 |
The Fighting Fourth is part of the Digger History group of sites. |
A history of the 4th Bn Royal Australian Regiment during their second tour of Vietnam when with members of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment they served as 4RAR/NZ ( ANZAC ) |
|
Support Coy 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC), 2nd tour, 1971-1972 |
 |
| 2Lt Reg Swarbrick, Capt Don McKenzie, Ptes Ted Smylie and "Smille" Hastings. |
| Upon arrival in South Vietnam, the company immediately received an opportunity to prove the product of their hard training in Australia. The hours and days of back-breaking labour, constructing Fire Support Bases in exercises back home had paid off. The story of Support Company is always the story of Fire Support Bases and although many were constructed by the Battalion Group, only two became home for the battalion Trish and Courtney Hill. Trish was occupied for only a short period, but no soldier in Support Company will ever forget the months spent on "The Hill" with only infrequent breaks in Vung Tau on R & 1. |
|
Mortar Platoon |
| The Fire Support Bases, some postage stamp size and others reminiscent of a World War I battleground, were the homes of the battalion mortars. Some were called Jane, Trish, Mary, Debbie and Robyn, each being a separate adventure and each being dismantled just as it had been put up. At one stage, our Courtney Hill agents were conspiring to precipitate an increased use of mobile, offensive mortar support - but the plot was discovered and foiled by our Shelldrake counter-agents before anything could be done. |
 |
| Delivery in darkness. |
 |
| I 'think' it works. (Note the NZ lemon-squeezer slouch hat in the background) |
 |
| Oh No!! Not white phos on the perimeter! (Capt John Sullivan, Cpl Warward, Sgt Stan Klysz, Pte "Audie" Eastwell). |
|
Signal Platoon |
 |
| Who was it that said, "There is no communications problem in Vietnam?" Perhaps he should also tell the other four-hundred people trying to use the same frequency. With Courtney Hill and its eleven by "292" aerials, the confusion with mixed frequencies and induction kept the Battery Commander and the Regimental Signals Officer entertained for months. It would have been good some times to just have been a "fly on the wall" and not be involved. Erudite - the beast. An animal with sixty eyes, all blinking at once for most of the time. The animal died a happy, silent death, being left on location to confuse Charlie for years to come. The "Linees", its family, used to go on operations for a rest and incidentally they deserve individual mention for their effort in the new Ap An Phu lines when six miles of cable was laid in five days, only to confuse the system ever more by providing telephones. |
 |
| Posing at Courtney are, Ptes Ken Nelson, Cameron Gillham, L/Cpl Tony Boyce, Pte "Water Rat" Wallace ' and Cpl Ron Williams). |
 |
| "Sydney 7500832, please" (2Lt Mike Murphy with Ptes Larry North and Roger Ferguson in rear). |
|
Tracker Platoon |
 |
|
It's a dog's life. (Pte Dave Nelson & Marcian) |
| No sooner had the Platoon mastered the art of living in pits during the start of the wet season and keeping rations out of the reach of Milo and Marcian, than the Tracker Platoon moved to Courtney Hill. On arrival we were immediately issued with shovels and sand bags, and began empire building. Retraining of both the tracker dogs and Combat Tracker Teams began immediately in the surrounding rubber and after a week or so the platoon developed to the stage that they could keep pace with the dogs. The dogs soon proved their capability to follow up quickly on a scent and although they caught no enemy, it can be said that the platoon was very pleased with the efforts of Milo and Marcian. |
 |
|
Cpl "Duck" Robinson |
