Related item: transcript. F10499Interview with Neil Davis Roll 25 (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes learning continually; danger of becoming divorced from the action; not becoming an obvious target; witnessing the 'man with the white flag' incident at Hue as a violation of the Geneva Convention; limited power of the newsman; his humanity as a journalist.16mm; sound; colour; 6 min 14 sec.Related item: transcript. F10500Interview with Neil Davis Roll 2 Aranya Prathet (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent, describes United States (US) fear of North Vietnamese ground attack; South Vietnamese defence of the Khe Sanh perimeter; ironic end at Khe Sanh and its effect on US morale. 16mm; sound; colour; 4 min 12 sec. F10501Neil Davis on assignment at Aranya Prathet on the Thai Cambodian border during Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia (Frontline out-takes), 1979.Neil Davis in an apartment being served a meal. Davis perched up a tree looking over towards the Thai Cambodian border. Thai soldiers in front of border gate. Davis climbing down the tree. Davis on pillion of motorcycle talking to other Western reporters. Davis arriving on pillion of motorcycle. Davis carrying Cinema Products CP16 cine camera walking to and speaking with an Asian photographer. Davis wearing head phones filming through the barded wire barrier. Various shots of Davis filming amongst other reporters. Davis filming Thai soldiers. Reporters relaxing playing backgammon. Food and drink stalls set up by locals. Various close up shots of Davis filming. Troops moving towards the border post and smoke from a fire or explosion in the distance. Davis with a plate of food. Davis speaking with police official. Davis talking to locals. Davis on the pillion of a motorcycle. Female reporter playing backgammon with Thai officials. Thai soldiers posing for camera at the border gate. Close up of Republic of Cambodia frontier sign. Davis relaxing. Davis loading camera magazine in a film change bag. Close ups of Davis threading film in the camera. Various shots of activities at the border post. Davis relaxing. Davis back in his apartment or hotel film equipment scattered over his bed. In the field Davis walking away from the camera down a road. Several shots of activities at the border post. Davis writing in a notebook. Reporters and other relaxing. Column of smoke on the Cambodian side of the border. Plastic bag containing exposed film labelled 'Urgent TV' Several shots of Davis filming and using exposure meter. Various scenes at the border, soldiers and reporters. Davis changing camera magazine and writing on the film can. More shots of Davis filming while smoking a cigarette. Davis arrives in a car. Davis speaking with other reporters and examining a map of Cambodia.16mm; silent; colour; 24 min 57 sec.
 Series 3: Visnews footage filmed by Neil Davis, 1964-1974 Film footage shot by Neil Davis while covering the war in Vietnam for Visnews. Accession number Title, date and description Format and durationCuratorial Notes and accessories F10502South Vietnamese Army Ranger in action in Cho Lon area (Visnews production number 4828-68), 8 May 1968.South Vietnamese Army Rangers have been combing Saigon's Chinese sector of Cho Lon trying to flush out die-hard Viet Cong. On Wednesday fighting was continuing in parts of Cho Lon, but it was less fierce than during the previous three days when the Viet Cong offensive on the capital began. About 300 Viet Cong were thought to be holding out in the Cho Lon area, where they had hoisted a new red, blue and yellow Viet Cong flag only 4 miles (6 km) from the Presidential Palace. Gunships blasted the burning shanty town as columns of smoke rose high into the air, but failed to bring down the flag. Meanwhile, tonight (10 May) the Viet Cong appeared to be pulling out from Saigon as peace contacts between the United States and North Vietnam opened in Paris. But it is thought the withdrawal could be a feint, and documents released by the American mission are said to indicate that the fighting could continue for another five days. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 9 sec. Related item: S03301 F10503 Swamps and mud are harsh opponents as American troops patrol during Operation Eagle Flight in Kien Province (Visnews production number 340-69), 4-6 January 1969.Swamps, rice paddies and mud proved to be a difficult enemy as American troops patrolled through parts of Kien Phong Province on the Cambodian border early this week during Operation Eagle Flight. The three day operation, involving troops from the 9th Infantry Division, took place from last Saturday (4 January) to Monday (6 January). The Americans were looking for Viet Cong in the area, 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Saigon, in the Mekong Delta. In the wet swamps and the high grass where Operation Eagle Flight was being held, the troops found conditions very difficult. Men were stuck in mud and some had to be assisted by others who were on more solid ground. Loaded with equipment and their weapons, the troops had a hard time making progress. On Monday afternoon, after the completion of Operation Eagle Flight, US Infantrymen attacked a Viet Cong company of about 700 men entrenched in bunkers near Cao Lanh, in Kien Phong Province. In the 18 hour battle, 74 miles (118 km) west of Saigon, 54 Viet Cong and 3 Americans were reported killed. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 20 sec.Related item: S03301 F10504[US troops withdraw from Vietnam] (Visnews production number 10214-69), 1969. On 8 June 1969 President Richard M. Nixon announced a policy of 'Vietnamization' of the war and a reduction of United States forces in Vietnam. Film shows US soldiers queuing up dock side to board a amphibious assault carrier. Soldiers processed by a clerk before proceeding up the gangway into the ship. 16mm; silent; colour; 59 sec. Related item: S03301 F10505 United States and South Vietnamese Forces push deeper into Cambodia (Visnews production number 4151-70), 3-4 May 1970.United States and South Vietnamese forces pushing through Cambodia are said to have wiped out a large number of Communist troops who have long used the 'Parrot's Beak' and 'Fish Hook' areas of the country as sanctuaries. Since the dawn invasion to wipe out Communist bases started last Friday, the number of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops reported to have been killed numbers more than one thousand. The vast firepower the invading forces have brought with them cannot be matched by the Communist troops. The brunt of the invasion is being led by tanks, but United States Air Force jets have also been landing support with strafing and dive bombing runs on suspected enemy positions. On Monday (May 4) heavy artillery bombarded suspected guerrilla positions in the Fish Hook area while tanks moved into rubber plantations to lend support. Massive hauls of arms, food and other equipment have been captured by the American and South Vietnamese forces. Among the equipment seized were a lot of bicycles said to have been used by the guerrillas. Tanks rode over the bicycles to destroy them to prevent them from being used should they be found by the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese.16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 44 sec.Related item: S03301 F10506Fierce fighting for the town of Srang (Visnews production number 8307-70), 1 September 1970.Cambodian government troops are making a major effort to recapture the town of Srang, 30 miles (45 km) south west of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. The government forces were driven out of Srang last Sunday (30 August). On Tuesday (1 September), they fought their way back to within half a mile of the town. In Tuesday's fighting, the government troops stationed themselves in the rice paddies, with a leafy thicket screening them from the entrenched Communist forces in the town. The Cambodian air force swept into action to bombard the town, and the ground troops made use of the diversion to inch their way forward through the water. The Cambodian forces had the advantage in numbers, but the defenders were more experienced and had the greater firepower. As a result they were able to force the government troops back, and inflict a number of casualties. The Cambodian forces withdrew, dragging their wounded away with them over the rough and waterlogged ground. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 15 sec. Related item: S03301 F10507 The battle for Saang [Khum Srang] (Visnews production number 1162-71), 27 January 1971.More than one hundred guerrillas were killed by Cambodian troops on Wednesday (January 27) in the battle for Saang [Khum Srang] 18 miles (30 km) south of the capital, Phnom Penh. Four Cambodian soldiers were injured. This is the fourth time that the town, which lies on a direct Viet Cong infiltration route between Vietnam and Cambodia, has been a battleground in the 10 month old fighting in Cambodia. In this latest battle, about 500 guerrillas surrounded Saang during the night, but Cambodian troops hit back and removed the immediate threat to the town. This action gave a boost to the morale of the Cambodian soldiers, said the news agency report. The Cambodians have been involved in a string of successful battles against the Viet Cong since the guerrillas blasted Phnom Penh airport recently. They have opened the Highway Four road link between the capital and the deep-water port of Kompong Som, and pushed the guerrillas further back from Phnom Penh. The Cambodian High Command claim the guerrillas still in the area have been dispersed into small groups incapable of launching and attack in strength. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 10 sec.Related item: S03301 F10508Cambodian Forces counter attack around Saang [Khum Srang] on the vital Viet Cong route to Vietnam (Visnews production number 1223-71), 29 January 1971.The Cambodian town of Saang [Khum Srang] epitomises the current war in that country. The small collection of villages lies astride Route 21, used by the Viet Cong as a route to and from Vietnam. Saang lies 18 miles (30 km) southeast of Phnom Penh. Early on the morning of January 27 (Wednesday) an estimated 500 Viet Cong attacked. They were repulsed but fell back to control Route 21 for several miles on the Phnom Penh side. Later in the day the Cambodians counter attacked and after several hours fighting regained control of the road. But then the Viet Cong changed their tactics. They were being heavily pressed in many areas, including along Highway 4 and around Saang, so they fought a diversionary action by attacking the capital. Cambodian troops were rushed back from Saang to protect Phnom Penh and the Viet Cong moved in again on the 28th. The next day Government forces attacked and the bitterest fighting of the whole campaign followed. The Cambodians claimed 100 Viet Cong killed and only four of their men wounded. The area was once again in Cambodian hands, but with the past in mind…for how long. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 13 sec. Related item: S03301 F10509 Battle for the town of Saang [Khum Srang] continues (Visnews production number 1285-71), 30 January 1971.Some 22 miles (36 km) south east of Phnom Penh, is the town of Saang [Khum Srang 18 miles (30 km) south west of Phnom Penh] (pronounced Sar - ung) - by Saturday, January 30th, it had been under attack without respite for four days. Saang is a key point on the vital Route 21 to Phnom Penh - the Communist troops have been in complete control to the South for several months and the capture of Route 21 would mean an invasion corridor straight into Phnom Penh. The 127th Infantry Battalion of the Cambodian Army had been fighting along the same stretch of road for the last three days in an attempt to reach Saang to relieve the garrison there. It was at this point, with the enemy firing from both the wooded area on the West and from across the Bassac (pronounced Bar - sac) River on the East, that Visnews cameraman Neil Davis reached the embattled troops. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 23 sec.Related item: S03301 F10510Highway Four Cambodian troops rout Communist Forces (Visnews production number 4744-71), 29 April 1971.Cambodian troops fresh from fighting in Laos - not previously known to have been there at all - have just routed Communist forces in a new battle for the vital sea-link of Highway Four. They fought their way to within two miles of a besieged Government garrison at the strategic Pich Nil Pass on Highway Four, according to reports from Phnom Penh on Wednesday (April 28). The troops are from the 201st Battalion who have just spent seven months fighting on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos under United States military guidance- facts only revealed this week, according to the Visnews Hong Kong Bureau, who handled this film from staff cameraman Neil Davis. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 44 sec. Related item: S03301 F10511 Government Forces sustain heavy losses in Fighting near Phnom Penh (Visnews production number 13772-71), 1971.Government forces sustained heavy losses west of Phnom Penh, near Khmer capital, over the weekend, as they battled with Communist forces for control of the so-called invasion route to the capital. This film shows the aftermath of the Communist attack on a Khmer company, early on Sunday, at Prey Khiev Hill, about 10 kilometres north of Highway Four. Many civilian dependants of the soldiers living on the hill died in the action. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 7 sec.Related item: S03301 F10512[Khmer] Government Forces drive back Communist troops in fierce paddy field battle (Visnews production number 13978-71), 23 November 1971.As forces of the Khmer Government and Communist troops battle for control around the outskirts of Phnom Penh, some of the heaviest fighting since the war escalated into the country has been reported over the last few days. Last Tuesday (23 November), Visnews cameraman Neil Davis accompanied a battalion of crack Khmer Krom troops into a paddy field battle and shot this account of one of the bloodiest clashes since the fighting around Phnom Penh began. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 10 sec. Related item: S03301 F10513 Colonel in pony drawn cart leads Khmer troops into Communist territory (Visnews production number 14265-71), 29 November 1971.A Khmer battalion led by a colonel in a pony-drawn cart edged cautiously into communist territory last Monday (29 November) just north of the capital of Phnom Penh. The day before the battalion lost 2 killed and 50 wounded in a similar attempt to proceed along the road, initially built as part of a defensive ring around the capital. Visnews cameraman Neil Davis recorded their advance of 3 miles (5 km), a slight dent in the continuing communist pressure around Phnom Penh. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 7 sec.Related item: S03301 F10514[Khmer] Government and Communist forces in fierce close combat near Phnom Penh (Visnews production number 14584-71), 6 December 1971.Government and Communist forces were on Monday (6 December) locked in a fierce close combat duel for control of the western approaches to Phnom Penh. The fighting - mainly with mortars, automatic rifles and hand grenades, took place only 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km) from the capital. Spearheading the Khmer resistance were Vietnamese-born troops from the crack Khmer Krom under the leadership of veteran Colonel Danh Kroch. Visnews cameraman Neil Davis accompanied the soldiers as they battled against Communist forces entrenched in a heavily wooded area. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 21 sec. Related item: S03301 F10515 Government Marines advance into Quang Tri Province move comes as President Thieu pledges recapture of all lost territory (Visnews production number 7676-72). South Vietnamese airborne troops penetrate into Quang Tri City amid heavy North Vietnamese resistance (Visnews production number 8756-72), 19 June 1972.Visnews 7676/72: South Vietnamese Marines have regained a foothold in Quang Tri Province seized by Communist units during the early days of the latest North Vietnamese offensive. No details have been given of Marine casualties in the fighting, but newsmen saw many injured soldiers being carried back to the shelter of nearby dunes for evacuation by helicopter. The Marines' drive into Quang Tri Province came as President Thieu told a nationwide radio audience that South Vietnam would recapture all the territory lost to the Communists. He said the North Vietnamese had failed to defeat the South Vietnamese and he said the Communist units were now bogged down. Visnews 8756/72: Continuous heavy fighting is raging in Quang Tri City in the northernmost province of South Vietnam as South Vietnamese Airborne troops attempt to wrest the city from the control of deeply entrenched North Vietnamese. The battle for the city is part of a counter offensive to reoccupy Quang Tri Province. It is reported that South Vietnamese forces were brought up from the Central Highlands near Kontum City especially for the final ballet for Quang Tri City, which promises to be long and bloody. South Vietnamese Airborne Troops made their first advance into the city proper on Sunday (16 July) supported by M48 tanks and South Vietnamese jets. US aircraft have been ordered by President Thieu not to bomb within the city, but these bombers are maintaining continuous heavy pounding of suspected North Vietnamese positions on the outskirts of the city. By Sunday afternoon South Vietnamese troops had advanced to within 100 metres of a heavy North Vietnamese concentration in an old US compound. The South Vietnamese paratroopers intend to hold their ground, and they told Visnews that they would continue to advance into the Citadel part of the city, now within their reach. Intelligence reports say that at least four North Vietnamese battalions are entrenched in the Citadel with orders to fight to the last man.16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 57 sec.Related item: S03301 F10516South Vieshock wavestnamese in tough battle to regain Quang Tri City from Communists heavy fighting force civilians to flee area (Visnews production number 8894-72), 20 July 1972.South Vietnamese troops attempting to recapture the northern city of Quang Tri have run into very stiff North Vietnamese resistance during the last few days of the battle (19-20 July). Both sides are using tanks in the city. The air cover over Quang Tri is being flown exclusively by the South Vietnamese to avoid the possibility of US pilots accidentally killing civilians. Strikes outside the city, however, are being flown by US pilots to prevent North Vietnamese attempts to cut Highway One leading into the city. US advisors to the South Vietnamese are calling Quang Tri City the 'meatgrinder' because of the ferocity of the fighting. Just before this film was shot Visnews cameraman Neil Davis saw three of his colleagues from the American Broadcasting Corporation killed in the fighting. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 31 sec. Related itemitem : S03301 F10517 Rangers ambushed by North Vietnam regulars near Lai Khe base camp (Visnews production number 9964-72), 15 August 1972.A battalion of South Vietnamese Rangers, caught in an ambush by North Vietnamese forces only two miles (3.2 km) from Lai Khe Base Camp - headquarters of the South Vietnamese Fifth Division near Saigon - was saved from almost certain annihilation on Tuesday (15 August) when government pilots made a daring counter attack. The Rangers were on patrol, looking for North Vietnam regulars who have been moving south over the Khmer frontier via the Mekong Delta, when they walked right into the trap. The ambush was most unexpected, as Fifth Division soldiers had supposedly swept the area shortly beforehand. It was effective also, and the Rangers found themselves unable to retreat, being pinned in from all sides by intensive North Vietnamese gunfire. Only one way of escape was possible, and that was an air strike to disperse and destroy the opposition. And this proved a tough assignment for the South Vietnamese Skyraider pilots, who had to drop their bombs with unfailing accuracy to avoid hitting their own troops. The strikes were successful, and gave the Rangers time to retreat in fairly orderly fashion. According to government reports, the casualties amongst the Rangers were mercifully light - only one dead and eight wounded. That Tuesday night the war got even closer to Saigon as giant B-52 bombers pounded suspected North Vietnamese troop concentrations northwest and southwest of the capital, sending massive shock waves through the city. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 28 sec.Related item: S03301 F10518Armoured personnel carriers come under Communist fire while bogged down (Visnews production number 10012-72), 15 August 1972.Armoured Personnel Carriers - sent to the relief of a South Vietnamese Ranger battalion near Lai Khe - on Tuesday (15 August) came under North Vietnamese mortar fire when they became bogged down in a paddy field. The carriers were called for after the Rangers were forced to withdraw from an area near Lai Khe, 25 miles (40 km) north of the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon. The carriers began their advance before dawn - and it was in the darkness that the vehicles became bogged down. As other armoured personnel carriers tried to free the trapped vehicles, North Vietnamese mortar shells exploded near by. However, none of the carriers was hit. The Rangers' commander called in air strikes which pounded the suspected Communist mortar positions. Later, the South Vietnamese troops resumed their advance but made only slow progress. Latest reports from the area say sporadic Communist shelling of both Lai Khe and Ben Cat, suggesting a renewal of North Vietnamese interest in the Mekong Delta region. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 28 sec. Related item: S03301 F10519 [Khmer] Government troops repulsed in drive to open Highway Two (Visnews production number 10648-72), 31 August 1972.Tight security continued in Phnom Penh on Sunday (3 September) during the elections to restore Parliament. These are the first such elections since 1966. The election day coincides with the anniversary of the death of North Vietnam's former leader, Ho Chi Minh, and the Communists were expected to step up their activities. Khmer Republic troops in recent days have been trying to break a tightening ring around the capital formed by communist forces. Phnom Penh is still cut off from all major provincial towns, except for Kompong Cham in the northeast and the small port of Kompong Som in the west. South of the capital, on Highway 2, government troops have been trying to reopen the road and relieve encircled Khmer troops at Prasat Noang. The government forces, however, suffered a high number of casualties as they were repulsed by the Communists three times in five days. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 38 sec.Related item: S03301 F10520After being repulsed Khmer troops make new drive to Highway Two (Visnews production number 10670-72), 1 September 1972.Voters trickled to the polls in Phnom Penh in a parliamentary election on Sunday (3 September), as government troops outside the capital city tried to break a tightening communist encirclement that has all but cut it off from the rest of the country. The election is designed to complete Marshal Lon Nol's programme to restore a measure of democratic activity under the constitution that he personally drew up and introduced last April. Security in the capital was strict, but Phnom Penh is still cut off from all major provincial towns, except for Kompong Cham in the northeast and the small port of Kompong Som in the west. South of the city, government troops have been trying to reopen Highway Two and relieve at least two besieged Khmer outposts. After having been repulsed by communist forces three times in five days, government troops of the 1st Infantry Brigade finally managed to reopen a portion of Highway Two, only to have it cut off behind them. Visnews cameraman Neil Davis filmed the action. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 35 sec. Related item: S03301 F10521 A day in the life of a grenade expert and his death (Visnews production number 13593-72), 4 November 1972.This dramatic film shows the death of a grenade thrower in the South Vietnamese Army. After making a series of single handed attacks on a Viet Cong position he returns safely to his own lines then collapses with bullet in his stomach and dies within seconds. The soldier was Nguyen Van Phuc. He was one of a team of grenade throwers in the 25th Infantry Division which was called in to re-open Highway 13. Nguyen's job on Saturday was easier than usual - he had an old tomb to give him cover while he lobbed his grenades. On his last trip he had to return under a hail of machine gun fire, but got back safely only to die from to die from a stray burst of fire.16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 32 sec.Related item: S03301 F10522Khmers await proposed ceasefire down but undaunted (Visnews production number 15134-72), 2 December 1972.Film shows deserted remains of houses. Farming families living and working in otherwise abandoned villages. Khmer Government boy soldiers fishing. Khmer soldiers and their families arriving and their families on an ammunition truck. A Khmer officer loading an intelligence officer in civilian clothes with grenades as rides off on a bicycle to locate the enemy. Soldiers position a mortar and test weapons and shells. The surrender of two Communist Khmer Rouge soldiers. 16mm; silent; colour; 4 min 52 sec. Related item: S03301 F10523 Battle between Khmer Republic Government troops and Communists over 'rice' village (Visnews production number 242-73), 7 January 1973.The war in the Khmer Republic has suddenly become hotter…with attacks by Communist forces being reported from many areas around the capital, Phnom Penh. On some respects it appears to be a 'rice' war and according to some reports, just about all of the vast rice growing area south of Phnom Penh is in Communist hands. One village which is being fought for is Tram Khnar (pronounced Trum K-nah), about 28 miles south of the capital. Visnews South-East Asia correspondent Neil Davis was slightly wounded by a rocket while covering the fighting. A Khmer journalist with him was wounded and later listed as missing, presumed dead. Davis says the situation in the Khmer Republic is the worst since the country became fully involved in the war in March 1970, with Phnom Penh now really threatened by the Communists. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 41 sec.Related item: S03301 F10524The fighting drags on into the first day of the Vietnamese New Year (Visnews production number 1202-73), 3 February 1973.The Vietnam ceasefire entered its second week on Sunday (4 February), but the fighting continued. It's eased off considerably, but both the North and South Vietnamese Governments have reported serious violations of the ceasefire over the past few days. However, the fighting was expected to go through a 'damping down' when the 27 men of the International team to help supervise the ceasefire arrived in Hue on Monday (5 February). The commission says it hopes that its very presence in fighting areas should deter fighting. But around Trang Bang on Highway Four on Friday (2 February), big battles continued. One raged on the first day of the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) when South Vietnamese troops assaulted a small hamlet in Trang Bang…a hamlet which had been occupied only a day earlier by the Viet Cong. The troops and four civilians entered the hamlet under fire, but in a matter of minutes, they were encircled by North Vietnamese troops. The South Vietnamese men took cover from the North Vietnamese attack until their own jet bombers and helicopter gunships came to their rescue. On the other side of Saigon, the hunt for any evidence of fighting continues. On Friday, South Vietnamese troops found the Viet Cong flag flying near some tall trees near Ding Tuong Province, about 48 miles south of Saigon. They made their way to the jungle village, tore down the flag and flew the South Vietnamese flag in its place. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 51 sec. Related item: S03301 F10525 Visnews cameraman's tour of Viet Cong controlled village interrupted by helicopter gunship attack (Visnews production number 1355-73), 8 February 1973. A South Vietnamese Airforce helicopter gunship attacked a Viet Cong controlled hamlet in the Mekong Delta on Thursday (8 February) while a Visnews cameraman was filming village life. The cameraman, Neil Davis, said the villagers scattered when the helicopter banked over the hamlet and started firing. Viet Cong soldiers escorting Davis, pushed him behind a building to keep him out of the line of fire which continued for half an hour. Davis located the hamlet in the Mekong Delta region just 60 miles southwest of Saigon. He was escorted by an old Vietnamese farmer he met on the main highway to the Viet Cong hamlet, via a sampan ride through the Delta's vast canal system. All along the river bank, Davis saw Viet Cong flags flying from houses and huts. He said none of the soldiers he saw wore the legendary Viet Cong black pyjamas. Most wore tattered black trousers and blue shirts. They looked like the hard working sons of farmers. Some had captured United States M-16 rifles. But most carried Russian or Chinese-made AK-47 rifles. During his 24 hour stay with the Viet Cong, Davis drank tea, shared a meal, chatted about the mysterious West, ran for cover with them during the attack and listened to artillery bombardment of another hamlet in the middle of the night.16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 36 sec.Related item: S03301Air Force F10526[USAF personnel leave Vietnam] (Visnews production number 3135-73), March 1973.A group of United States Air Force personnel from the 6498th Air Base Wing (ABW) at Da Nang air base South Vietnam celebrating drinking champagne. Sign in the background of the airport reads "Long live the brave fighting spirit of the US Armed Forces". The Americans smiling holding passes and hand luggage moving out onto the tarmac. A heavy forklift vehicle carrying load covered by tarpaulin. The men seen walking towards a Trans International ATransirlines jet. Sign over the boarding ramp to the aircraft reads "Bon voyage USAF Da Nang RVN". South Vietnamese troops and a weeping Vietnamese woman walking towards the aircraft. Several Western women farewell the Americans with kisses as they move up the ramp. Forklift moving towards a USAF C130 Hercules transport aircraft. Americans shaking the hands of uniformed North Vietnamese soldiers or officials as they board the aircraft. Shot of the signs on the Da Nang arrival gate - "Long live etc" and "Hoover's Hooligan's 6498th ABW The job is done". The 6498th was commanded by Major General William W Hoover and the air base was turned over to the South Vietnamese in March 1973. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 14 sec. Related item: S03301 F10527 Town of Chambak falls to Communist forces and surviving soldiers vacate the area (Visnews production number 3211-73), 2 April 1973.In the Khmer Republic, Communist forces have been maintaining a series of heavy attacks on towns near Phnom Penh. On Saturday (31 March) a command post on Highway two near the town of Chambak (pronounced Chum-buk) fell with more than 50 killed and many missing and wounded. On Monday the Communists launched a full scale attack on the town itself and quickly encircled it. After about 6 hours, the defenders were forced to leave the town and began to fight their way out. Some, accompanied by their dependents, made it. But all were battle weary and despondent…a rare thing for these men. The troops were members of the 37th Infantry Brigade and in a long uninterrupted spell of fighting they've taken heavy casualties. Elsewhere in Khmer, Communist forces are continuing heavy attacks and are keeping a stranglehold on supply routes to Phnom Penh.16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 31 sec.Related item: S03301 F10528[Burnt out Cambodian village] (Visnews production number 4479-73), 1973.Khmer Republic troops moving through a burnt out village. Houses are completely destroyed and only foundation posts remain. Wrecked baby carriage with burnt out houses in the background. Khmer Republic soldiers moving through the ruins of the village only a Buddhist stupa remains standing. The soldiers examine a cart full of small arms and a mortar. Soldier carrying rifles taken from the cart. Panning shot showing the soldiers and civilians picking through the ruins. Two civilians carrying a large sack of rice from the ruins and loading it on a truck. Long shot of a Buddhist temple then panning down to Buddhist monks. A women carrying a basket moves through the ruins. Civilians pulling an ox cart full of their possessions. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 11 sec. Related item: S03301 F10529 Bitter fighting on Highway Five and street market bombing in Phnom Penh (Visnews production number 10281-73), 31 October 1973.Military and terrorist activity in the Khmer Republic stepped up dramatically in the last week of October as the Monsoon season began drawing to an end. There was heavy fighting between government troops and Communist led forces on at least three fronts, and terrorist activity in the capital Phnom Penh. At the same time, fighting flared up again in South Vietnam. One of the biggest battles was on Highway 5, known as the 'rice road', which links Phnom Penh with the important rice-producing province of Battambang. Heavy fighting began on Sunday (October 28) after sporadic attacks by Communist forces. They crossed the Tonla Sap River from the east bank and occupied a two and a half mile stretch of the Highway. After three days the Khmer government troops, supported by armoured cars, claimed to have killed and wounded about 30 Communists. The bulk of the fighting was about 15 miles (24 km) north of Phnom Penh. On Sunday (October 28), the Khmer forces tried a determined push to re-open the Highway, but the Communist led fighters were well entrenched and waiting. They met the government attack with a barrage of mortars and rockets, to hold up the Khmer advance and give their own troops time to escape by sampan on the Tonla Sap River. In the restricted area of fighting, casualties were inevitable, and heavy. Soldiers, women and children were killed and wounded. On the same day, six people were killed and at least 16 injured when a hand grenade exploded at a crowded market in the centre of Phnom Penh. Earlier in the week a hand grenade was thrown into a small Chinese restaurant in the capital, and observers believe the terrorism is timed to coincide with the step-up in military activity. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 42 sec.Related item: S03301 F10530Buddhist monk turned soldier leads troops in battle on Highway Four (Visnews production number 10990-73), 21 October 1973.Lieutenant May Um is no ordinary officer - and you can tell that at first sight, for May Um is also a Buddhist monk. He still wears his religious robes as he leads his men into battle along Highway Four, in the Khmer Republic's fight to free that strategic highway from communist control. May Um became a soldier in 1970 when the communists entered his village near Kompong Speu and killed several of his fellow monks. At 51, he is a lieutenant, commanding the 120 men of Territorial Company 1023. The troops, equipped only with rifles, are hard pressed to hold their own against the better armed Communist forces. Although it should have ended a long time ago, the monsoon season lasted an extraordinarily long time this year, and the paddy fields are still badly waterlogged. May Um's company has been hard pressed to hold its position in the watery fields when under attack by communist mortars. Fighting has been going on around the company for a week, but May Um hopes to consolidate his position near the highway now that he has added a mortar to the company's inventory. Lieutenant May Um knows his men well - they were all brought up around the village where May was a monk for 30 years. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 55 sec. Related item: S03301 F10531 Heavy fighting continues on Highway Four southwest of Phnom Penh (Visnews production number 11021-73), 22 November 1973.Heavy fighting was continuing on Thursday (22 November) along the vital Highway 4 in the Khmer Republic, linking the capital Phnom Penh with its deep-water port of Kompong Som in the Gulf of Siam. Military sources said government troops backed by artillery and armoured cars were continuing their sweep against communist forces. By Thursday, every major highway in the Khmer Republic was cut by the communists amid heavy fighting. On Friday night (23 November), communist forces shelled three provincial centres around Phnom Penh. Military sources said at least ten people had been killed and 25 wounded by shelling in the provincial capital of Takeo, 40 miles (60 km) south of Phnom Penh, in 5 days. On Thursday, the town of Mohasaing on Highway 4 fell to communist forces. Troops and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) of the Khmer's most successful unit, the 28th Infantry Brigade, were rushed in to stop the communist advance. More than forty APCs and two battalions of infantry were thrown into the battle. At first there was little resistance from the communists, but after several hours the Khmer forces were halted by heavy mortar and rocket fire, which inflicted serious casualties. The monsoon season in the region has already lasted a month longer than usual. In the ten days before the Mohasaing battle, three towns were lost by the government to the communists. Observers in Phnom Penh say Highway 4 is vital to the defence of the capital, because it is the route for essential supplies coming into the country through the port of Kompong Som. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 11 sec.Related item: S03301 F10532[Khmer Republic] armoured personnel carriers attempt to clear Communist troops near Phnom Penh (Visnews production number 11252-73), 28 November 1973.More than 60 Khmer Republic armoured personnel carriers led a major assault near Highway 4, 37 miles southwest of Phnom Penh on Wednesday (28 November), in an effort to clear out communist led insurgents from the town of Mohasaing. Advancing through rice paddies still muddy from the recent monsoon rains, the APCs formed a solid frontline for the government troops. Contact was made with the Khmer Rouge. But while the government troops advanced, the communists launched a heavy mortar attack on the provincial capital of Kompong Speu, only 5 miles away. For the past week the fighting along this section of Highway 4, leading to the deep-water port of Kampong Cham, has developed into the largest battle zone since the beginning of the year. More than 4,000 government soldiers and an estimated 2,000 insurgents are entrenched over a front five miles long. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 9 sec. Related item: S03301 F10533 [Khmer Republic] Government troops over run insurgents near Phnom Penh (Visnews production number 1587-74), 16 February 1974.Government troops in the Khmer Republic scored a much needed victory when they overran heavily entrenched insurgent positions to the northwest of Phnom Penh on Saturday (16 February). The victory was a morale booster for the government forces and relieved some of the intense communist pressure on Phnom Penh. The Khmer forces had been fighting the insurgents in the area for well over a month with little success. A week ago the battle hardened 80th Infantry Brigade, the successful defenders of Kampong Cham last year, were moved into the front line. However, their initial attack last Wednesday (13 February) was brought to a rapid halt when the Khmer Rougr used poisonous gas. But on Saturday, with the backing of armoured personnel carriers and anti-personnel rockets, they advanced rapidly and recaptured more than a kilometre of communist territory. The battle, one of the fiercest for some time was filmed by Visnews cameraman Neil Davis who was in the front line throughout the attack. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 53 sec.Related item: S03301 F10534(Visnews production number 2253-74), 1974.Khmer Republic light mortar crew in action. Civilians including children watching the mortar crew firing. Camera pans to a large Buddhist temple. Cambodian from the vantage point of the temple looking through binoculars. Long shot of smoke or explosion in the distant tree line. Khmer Republic officer speaking into the hand set of a jeep mounted radio. Close up of the radio equipment. Wide angle shot of the officer. Civilians gathered outside the temple. Civilians, perhaps refugees, sheltering inside a building some resting on makeshift beds. Soldiers collecting rifles inside the building. Close up of Cambodian being interviewed. Close up of man playing a flute. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 11 sec.Related item: S03301 F10535 [Khmer Republic armoured personnel carriers in action and boy soldiers (Visnews production number 3690-74), 1974.Khmer Republic M113 armoured personnel carrier (APC) moving into action. View from inside APC of the commander gunner. Several scenes of infantry moving forward and taking cover behind paddy field dyke. Soldier firing M40 grenade launcher and shelters behind the dyke is armed with an M16 assault rifle. Soldier armed with the M40 signals others to move forward. APC fires 106mm recoilless rifle. Several scenes of APCs firing recoilless rifles. Boy soldiers moving forward. Wounded boy soldier runs back to lines. Close up of the gunshot wound to the boy's elbow. The boy soldier has his wounds dressed tow other soldiers. Close up of the boy's face in pain. Other wounded being escorted to the rear by soldiers. Soldier carrying a wounded comrade in his arms. Wounded soldier carried on a stretcher to an ambulance. Several scenes of casualties being loaded into the ambulance. Close up of a boy soldier. Boy soldier walking with an M16 on his shoulder.16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 11 sec.Related item: S03301 F10536One journalist killed and two wounded covering Khmer Republic Government troops fighting Communists at Kompong Chhnang (Visnews production number 9895-74), 2 October 1974.One journalist was killed and two others wounded while covering the battle between Khmer Republic Government troops and Communist insurgents around the provincial capital of Kampong Chhnang. Lim Savath, a 31-year-old Khmer freelance photographer working for the Associated Press, was killed near Kampong Chhnang on 26 September, but his body was not recovered until 2 October. It was taken to Phnom Penh for cremation. The two wounded journalists were 40 year old South Korean Lee Yosep, who was working on assignment for Visnews and Al Rockoff, a 26 year old American freelance photographer. Over 350 Communists were killed by Government troops during a clearing operation around Kampong Chhnang. According to the Khmer High Command, one Government soldier was killed and 30 wounded during the operation, which began on 30 September. Kampong Chhnang, which links Phnom Penh with the rice growing Sattampang province, has been under heavy insurgent pressure for two weeks. 16mm; silent; colour; 1 min 12 sec.Related item: S03301 F10537 [Aftermath of a Khmer Rouge massacre] (Visnews production number 151-75), 1975.Khmer Republic soldiers and civilians holding a hand over their noses moving about a burnt out village. A burnt corpse in a banana grove. Women crouching down before the corpses weeping. Soldiers standing looking at the dead. Several scenes of the corpses in the banana grove. Women weeping. The badly charred remains of a person amongst the ruins of a village house. Men place the charred bodies onto woven mats. Buddhists monks chanting prayers over the bodies of the victims. Men pile wood up to cremate the victims' remains.16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 26 sec.Related item: S03301 F10538[Khmer Republic] Government troops liberate villagers from insurgents (Visnews production number 263-75), 6 January 1975.Thousands of villagers were liberated from an area less than 15 miles (24 km) from Phnom Penh when government troops broke through a cordon of communist led insurgents on Monday (6 January). About 20,000 people had been reported isolated by insurgents, who closed in on them since the fighting began on New Year's Day in a renewed offensive against government forces. Many refugees, who tried to slip through the communist ring, were killed. News agencies said many villagers were killed in the first two days of the fighting. On Tuesday, those who managed to leave their wrecked villages alive, like many others before them, did not know where they were going to or what the future would hold for them. It is estimated that more than 7 million, roughly half of the country's population, have so far been displaced in similar circumstances. 16mm; silent; colour; 2 min 10 sec.Related item: S03301
 Series 4: Out-takes of interviews with Australian correspondents, 1978 These interviews represent the initial concept for the film. None of them featured in the final cut. Accession number Title, date and description Format and durationhumour F10539 Interview with Noel Bennell. Interview with William Roland Pinwill (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Noel Bennell as a journalist with the 0-10 network in Vietnam 1972. Impression of Saigon in 1972 was depressing. Low morale of the South Vietnamese indicated to him that the fall of Saigon was inevitable. The United States troops also showed a low morale either through leadership or the affect of the anti war protests in the US. Visit to a hospital where there were more US soldiers there being treated for drug overdoses than wounded. He was not allowed to visit the Australians as the area between Saigon and Vung Tau was not secure. Awareness that this was a war without frontiers. As he was not able to go out into the war zone he did stories on refugees and orphanages in Saigon. The suffering of the civilians as a by product of war has a greater impact than battle scenes. The black humour of war correspondents. How some Vietnamese did profit from the war. Example of the taxi drivers who would take journalists to the war. The story of two correspondents who would have a picnic lunch at a staging post every day. Opinion on why journalists pride themselves on objectivity and how he did not use television to espouse his anti war opinions. He believes his television station gave equal coverage to both pro and anti war views. The US networks used foreign cameramen, not as cannon fodder but, because as the war progressed American cameramen were reluctant to be assigned to Vietnam. His naivety on being prepared for a war zone. William Pinwill as an ABC journalist. The ABC gave little in the way of directives on how to report the war. He was severely critisied by ABC head office for his reporting of the alledged water torture of a female Viet Cong prisoner by Australian troops. Accused of raising common gossip as fact. Critised by unnamed Australian Senator for his reporting of fighting between South Vietnamese and Cambodian government troops. Film runs out and interview continues as audio only. 16mm; sound; colour; 14 min 47 sec.Related items: S03270; S03296; transcript.F10540 Interview with Tim Bowden (Frontline out-takes), 15 March 1978.Tim Bowden as an ABC journalist in Vietnam. His experience on a twenty four hour stay with a United States Marine Corps unit on a search and destroy misson in a free fire zone. Told to walk in the tank tracks as a way to avoid mines and booby traps. How the Marines forced Vietnamese villagers to walk in front of the tanks as they advanced. The villagers knew where the mines would be because the Viet Cong would alert them so they waste the VC mines. The Marines spotted what they thought was a NVA soldier so the tanks and artillery fired into the village. Bowden's shock as a young boy with a war bufflalo was caught in the fire. The Marines actions at variance with policy of winning the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese. The American troops did not see the Vietnamese as people. Incidents such as this indicated how the My Lai massacre could happen. Bowden explains that to report the war you could not afford to be emotionally involved. Bradbury comments that that technology could not win the war and the media coverage could not change the minds of the people as well. Bowden attributes this to the sameness of the television coverage. Difficultly in getting actual combat footage. The unreality of television cut people of emotionally from what they were viewing. Neil Davis as one cameraman who did go to the front line. Describes Neil Davis as compassionate and one of the most sensitive people he ever met. Davis's instinctive rapport with the Asian people. Davis as the only Western cameraman to go out contiually with the South Vietnamese troops. Bradbury asks if Davis will end up dying on a battlefield. Bowden replies that Davis is very experienced and has been in combat more often than any soldier. He knows when to take risks or not. Though his intution can sometimes let him down pointing out that he was badly wounded by a mortar bomb. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 36 sec. Related item: S03265; transcript. F10541 Interview with Pat Burgess (Frontline out-takes), 28 February 1978.Francis Patrick Burgess as a correspondent for John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, News Limited and the 7 Network on the death of four fellow correspondents; accompanying Police Chief General Loan fighting near the bridge to Bien Hoa; grim conditions at Hue, and North Vietnamese determination; reasons for reporting the Vietnam war; the Australian soldier; out break of the Tet offensive in Saigon; Australian humour and reasons for reporting the Vietnam war.16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 36 sec.Related items: S03284; S03285; transcript. F10542Interview with Mike Carlton (Frontline out-takes), 24 March 1978.Mike Carlton as a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) describes his first impressions of South Vietnam in 1966 and 1970; censorship and objectivity within the ABC; effect of TV on public opinion, quoting the North Vietnamese Defence Minister; ABC didn't interpret the political situation; his depression caused by the invasion of Cambodia; Air Vice Marshall Ky and the mortar misfire at Nui Dat; armed Vietnamese officer threatens him in a bar; reading danger signs in a war zone; impression of Neil Davis; risks for a cameraman and soundman compared to a journalist; assisting the injured, and racial tendencies; switching off emotions toward suffering to avoid going mad; worst thing was waiting for something to happen; Neil Davis in Indonesia; brutality and human instinct; scale of the war, attitude of soldiers and journalists. 16mm; sound; colour; 18 min 49 sec. Related items: S03266; S03267; transcript. F10543 Interview with Robert Clarke (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Robert Clarke as a cameraman describes filming troops disembarking from a helicopter, which left without them; being picked up by a helicopter bringing the next troops.16mm; sound; colour; 2 min 2 sec.Related item: transcript. F10544Interview with Darrell Ford (Frontline out-takes), 17 February 1978.Darrell Ford as an Australian Army sergeant cameraman in Vietnam describes he difference in covering a war as to any other story; a certain risk in covering stories in Australia but in a war there is uncertainy; excitement of being the only cameraman to capture a good action; helping comrades if needed - not letting the camera be in total control; adrenalin rush of combat and capturing peoples expressions in those situations; he would go again to a war zone but not Timor; how soldiers will not place full trust in a civilian cameraman or journalist but would in a soldier cameraman; how soldiers combat fear as in the case of stepping on a mine; the story of one soldier who stood frozen on a mine for three quatrers of and hour before begining rescued; how he was wounded in ambush while on Operation Canberrawith 5 RAR in the Nui Dinh mountains; comparison of the way Australians and Americans conduct operations; description of the helicopter evacuation; disappointment of being sent home due to his wounds; the high rate of operation and casulties due to sickness amongst the battalion; feeling forgotten and unloved by the people back home; how he and others coped with depression by having wild parties at the sergeant's mess in Nui Dat; how they 'kidnapped' the entertainer Col Joye after a concert and took him back for a drinking session; brief mention of the battle of Long Tan. 16mm; sound; colour; 16 min 20 sec. Camera battery runs out and then interview ends. Related item: S03293; transcript.F10545 Interview with Bob Greenwood (Frontline out-takes), 23 February 1978.Bob Greenwood as a cameraman for the American National Broadcasting Company Inc (NBC) describes differences between reporting the Vietnam war for American and Australian networks; accompanying a United States patrol in the highlands near Plei Ku and being ambushed; deciding not to renew his employment contract; his soundman, Hans Peschke dragging him into dangerous situations [the sound synchronization system used at that time required the film camera and sound recorder to be connected by a cable]; reasons for working in a war zone; requirement for impartial reporting; not until the end of the war was it apparent that we were losing badly; never sitting in the front seat of military vehicle after seeing bullet holes; comparison of Australian and US soldiers; the brave reputation of Australian airmen; RAAF Caribou transports supplied the besieged outpost of Plei Me because the Americans refused to.16mm; sound; colour; 13 min 4 sec.Related item: S03287; transcript. F10546Interview with Jack Gulley (Frontline out-takes), 15 March 1978.Jack Gulley as a correspondent describes Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and overseas coverage of the Vietnam war; realisation of the US bias; the ABC's policy of objectivity; the impact of television on public opinion; constraints in providing Australian film coverage; rotation of correspondents; the decision to show the film of Police Chief General Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner supported by ABC management; ABC censorship and the destruction of the Wilfrid Burchett interview. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 43 sec. Related item: transcript. F10547 Interview with Phillip Burton Koch (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Phillip Koch as a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) describes his reasons for going to Vietnam; opinion on correspondents carrying side arms;young men going to war to prove themselves; influenced in his youth by reading Ernest Hemingway; compares the different styles of two generations of journalists; objectivity of the ABC; the destruction of Tony Ferguson's interview with Wilfred Burchett. Australia's involvment in Vietnam solely to maintain the relationship with the United States.16mm; sound; colour; 8 min 46 sec.Related item: S03271; transcript. F10548Interview with Phillip Koch and Noel Bennell (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Noel Bennell as a television correspondent and editor for Channel 10 and Phillip Koch as a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) describe TV coverage of the Vietnam war era; Prime Minister's John Gorton's request that the ABC with hold a story that could affect the troops morale; reasoning behind the destruction of the Wilfrid Burchett interview; objectivity or committed coverage of the ABC; how Defence Public Relations film on Australian activities didn't give a true picture; evaluation of media coverage; the first war fought with daily television coverage and how it became monotonous. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 17 sec. Related item: S03270; S03271; transcript. F10549 Interview with Peter Leyden (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Peter Leyden as a cameraman for the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) describes war zone camaraderie; military professionalism; his work in Australia and reasons for going to Vietnam; Australian involvement; no stories on the Australians when he was working for the Americans; apprehension towards helicopter maintenance by the Vietnamese; being under fire while in a spotter aircraft over Khe Sanh; among the first to film a B-52 bomber base in Thailand; describing the bombing up of a B-52; B-52 pilots's perspective; becoming divorced from reality by looking through the camera's viewfinder; coping while witnessing human suffering; unedited war footage creating anti-war sentiment; his working conditions; United States (US) aid for the wounded; his position while on patrol; camaraderie in Vietnam, and ten years later; competition between US correspondents; relationship with his Vietnamese soundman; encountering North Vietnamese troops while wandering between US groups; moving camp at night time; lifestyle of correspondents in Saigon; US Embassy at the start of the Tet offensive; commuting from the comfort of a Saigon hotel to the war.16mm; sound; colour; 20 min 34 sec.Related item: S03286; transcript. F10550Interview with Ian MacKay (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Ian Magnus Mackay as a journalist for Independent Television News (ITN) and Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) describes differences between TV and newspaper reporting; the 'Five o'clock follies' and the questionable value of information given to the media by the United States (US) military; the Australian military role; objectivity and fatalism in a war zone; twenty four hours under siege at a US Special Forces camp at Du Co (?); coping with being under fire in a helicopter; coping with fear; the character of the ABC journalist Don Simmons; while on the Australian Army Vessel the Vernon Sturdee witnessing a large troop carrying helicopter being hit by fire and exploding in flight; personal effect of war zone experience; feeling depressed that the US and Australians were doing the fighting and not the South Vietnamese. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 38 sec. Related item: S03288; transcript. F10551 Interview with Graham McInerney (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Graham Edward McInerney as a photographer for the Adelaide Advertiser describes being in a United States F4 Phantom fighter bomber on a bombing run, being overcome by G forces; combating fear in a war zone; an aside with an Australian officer before his first combat patrol; reasons for going to South Vietnam; cameramen filming during a fire fight; offer of 'pot' [cannabis] from a French correspondent - on refusal the French correspondent asked how he can go out on operations without taking some kind of drug; accompanying a US helicopter assault near the Cambodian border, being ambushed and wounded while fetching water; a sense of humour was needed; being robbed during a black market cash exchange; realization that there was no way he was going to get action pictures as this would be too dangerous - he was really looking for expressions of the people affected by the war; how he would go back to Vietnam, and advice for young journalists; US and Australian soldiers' attitudes.16mm; sound; colour; 14 min 2 sec.Related item: S03281 F10552Interview with Don and Rosemary McLeod (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Don McLeod as a cameraman for CBS News describes his job as filming the actuality; fear in a combat situation and anticipation beforehand; it was a calculated risk just being there; his fear of flying in helicopters piloted by United States (US) conscript pilots; how his nerves became affected; sustaining heavy fire in a helicopter, and the heavy landing at Ben Het US Special Forces camp; developing a neurotic fear of flying during sixteen months especially in C-130 Hercules aircraft; fighting conditions at 'Hamburger Hill' (Ap Bia Mountain) one of the fiercest battles of the war; the most moving emotional experience as witnessing a mass funeral at Hue; becoming fatalistic; complacency of US conscripts; why US networks employed Australian cameramen; how the Viet Cong controlled the country after dark; being ambushed on a river patrol. Rosemary McLeod as his wife describes initial feelings and coming to terms with Don's work; Don's motivation and outlook; other cameramen; rocket attacks on Saigon; existence of cameramen's wives in Saigon. 16mm; sound; colour; 14 min 45 sec. Related item: S03290. F10553 Interview with Les Profitt (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Les Profitt as a cameraman for Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Television News describes going up river with the South Vietnamese junk fleet; the American adviser shooting up Vietnamese villages because it was a 'Free Fire Zone'; the boat being hit and disabled; opinion that Wilfred Burchett was a great Australian; filming Tony Ferguson interviewing Wilfrid Burchett and the destruction of the film by the ABC; role of the cameraman; politics in the Vietnam war; the Vietnam war in the media; the Australian way of thinking; a futile war the United States could not win; opinion the styles of journalists Don Simmons and Tony Ferguson; an instance of cameraman Peter Leyden risking his life to get action footage.16mm; sound; colour; 9 min 40 sec.Related item: S03292; transcript. F10554Interview with Jim Revitt (Frontline out-takes), 22 February 1978.Jim Revitt as a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Radio News and Television News and Radio Australia describes being the only ABC reporter in South Vietnam; utilising Visnews cameramen; Neil Davis as one of the greatest cameramen and correspondents of the Vietnam war; task of reporting in South Vietnam; lack of ABC resources; ABC policies guiding reporters and talks [current affairs] department; no in-depth interpretive reporting carried out; ABC policy of reporting singular events, without context; frustration of not being able to report the progress of the war; how Australian public opinion would have been more informed by interpretive reporting; lack of management awareness; most feedback came from his parents; hope for future war reporting, futility of war; ABC policy change toward the end of the war, and lack of ABC equipment in Saigon. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 44 sec. Related item: S03275; S03276; transcript. F10555 Interview with Shirley Shackleton (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Shirley Shackleton as the wife of Greg Shackleton (one of five journalists killed in East Timor during the 1975 Indonesian invasion) reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and Channel 7 describes her feelings on Greg's assignment to Timor; Greg's reasons for visiting Timor; her feelings on loyalty, Greg's absence, practicality; how she learned he was missing, presumed dead; Greg's views on death and his future; her feelings on the job risk.16mm; sound; colour; 8 min 49 sec. F10556Interview with Gerald Stone (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Gerald Stone as a journalist for News Limited and television correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) describes why journalists enter a war zone; excitement of war as described by Associated Press photographer Horst Faust; veteran reporters are not cynics; 1965 bombing of the Mekong floating restaurant when Murray Wilmont photographed the casualties, justified as reporters doing the job; morals within journalism and other professions; reporting about the human condition; opinion of Neil Davis as a journalist and his surviving a mortar shell exploding in Cambodia; at the start of the war the reporters sent were police roundsmen; TV news editors portrayed a sanitised version of the war; living with the deaths of two cameramen he sent to Timor in 1975 when he was News Director; common rapport between soldiers in the field; wearisome debate on the impact of TV coverage of the war; objective reporting and personal bias; Vietnam as a starting point of subjective journalism; having no humorous recollections; humorous incident involving Hunter Mayo and Alan Ramsay fighting in a jeep; excitement of being in a war; women leaders would not end wars. 16mm; sound; colour; 19 min 50 sec. Related items: S03277; S03278; transcript. F10557 Interview with Brian Taylor (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Brian Taylor as a cameraman for the British based Independent Television News (ITN) describes his luck during the Vietnam war; calculating risk; his assessment of a helicopter flight from a Special Forces camp; ambush evasion technique; caution during patrol; assessing danger; experiencing 'carrier warfare'; difficulty in filming during bombing runs; US cooperation in filming by providing suitable aircraft such as the A-6 Intruder; hazards of landing on an aircraft carrier; torture and killing of captured reporters early on in the war by the Viet Cong; a Swiss cameraman who had his eyes cut out and another reporter who was disembowelled; equipment and money carried by cameramen an incentive for the Viet Cong to kill them; dangerous assignment at Du Coq (?) a Special Forces camp before it was overrun; assessment of Australian political and public knowledge of the war; Australian troops; reasons for going to Vietnam.16mm; sound; colour; 15 min 11 sec.Related item: S03291. F10558Interview with Dennis Warner (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Dennis Warner as a correspondent for John Fairfax & Sons Ltd and Herald & Weekly Times, the Melbourne Herald, London Daily Telegraph, Reporter Magazine and Look Magazine describes inadequate Australian media coverage of the Vietnam war; his years spent in Vietnam as a correspondent 1949-1975; coping with fear in a war zone; first time under fire is acutely disturbing; being a passenger on an aircraft under fire at Khe Sanh during the Tet offensive; experiencing a mortar attack in Cambodia, and Kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa during the Second World War; challenge of being a war correspondent; withholds opinion of Wilfrid Burchett due to ten years of libel suits; news from North Vietnam reported by 'trained seals'; being expelled from Vietnam by the French for predicting their defeat; the 'termite theory' of Communist expansion in South East Asia and its confirmation at SEATO in 1955. 16mm; sound; colour; 4 min 10 sec. Sound drifts out of sync as the item progresses due to fault with the audio tape recorder pilot tone at the tiem teh orignal recording was made. Film runs out and interview concludes as audio only. Related items: S03282; S03283; transcript.F10559 Interview with Les Wasley and Alan Hogan (Frontline out-takes), 15 March 1978.Alan Hogan as a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and Les Wasley as a cameraman for the ABC, both on a media tour of South Vietnam during the North's invasion in 1975, describe differences between reporting wars in Korea, the Middle East and South Vietnam; impressions of South Vietnam and the poor morale of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during a media guided tour; evacuating by helicopter during the the battle for Xuan Loc; panic among cvilians and soldiers to leave and Wasely filming while they scrambled to get on the Chinook helicopter; Xuan Loc portrayed by the South as a victory but actually ended up as a defeat; artillery fire and civilian trauma during the fall of Saigon; pleas by Vietnamese to help them flea to Australia; unreality of boarding a departure flight amid an atmosphere of tragedy; relationship with their taxi driver; emotional pain of witnessing human suffering; impact of limited TV coverage on public opinion of the war.16mm; sound; colour; 21 min 34 sec.Related items: S03289; S03295; transcript. F10560Interview with Mike Willesee (Frontline out-takes), 15 March 1978.Mike Willesee as a correspondent for the Daily News, Macquarie Broadcasters and the Australian Broadcasting Commission describes experiences while filming the by product of war at an orphanage run by Buddhist Monks; orphange fired upon by ARVN troops since the orphanage was suspected as harbouring Viet Cong; first visit to Vietnam in 1967 and concern that there was not any identifable cause; experiences with Neil Davis; war correspondents tried to be objective unlike political commentators; developed belief of the Vietnamese right of self determination; Australian news coverage limited and ordinary; role of Television in shaping public opinion and the anti-war movement; extent of misinterpretation of the Vietnam conflict; role of the media and reporters; his experiences of the Vietnamese attitude; becoming more fatalistic; explains that there was little action footage of Australian troops because they saw little action in Phuoc Tuy Province; differences between Australian and US soldiers; extent of international involvement; changing public opinion towards the war. 16mm; sound; colour; 21 min 27 sec. Film runs out and interview continues as sound only. Related items: S03279; S03280; transcript.F10561 Interview with Peter Meakin (Frontline out-takes), 20 April 1978.Meakin Peter as Channel 10 news editor and later Nine Network's head of news and current affairs describes public reaction to the execution of a Viet Cong; presentation of the Vietnam war by commercial TV stations; bias and limitations of reporting; reaction to the anti-war movement; TV and public opinion.16mm; sound; colour; 9 min 7 sec.Related item: transcript. F10562Interview with Cynthia Ferguson (Frontline out-takes), 23 February 1978. Cynthia Ferguson as the wife of ABC correspondent Tony Ferguson describes her feelings and experiences during the 1968 Tet offensive in Saigon. 16mm; sound; colour; 4 min 33 sec. Related item: S03269; transcript. F10563 Interview with Anthony Ferguson (Frontline out-takes), 23 February 1978.Anthony Langbene (Tony) Ferguson as a roving correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) news department and Radio Australia describes Vietnam war coverage by the ABC; a patrol with the 'junk force'; beginning of the Tet offensive; General Westmoreland in the US Embassy compound; US Colonel and a wounded Viet Cong; filming an interview with Wilfrid Burchett, and how the film was destroyed by the ABC; Australians working for US media networks; Don Simmons and Neil Davis.16mm; sound; colour; 13 min 33 sec.Related item: S03268; transcript. F10564Interview with Ross Symons (Frontline out-takes), 15 March 1978.Ross Symons as an Australian Broadcasting Commission newsreader describes his feelings toward the Vietnam war story; ABC coverage of the Vietnam war; comparison between Australian and US coverage of the Vietnam war; public opinion; anti-war movement; not everyone apathetic toward TV. 16mm; sound; colour; 7 min 14 sec. Related item: transcript. F10565 Interview with Edward R. Bradley (Frontline out-takes), 22 October 1978. Interview with Edward R. Bradley as an American CBS war correspondent in Cambodia. How Neil Davis saved his life during his first combat experience. Leaving Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge take over. Neil Davis fears for his Cambodian friends - crying on the helicopter during the evacuation. American coverage of the war was the story was American because most of the fighting done by the Americans. He didn't believe that the South Vietnamese were doing most of the fighting - didn't think that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was an efficient fighting force. Compares Viet Cong (VC) with the ARVN - he lived with the VC for one month. The VC were committed to their cause. South Vietnamese could buy there way out. Corruption in the South Vietnamese forces led to demorialization. Part of the reason for the collapse of the ARVN during the North Vietnameses Army's (NVA) offensive. Neil Davis sixth sense for combat. Take 2 The American public switched off after the US pull out - people generally lost interest. Scenes in Saigon on the last few days before the fall of Saigon. North Vietnamese air attack using captured South Vietnamese aircraft. ARVN troops jumpy. Everyone was shooting at anything. ARVN officer shot at journalists - thought time to leave not because of the NVA but because of the ARVN. Why Neil stayed in Vietnam - he thinks because he left Cambodia. Neil was a complicated man - brave even foolhard but also kind and gentle carred about people - especially in Cambodia. He was genuinely concerned about covering the story. Every one respected Neil. CBS offered him a job. [Tape runs out] Take 3 Neil refused the job offer by CBS as he was afraid he would lose his independence. Neil wanted to work alone and choose his own stories which would be impossible if he worked for a US network. Take 4 Leaving Saigon by helicopter during the fall of the city and how helicopters were pushed off US aircraft carriers to make room for others to land. 16mm; sound; colour; 20 min 2 sec. F10566 Interview with Joe Lee (Frontline out-takes), 1978.Joe Lee as a cameraman correspondent for Associated Press describes Neil Davis' fascination for Cambodia, his front line involvement and influence; why Neil stayed in Saigon; events and emotions during the fall of Saigon. 16mm; sound; colour; 8 min 46 sec. Related item: transcript.
 Series 5: Out-takes of interviews with Neil Davis, 1978 The out-takes are from Bradbury's interviews with Davis in Tasmania for In the eye of a storm Accession number Title, date and description Format and durationCuratorial Notes and accessories F10567 Interview with Neil Davis at Tim Bowden's Film 2 Take 2 (Frontline out-takes), 12 March 1978.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent explains what he means by fear of the unknown. In an action not knowing what is going to happen and not knowing know how to react to a situation or a fair idea how the opposing side is thinking. How in combat soldiers will pick a target because there is something different about that person and the determination to kill that person. Davis tells the story of one occasion in Cambodia how he was picked as a target and how he survived. How people mistake excitement and apprehension for real fear which he defines as being unable to control your actions. Davis says he only experience fear of the unknown on one occasion and this was in a wood littered with the dead after a battle. Davis explains that it wasn't a fear of the enemy but of something almost supernatural. Guarding against a feeling of invincibility due to being able to handle yourself well in combat. Some of what Davis learned from his time with the Viet Cong. Firstly that just like Davis the Viet Cong believed that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) were the best troops on the allied side. The Viet Cong considered the Americans as 'elephants' since they bumbled around and could be easily detected because of the noise they made and smell their shaving cream, toothpaste and cigarettes. The Viet Cong's animal instinct and how their belief in their invincibility led them to make fatal errors. The South Vietnamese also had this instinct and were able to counter the Viet Cong. Describes in detail the attack by a helicopter gunship during his stay in a Viet Cong village. Begins to tell how he returned with the film back to the South Vietnamese side.16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 1 sec.Related item: transcript. F10568Interview with Neil Davis at Tim Bowden's Film 3 Take 3 (Frontline out-takes), 12 March 1978.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent continues with the story (see F10567) of how he returned to the South Vietnamese lines with the film taken with Viet Cong. How Davis was allowed to hide the film by a sympathetic South Vietnamese Captain. Retells in detail the action were he was wounded in Cambodia in 1974 and how he was saved from being killed by his audio cassette recorder. Attitudes to death and dying - not afraid of death but of being badly wounded. His belief that death is not the end and mentions that he is influenced by Buddhist belief. How being in battle gives him a much highly developed state and awareness of feelings of life itself. The death of many friends he made in Cambodia and Vietnam. Relates in detail how he tried to rescued under fire a Cambodian photographer friend. Opinion of female reporters. The camaraderie between male and female reporters not based on sex. Davis also seen this with Cambodian female soldiers. The closeness that develops between people under combat. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 51 sec. Related item: transcript. F10569 Interview with Neil Davis at Tim Bowden's Film 4 Takes 4 & 5 (Frontline out-takes), 12 March 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent explains that the experience of combat is to see a person stripped of all pretensions and their reactions when their and others lives are on the line. Combat fosters the development of a very close understanding and camaraderie. Everyone is the supreme optimist as it is always someone else that gets killed. How looking through the camera view finder can detach the cameraman from what is happening around him. The view finder gives the impression that you are watching a television show in part explains why the cameraman can keep filming under heavy fire. Davis also attributes this to training and that a well trained news cameraman will "get the film and keep it rolling no matter what happens". Davis relates the story in detail of a Vietnamese grenade thrower who filmed dying after he was hit by automatic fire. Why he would continue to risk his life to film in combat situations - the satisfaction of what he achieved and to the truth and the story. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 48 sec.Related item: transcript. F10570Interview with Neil Davis at Tim Bowden's Film 5 Take 6 (Frontline out-takes), 12 March 1979.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent on the account given by an Australian journalist who claimed to a survivor of Viet Cong ambush in Cholon, Saigon. Davis and other journalists didn't believe in was on the vehicle with the journalists that were killed. Davis comments that this journalist never been in combat and that he never let accuracy get in the way of a good story. Why Davis didn't stay behind in Phnom Penh when the city fell to the Khmer Rouge. Davis was convinced that the Communists would be brutal as he had seen the massacre of villagers by the Khmer Rouge. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in comparison were well trained and disciplined troops and didn't conduct massacres when they occupied territory. The Khmer Rouge would not spare journalists. How Davis survived a battle in early on in the war in Vietnam by using dead bodies of soldiers as protection as there was no other cover. Shrapnel from mortar and artillery shells the greatest danger when caught out in the clear. Davis's advice to a young journalist going out into a war zone is to watch and do what the soldiers do. Briefly relates the time he was in a helicopter when it was hit by enemy fire in Vietnam in 1972. 16mm; sound; colour; 7 min 22 sec. Related item: transcript. F10571 Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - Sydney Film 1, 1978.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent at the Cenotaph in Martin Place, Sydney talks about leaving the Australian Broadcasting Commission and then working for Visnews. Gives his opinion of Gurkha troops as perhaps the best soldiers and relates a story of Gurkhas in action against the Indonesians in Borneo. The tradition behind the Gurkha's main weapon the Kukri knife. The British employing head hunters in Borneo during the Second World War to hunt Japanese troops. Scenes of David walking through streets of Sydney. Davis's voice over about his philosophy of life and the cultural shock of returning to a big Australian city since living in Asia. Take 4. Davis opinions on the former President of Indonesia Sukarno and Davis coverage of riots in Indonesia. Comments on the Australian journalist killed in Timor.16mm; sound; colour; 9 min 53 sec. F10572Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - Sydney Film 2 Tk 5, 1978.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent on being thousands of time in combat; on occasions close enough to hear the taunts of the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese soldiers; swearing exchanges between the tow opposing sides could be funny; how he drove to the war in his Mercedes car in Cambodia; the difference between the fighting in Cambodia which was for control of the major highways to South Vietnam was off the road in the fields; say in Cambodia 'take any road' because one could find action along any of those seven highways; during his time in Indo China there were over thirty journalists or cameramen killed in Cambodia and fifty to sixty in South Vietnam; Davis new most of them and counted twenty to thirty as close friends; how close relationships develop with other correspondents and soldiers after sharing the ultimate experience of putting your life on the line by being in combat; Davis names some of his close friends who were killed, Japanese photographer Kyoichi Sawada 1966 Pulitzer Prize winner killed in Cambodia on 28 October 1970 ; Life magazine photographer Larry Burrows and Ken Potter of UPI killed in Laos when their helicopter was shot down on 10 February 1971; one of Davis' closest friends the Korean Joe Lee; Davis went out with Lee more than any one else; how Lee lost his leg and kept filming when his soundman triggered a mine in Thailand; Davis hospitalised six times; how either he or Lee were constantly casualties during a two year period; beings to tell the instant where fate saved his life early in 1964 during the first big action of the war. 16mm; sound; colour; 6 min 14 sec. Camera runs out of film interview ends.F10573 Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - Sydney Film 3, 1978.Neil Davis, as a cameraman and war correspondent, on the part fate plays in a war. He felt his obligation as a cameraman and correspondent was to bring truth to the people. The television coverage of the war left a lot to be desired however it did show for the first time the ugly reality the war. Davis' 11-year stay in Indo China substantiates his personal view of the war being the most significant event since the Second World War. Davis also made many close friendships there. Bradbury asks were there any elements of racism with the American troops. Davis answers that the Americans did not really understand the Vietnamese because had not been indoctrinated enough. They did not come in contact with the ordinary Vietnamese but rather the people who made money from the American presence. They did not really meet the ARVN because the Vietnamese fought their own war. American media coverage focused on the Americans, unlike Davis', which mainly covered the Vietnamese. The war in a broad sense was communism versus capitalism but also could be seen as an episode where people were emerging from feudalism and gaining their independence and freedom. Davis tried to stay neutral with his coverage despite his sympathies being with the Vietnamese people. Davis does not think that there was any way that the American could have won the war. The American bombing of the North brought the Communists to the conference table but he feels it made no real difference to the outcome. US employment of laser guided weapons that destroyed surface to air missile (SAM) sites and strategic bridges. The sophistication of the North's anti-aircraft system. Davis mentions the 'people sniffer' used by the Americans as an example of the sophisticated technology employed in the war and how this sometimes failed. Evasion tactics to avoid the radar guided SAM. Brief mention of helicopter losses in South Vietnam and the introduction of the shoulder mounted SAM (Soviet SA-7) by the North Vietnamese.16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 40 sec.Related item: transcript.Indochina F10574Interview with Neil and Julie Davis for In the eye of a storm - Sydney Films 4 & 5, 1978.Continuation of F10573 with Neil Davis describing the shoulder launched heat seeking anti aircraft guided missile (Soviet SA-7) employed by the North Vietnamese in 1972. How the Americans developed a 'stove pipe' exhaust system for their helicopters to foil the missile. Davis describes the siege of Khe Sahn in northern South Vietnam which he likened to when the French besieged in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. The rivalry between the United States Marines and the United States Air Cavalry and how some Marines fired at the US Air Cavalry helicopters as they were coming in to relieve them at Khe Sanh. Davis was the only Western journalist allowed to go with the South Vietnamese troops into northern South Vietnam during the 1972 Spring offensive. The South Vietnamese Marines acknowledged Davis as he spent many years covering the South Vietnamese involvement in the war. The 1972 Spring Offensive and 1968 Tet Offensive saw the heaviest fighting of the war. Davis covered the only large scale amphibious operation of the war when the Vietnamese Marines landed in a two battalion force at Wanda Beach Quang Tri Province. Takes 8 and 9. Julie Davis as wife of cameraman correspondent Neil Davis responds to questions about her feelings on her husband's work and hopes for the future. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 44 sec. Related item: transcript. F10575 Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - Sydney Film 6, 1978.The unique way that the Americans had of interrogating Viet Cong prisoners by pushing them off helicopters. He believes that war is a series of atrocities and the Americans were not any worse in committing them than the Communists. Davis gives his opinions on Wilfred Burchett. He regards him as very dedicated to what he believed and that was that Communism was a way for the peoples of South East Asia to gain their independence from colonial influence and freedom from their traditional feudal systems. Davis does not believe that Burchett was involved in the interrogation of Australian POWs during the Korean War. He admits that Burchett did on some occasions speak to Australian captives but that this was at the request of the Australian Government. Davis believes that Burchett was a brave man and the several months that he stayed with the Viet Cong proved that. Davis refusal of offers to work for US networks was because he wanted to work alone and that he would not have the freedom in selecting his own stories. The stories covers would have a US slant while Davis wanted to present an unbiased account from an unbiased source i.e. himself. Heavy coverage of the US involvement by the networks gave the perception that the Americans were doing most of the fighting. How Davis kept to his verbal agreement with NBC over the Presidential Palace footage even though he could have sold that footage for ten times the amount to a rival network. Briefly gives his opinions on the major trouble spots for the next five to ten years in southern Africa and the possibility limited nuclear warfare. His opinion of the mercenary leader Callan in Angola. Brief mention of other stories Davis covered such as a tidal wave in Bangladesh and an earthquake in Manila. Comparisons with Damien Parer similar attitudes since Parer also preferred to work alone.16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 54 sec. F10576Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - Sydney Film 7, 1978.Take 9. Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent on how through his geographical knowledge of Cambodia managed to get the story of Cambodia troops besieged in a 12 Century Temple on the Thai border; asked of his recollection of a rocket exploding when he was wounded the last time. [sound cut for 2 min 7 sec] Questioned why he stayed in Saigon [sound cut 1 min 5 sec]; Davis on being tagged as a war correspondent; unlike his wife unable to see himself in a career as a businessman; keeping his personal life and beliefs to himself; having his on way of working on being impatient working with others; acceptance of death when it comes. Take 10. Never making plans for long term future; question on the instance wounded and taken back with the [coconut milk] drip [sound cut 46 sec]; silent close up of Davis' current NBC News identity card; Davis and his wife Julie at Kingsford Smith airport to leave Australia. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 51 sec. OrigSanhinal sound missing for this film; sound complied from surviving edit track.F10577 Interview with Neil Davis and David Schofield for In the eye of a storm - TAS Films 2 & 3, 1978.David Schofield describes country football, and Neil Davis as a young football player. Neil Davis describes his ancestral heritage and childhood life on a farm in Sorell; how this gave him an affinity to Asian peasants with similar problems and philosophy; deaths of his parents; how his childhood environment influenced him and helped him adapt as an adult in Asia; playing country football; begins to describe a country 'character'. 16mm; sound; colour; 13 min 55 sec. F10578Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - TAS Film 4, 1978.Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent for Visnews Ltd describes a country 'character' and his visit to Bellerive; leaving his household and friends in Phnom Penh three days before it fell to communist forces. 16mm; sound; colour; 3 min 49 sec. F10579 Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - TAS Film 5 Slates 15 - 20, 1978.David Schofield describes rough justice as a young football player in Tasmania; Neil Davis as a footballer and local identity; first recollections of Neil Davis. Neil Davis describes the influence of his brother in the RAN; Victory Japan Day in Sorell; influence of the Second World War in early life; misbehaviour at school; parents ambitions for him.16mm; sound; colour; 8 min 57 sec. F10580Interview with Neil Davis for In the eye of a storm - TAS Film 5 Slate 21, 1978.Take 21. Neil Davis as a cameraman correspondent is asked about premonitions of his own death [sound cut 33 sec]; confident that he would survive even when he was severely wounded in action as well as when he was a young man suffering from polio mmellitusellitus; personal faith a belief in reincarnation as result of living in Asia and as the reason for not fearing death; on being born into the Anglican faith but refusing to be confirmed; asked why he now accepts reincarnation as an explanation of life after death; [sound cut 21 sec]; Davis "You only fear death if you feel that's the end." [sound cut 41 sec]; Takes 22-24 funeral procession at a church and silent scenes of Hobart including the ABC building; Take 25 Davis outside the Gordon Highlander Hotel recounts the story of how his Great Grandfather a journalist and runner died outside the hotel after stopping for a beer after his weekly 30-mile run. 16mm; sound; colour; 10 min 40 sec. Original sound missing for this film; sound complied from surviving edit track.
 Series 6: Sound items, 1964-1974 Original sound recordings in the collection. Accession number Title, date and descriptionFormat and duration Note S03265 Tim Bowden as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South East Asia 1965-1967, interviewed by David Bradbury11 min N/A S03266 Mike Carlton as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1966-1967 and 1970, interviewed by David Bradbury32 min N/A S03267 Mike Carlton as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1966-1967 and 1970, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10542]TBC Related item: F10542 S03268 Tony Ferguson as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1964-1969, interviewed by David Bradbury1 hr 2 min N/A S03269 Cynthia Ferguson as the wife of Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) journalist Tony Ferguson, South Vietnam 1964-1969, interviewed by David Bradbury6 min N/A S03270Noel Bennell as a journalist for Channel 10, South Vietnam 1972, interviewed by David Bradbury23 min N/A S03271 Phil Koch as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1967, interviewed by David Bradbury 16 minN/A S03272Brian Peck as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1968-1970, interviewed by David Bradbury16 min N/AS03273 Kim Simmons as the wife of Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) journalist Donald Simmons, South Vietnam 1960-1966, interviewed by David Bradbury6 min N/AS03274 Donald Simmons as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1960-1966, interviewed by David Bradbury54 minN/AS03275 Jim Revitt as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1966-1967, interviewed by David Bradbury43 minN/AS03276 Jim Revitt as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1966-1967, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10554]TBC Related item: F10554. S03277 Gerald Stone as a journalist for News Limited, South Vietnam 1965 and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1970, interviewed by David Bradbury32 min N/A S03278 Gerald Stone as a journalist for News Limited, South Vietnam 1965 and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1970, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10556] TBC Related item: F10556 S03279 Mike Willesee as a journalist for the Daily News, Macquarie Broadcasters, South Vietnam 1967 and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1969 and 1970, interviewed by David Bradbury21 minN/AS03280 Mike Willesee as a journalist for the Daily News, Macquarie Broadcasters, South Vietnam 1967 and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1969 and 1970, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10560]TBC Related item: F10560 S03281 Graham McInerney as a photographer for the Adelaide Advertiser, South Vietnam 1968-1969, interviewed by David Bradbury 42 minN/A S03282Dennis Warner as a journalist for the Herald & Weekly Times, South Vietnam 1964-1972 and John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, South Vietnam 1966-1968, interviewed by David Bradbury15 minN/AS03283 Dennis Warner as a journalist for the Herald & Weekly Times, South Vietnam 1964-1972 and John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, South Vietnam 1966-1968, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10558] TBC Related item: F10558 S03284 Pat Burgess as a journalist for John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, South Vietnam 1965, 1966 and 1967-1968, interviewed by David Bradbury32 minN/AS03285 Pat Burgess as a journalist for John Fairfax & Sons Ltd, South Vietnam 1965, 1966 and 1967-1968, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10541]TBC Related item: F10541S03286 Peter Leyden as a cameraman for News Limited, South Vietnam 1969, interviewed by David Bradbury1 hr 3 minN/A S03287Robert Greenwood as a cameraman for the American National Broadcasting Company Inc (NBC), South Vietnam 1966, interviewed by David Bradbury54 minN/A S03288Ian Mackay as a journalist for the Independent Television News (ITN) and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1965-1966, interviewed by David Bradbury31 minN/AS03289 Alan Hogan as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1975, interviewed by David Bradbury24 minN/AS03290 Don McLeod as a cameraman for Columbia Broadcasting Commission (CBS), South Vietnam 1975, interviewed by David Bradbury 44 minN/A S03291Brian Taylor as a cameraman/correspondent for the Independent Television News (ITN) and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1965-1966, interviewed by David Bradbury51 min N/A S03292 Les Profitt as a cameraman for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1965, interviewed by David Bradbury37 minRelated item: F10553S03293 Darrell Ford as a photographer Australian Army Intelligence Corps Headquarters Australian Force, South Vietnam 1966, interviewed by David Bradbury52 min N/A S03294 Trevor Murrell as an editor for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam in the period 1962-1972, interviewed by David Bradbury20 min N/AS03295 Les Wasley as a cameraman for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam 1975, interviewed by David Bradbury TBC N/A S03296 Bill Pinwill as a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), South Vietnam and Cambodia 1967-1971, interviewed by David Bradbury [continuation of AWM F10539] TBC Related item: F10539 S03297 United States (US) Army infantry and armour operational sounds, South Vietnam 1962-1972, recorded by David Bradbury for his documentary 'Frontline'56 minN/AS03298 Address to the American people by United States (US) President Lyndon Baines Johnson42 min N/AS03299Remarks of United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson to US soldiers and presentation of medals at Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam17 min N/AS03300Press conference by United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson40 minN/AS03301 Neil Davis as a cameraman/correspondent for Visnews Ltd, Vietnam and Cambodia 1964-1975, interviewed by David Bradbury TBCRelated item: F10474 S03302Neil Davis as a cameraman/correspondent for Visnews Ltd, Vietnam and Cambodia 1964-1975, interviewed by David Bradbury [Frontline out-takes Film 1/Take 1]TBC N/A. Note: FIlm component not deposited at the Memorial
 Series 7: Related documentation, 1964-1974 Production and related documentation. Please contact the Curator of Film for access to this material. Accession number Title, date and description BOX 1: ASSORTED DOCUMENTS Folder 1 Frontline A4- size promotional leaflet Folder 2 Sound sheets - half a page of hand written questions by recordist P. Manning hand written precis of Peter Meakin interview 20 April 1978 Folder 3 Press releases Folder 4 Visnews sales invoiceAtlab jobcardMisceallaneous listening Folder 5 Visnews sheets for filmed news reportsVisnews sheets for filmed news reportsFolder 6 Visnews dope sheetsNeil Davis filmsFolder 7 Copies of letters from Bob Greenwood, Darrell Ford12 black-and-white photographs'Tim Bowden looks back on Vietnam', ABC Radio Guide vol 15., no.2, July 9-15 1977Folder 8 Sound sheet One Atlab negative report sheet Nine miscellaneous lists Folder 9 Sheet musicFolder 10 Frontline editing worksheets BOX 2: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTSFolder 1 F10475 - F10499 transcripts of interviews with Neil Davis, Bangkok 1979 Folder 2 F10539 Noel Bennell: William (Bill) Rowland PinwillFolder 3 F10540 Tim BowdenFolder 4 F10542 Michael (Mike) CarltonFolder 5 F10543 Robert Clarke Folder 6 F10544 Darrell Colin FordFolder 7 F10545 Bob Greenwood Folder 8 F10545 Jack GulleyFolder 9 F10547 Phillip Burton (Phil) Koch Folder 10 F10548 Phillip Burton (Phil) Koch and Noel BennellFolder 11 F10549 Peter LeydonFolder 12 F10550 Ian McKayFolder 13 F10553 Les ProfittBOX 3: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS Folder 1 F10559 Les Wasley and Alan HoganF10560 Mike WilleseeFolder 2 F10561 Peter Meakin Folder 3 F10562 Cynthia Ferguson F10563 Tony Ferguson Folder 4 F10564 Ross SymonsFolder 5 F10566 Joe LeeFolder 6 F10567 - F10570 Timothy Gibson (Tim) BowdenFolder 7 F10573 - F10574 In the eye of the stormFolder 8 Neil Davis transcripts - voice over only Folder 9 Neil Jarrett transcript of interviewFolder 10 Tim Bowden interview with Neil DavisFolder 11 Undetermined opening: Dramatic US President L.B. Johnson's 1965 speech and Neil Davis