Watched by a Vietnamese man, 3787165 Private (Pte) Gary Leonard Phillips, 5th Battalion, The ...

Watched by a Vietnamese man, 3787165 Private (Pte) Gary Leonard Phillips, 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR), checks a hut in a village on Long Son Island. Pte Phillips, carrying his medical pack, is usually a stretcher bearer with C Company however on this occasion with A Company. 5RAR is searching for Viet Cong suspects and sympathisers. From 6 to 12 November 1966 5RAR participated in a two sequential operations in the Rung Sat area. The preliminary operation from 6 to 7 November was known to 5RAR as Operation Yass and was later referred to as Phase 1 of Operation Hayman. It involved a cordon and search of Lang Phuoc Hoa village on Route 15 on the edge of the Rung Sat. On 8 November the main stage of Operation Hayman commenced when 5RAR were helicoptered onto Long Son Island in the middle of the Rung Sat. From 8 to 12 November the battalion carried out a search and destroy operation. The Rung Sat is a vast tangle of waterways and mangrove swamps between Vung Tau and Saigon which has long been used by the Viet Cong to infiltrate troops from North Vietnam, food and supplies. Pte Phillips was a member of the 5RAR band which operated as a separate unit within the battalion. Band members had three roles; riflemen, stretcher bearers and musicians. In Vietnam the bandmaster Warrant Officer Class 2 Robert Lawrence Taylor was provided with sheets of Vietnamese music which the band played during cordon and searches of villages to improve the atmosphere and encourage cooperation.