Vietnam withdrawal ends DPR/TV/1487

This week (Mar 6) the Australian Force Vietnam ceased to exist. The movement of troops, equipment, stores and vehicles from Vietnam back to Australia, which has been going on for the past five months, will end with the arrival in Australia next week of HMAS Sydney. In the past week, one thousand Australian soldiers have left Vietnam by sea and air. A prelude to the sudden end to the Australian Force was a farewell parade at the Australian Task Force base at Vung Tau, attended by the Mayor and military commander of Vung Tau, the Commander of the Australian Force in Vietnam, 2289 Major General Donald Beaumont Dunstan, and the Commander of the Task Force, 3462 Colonel Phillip Jameson Greville. Once a sprawling logistics base and rest centre for combat troops, the base adjacent to the South China sea is now little more than a shell. Warehouses which once held thousands of items and spare parts for the effective operation and maintenance of the Force are now empty. Corridors of 1st Field Hospital, which provided care for hundreds of sick and wounded soldiers, are strangely quiet, and the rattle of trucks from 5 Company, Royal Australian Army Service Corps, which trundled backwards and forwards to the Nui Dat base 20 miles to the north has been replaced by the rustle of lizards through the quickly encroaching scrub and weeds. As a few troops prepared vehicles for the last sea voyage home, others were preparing to board a chartered Boeing 707 in Saigon for the last trip home in "the big white freedom bird" as the charter is called by the Diggers. For these soldiers it is a briefing by a Movements officer, a short trip to the tarmac at Tan Son Nhut airport, a few years ago the busiest in the world, and a brief wait for the call forward on to the aircraft. Last week the Commander of the Australian Force farewelled three such charters returning more than 400 troops to Australia. But as this aircraft was taking off, final preparations were being made in Vung Tau to close the Australian base and hand it over to Vietnamese authorities. Personal baggage and containers full of stores were being packed ready to be moved to HMAS Sydney anchored a mile off-shore, while rubbish was being burnt or destroyed in a final clean-up. With the base ready to be handed over, troops moved to Delong Pier to await landing craft which would take them out to the Sydney. As troops continued to be ferried to the Sydney in landing craft, barges brought the last vehicles and stores alongside for them to be winched aboard and secured. A few hours before HMAS Sydney sailed from Vietnam troops aboard were farewelled by the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) M. F. Brogan. Lt Gen Brogan is visiting Vietnam to farewell the last component of the Australia Force and inspect the newly formed Australian Army Assistance Group. After being met by HMAS Sydney's captain, O753 Captain James Laurence Wilfred Merson, Lt Gen Brogan toured several decks of the Sydney where he spoke with soldiers before finally addressing them as a group upon the flight deck. In his address he complimented them and all troops who had served in Vietnam on a job well done and complimented the Royal Australian Navy on the support they had provided. With the end of the Australian Force in Vietnam, the 150-strong Australian Army Assistance Group has taken over. The Assistance Group's main role will be in assisting to train Vietnamese and Cambodian Forces in Phuoc Tuy Province - the area of responsibility of the Australia Force for more than five years. Also identified: Mayor Nguyen Van Tinh; 2nd Lieutenant Philip Rule of Glynde, SA; Colonel Vu Duy Tao, Commander of the Vung Tau Special Zone; 218476 Lance Corporal William Patrick (Bill) Mann of Tamworth, NSW; Signalman (Sig) John Taylor of Payneham, SA; 313690 Sig Peter James Hindle of Nathalia, Vic; Captain David Halmarick of Stafford Heights, Qld; Warrant Officer 1 George Weed of Collaroy Plateau, NSW; Major Jerry Taylor of Carlisle.