Anzac Day Rum and Coke "tops" with Vietnam diggers DPR/TV/608

With temperatures in the eighties [degrees Fahrenheit] and the humidity just as high, teams from the 1st ALSG laboured on but were beaten in four out of five sports played at military ovals throughout Vung Tau, South Vietnam on Anzac Day. Task Force troops from Nui Dat cleaned up in the sports carnival in Australian Rules, Soccer, Basketball, and volley ball. Only success for the Vung Tau based teams was a 6-0 win in Rugby Union. Because of operational commitments there were few spectators but at the Australian Rules game South Vietnamese turned out to see the "fun". Used to Soccer - the Rules match was played on a soccer ground - the Vietnamese watched the game in wonder. Before the sports carnival started, the traditional issue of rum and coke went down well with "digger" in Phuoc Tuy Province. For nearly five hundred troops, who attended Dawn Service on a sand dune overlooking the South China Sea, it turned out a similar start to most Anzac Days back home. While there has been only the occasional shower over the past few weeks, with most mornings fine in the Australian area, clouds built up during the night, rolled in from the east a little before six am and deluged the Dawn Service soon after it started.