1st operation for 1 RAR DPR/TV/821

More than 300 Vietnamese rubber workers and wood cutters had their identity cards checked yesterday by troops of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, during Operation Pegasus. The one-day shake-down Operation was staged in and around the Binh Ba rubber plantation seven miles north of the Australian Task Force Base at Nui Dat. It was the Battalion's first operation since the unit arrived in Vietnam three weeks ago for a second tour of duty in the theatre. Several unexploded bomb units were found during the sweep of the plantation area but there was no contact with Viet Cong or North Vietnamese units. Operation Pegasus will help the troops on future operations as it assisted them to become familiar with some of the terrain in Phuoc Tuy Province, and with helicopter techniques and assaults frequently used by allied forces in Vietnam. Yesterday (April 22), they were heli-lifted both to and from the operational area by the Emus - an American helicopter company with American and Royal Australian Navy pilots. (Also identified: Platoon commander Lieutenant Geoff Bowcock of Blakehurst, NSW; Signalman Private Bill Tewson of Railton, Tas; Private Mike Brown of Lindisfarne, Tas)