Newsletter No. 131 August 2006

Here is a small part of the newsletter. Members receive the full 12 (or so) page newsletter, filled with news, jokes and anecdotes.

Last Post

New Members

David Lackey joins us from Australia. David was with 161 Battery from 1965 to 1968 and saw service in Vietnam as a Section Commander.

Brian Inns from New Plymouth served with 62 Battery 6th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment and with 21 Battery 2nd Field Regiment from 1949 to 1961. Since 1991 Brian has been producing and directing 'Searchlight Tattoos in New Plymouth. He has been asked to produce and direct a �Musical Military Pageant� for RNZRSA to mark their 90th year and the �Year of the Veteran� in Wellington Friday 3 November 2006.

Neil MacMillan from Okaihau started his military career in the Regular Force Cadets in January 1968 and saw active service with 161 Battery Vietnam as a Battery Surveyor in 1970. Neil also did a stint on the Big Guns with 4th Medium Battery.

Clayton John from Australia. Clayton came over to Jeff Waters' Gunner's Day Dinner and asked if he could join the Old Comrades, absolutely! He joined the TF in 32(D) Battery in 1974, 31(B) Battery in 1975 then joined the RF but remained in 31 Battery until 1976 when he was posted to 161 Battery, back to 3rd Field Regiment in 1978 and again to 161 Battery in 1980. After five years with 161 Battery he wnet to RHQ and in 1986 took his discharge. Here is a real Gunner, his son is currently serving with 103 Medium Battery, 8/12 Regiment RAA. Not satisfied with that his father also served in WW2 on 25 pounders. I am currently waiting for Clayton's dad to send me his Membership form.

James Heard from Pukekohe. James saw service with 161 Battery in Vietnam as a Section Commander and later with the NZ Army Training Team. James attended the Long Gunnery Staff Course at Larkhill, UK, returned to command the School of Artillery, finally to HQ 1 Task Force as Chief of Staff and Dep. Commander, retiring as a Lt Col.

Lee Jordan from Tauranga. Lee started his service in 1970 as a National Serviceman after which he was posted to 4(G) Medium Battery as a Driver Operator and retired in 1990 as Battery Commander 4 Mdm Bty. A great accomplishment from the bottom to the top and a well deserved appointment after years of hard work and study, all of which had to be done in his own time.

Ivan John from Australia. Ivan served from 1942 in the Coast Artillery on Norfolk Island then on to J Force and then served with 3 Field Regiment and Div Arty.

Reunion 2006

Friday 10, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 November 2006 at Taupo.

The Weekend
Register in at your accommodation during Friday afternoon
Friday mix and mingle at the Taupo RSA 4.00pm to 6.00pm
Friday night dinner and drinks at the Spa. (Dinner menu is at the end)
Saturday Breakfast at the Spa. (Breakfast menu is at the end)
Saturday AGM at the Spa 'Old Dining Room' 10.00a.m. And 1 minute silence for the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Armistice Day.
Saturday Formal Dinner Taupo Bowling Club 6.30pm for 7.00pm.
Sunday Breakfast at the Spa
Sunday Church Parade in the Spa Meeting House 9.30a.m.
Sunday 'One for the Road' or tea and coffee in the Spa bar after the Church Parade.

Accommodation, use your own accommodation if you wish
The Spa Hotel:
10 Studio Units, one double and 1 single bed. $65 per night for two people.
15 Chalets, two separate rooms with double and single beds $95 per night for two people.
All Spa accommodation is to be booked through me.

Meals at the Spa in the Bar Restaurant
Full breakfast Saturday and Sunday 7.30am, $10 per head, this will be charged to your room.
Friday night smorgasbord from 7.00pm, $25 per head, charged to your room.
The Spa Bar will be open on Friday and Saturday nights.

Taxis
Friday, Taxis will collect members from Spa and Acacia Bay at 3.30pm and deliver them to the RSA.
Friday, Taxis will collect members from RSA and deliver back to Spa and Acacia Bay.
Saturday, Taxis will collect members from Spa and Acacia Bay at 6.00pm and deliver to Bowling Club. Saturday, Taxis will make return journey when called for, about 9.30pm

AGM
Notices of Motion must be in the hands of the Secretary 14 days before the AGM.

Formal Dinner
Saturday 6.30pm for 7.00pm
Minimum dress, jacket and tie, miniatures.
There will be a Sherry Table and Port will be provided. Table wines are 'user pays'.
Our Guest this year is John and Ann Osborne. John is from the NZ Society of Gunsmiths, the Commandant of the Armed Constabulary Re-Enactment Society and an authority and collector of small arms and guns. Ann comes from a family of gun and bayonet makers.

Church Parade
We have been given permission to attend the Church Parade wearing footwear.
Full size medals and again the minimum dress is jacket and tie.

Raffle
We will run our normal raffle to defray costs so if you have any items you can spare for the raffle table please bring them along. So far I have, model canon from Tony Tustin, petrol vouchers from Marie Roberts, many donations from members to spend how we wish, unfortunately I cannot divulge amounts because I have been told not to, and a selection of 'Granny's Finest Preservatives'.

Friday night dinner
Fish & Chips     Roast Pork     Crumbed Schnitzel     Curry & rice
Green salad
Cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, mixed veg., cheese sauce
Roast potatoes, mashed potatoes.
Bread basket
Cheese cake, pavlova, fruit salad and ice cream.

Breakfasts
Muesli, cornflakes, weetbix.
Bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms.
Toast, tea, coffee, orange juice

Medium Gunners and interested Gunners

Hugh Vercoe, Mayor of Matamata/Piako, an ex BC of 4th Medium Battery and a member of the Old Comrades has obtained a 5.5-in gun which is currently being refurbished and is to be put on permanent display at Memorial Park, Hamilton. The Freedom of the City Parade, Dedication of the Gun and Formal Dinner will be on Saturday 2 December 2006. Any ex Medium Gunner or interested people are welcome and should contact me so that I can put you on the roll to keep you informed of progress in the planning of this event. His Excellency the Governor General will be attending the dedication.

Reunion Attendees

Some Interesting Notes about the Battle of Long Tan, Vietnam 1966

Details of the battle of Long Tan as seen from the other side are now emerging for the first time. And they confirm the analysis of the battle by the Australian officer in command in the rubber plantation on that fateful day.

D Company commander Major Harry Smith has long believed that his men did not walk into a Vietcong ambush but had inadvertently stumbled on a major VC encampment. Interviews with VC field commanders by Australian film-maker Damien Lay for his documentary The Battle of Long Tan, leave little doubt about the truth of this.

These commanders reveal to Lay that an ambush had been set up for the Australians - but 1.5km away from where the battle unfolded. The Australians, says Nguyen Minh Ninh, then deputy commander of D445 Battalion, took "a detour" and avoided what would probably have been much heavier casualties.

Luck was definitely with the Australians that day, according to Nguyen Duc Thu, a company commander, who was wounded late in the battle. Once the VC realised the Australians had avoided their trap, the ambush troops were moved up into the rubber plantation to try to surround D Company.

These encircling troops, including Nguyen Duc Thu himself, were ambushed in turn by the Australian relief force.

Because of the monsoonal rain and the sound of explosions and gunfire "we did not hear the tanks when they arrived. We had to turn and fire at them with our rifles", says Nguyen Duc Thu. Those "tanks" (in fact armoured personnel carriers with mounted machine guns) killed an estimated 75 Vietnamese.

Despite those losses, and the evident admiration for the professionalism of the Australian soldiers ("they fought like guerillas," the commanders say) the Vietnamese attribute their heavy casualties to the New Zealand artillery firing from the Australian base at Nui Dat. Nearly 3500 shells landed among the Vietnamese in an area of about two or three football fields.

Today the now Brigadier General Nguyen Minh Ninh can joke about this "awesome" barrage, referring to the "NZ orchestra -- boom, boom-boom, boom".

Stories of the devastation wreaked by the artillery spread to the ranks of communist fighters elsewhere in Vietnam. Doan Nhu Tang, who now lives in Sydney, served in the North Vietnamese army from 1967 until 1975 and fought at Khe Sanh. Doan (not his real name) told The Bulletin that he met soldiers who had fought at Long Tan. "The Australians were well dug in and we were caught out in the open and suffered a lot from your artillery."

The interviews with the VC vets are also remarkable for what they don't say. Surprisingly, there is no mention of the morality of Australia's intervention in the war. All the interviewees are army officers and probably members of the Communist Party. Certainly they all toe the current party line about leaving the rights and wrongs of the war in the past in order to smooth the flow of tourists, trade and aid from the West to Vietnam.

Courage, Mateship, Leadership

General Sir Francis Hassett AC, KBE, CB, DSO, LVO, (RL), in 'Korea Remembered'

Courage Courage is usually held to be the most important quality on the premise that, without it, other soldierly virtues do not really matter. Troops expect to be led from the front. As Field Marshal Sir William Slim once said, it is not a case of 'go on', but 'come on'. If a soldier knows what he has to do and why, then he will do it. He respects courage, as soldiers do the world over. The biggest problems in the battalion team arise when troops are tired: exhausted by the strain, noise and sights of battle. Inertia and lethargy set in, even though all are aware that inaction can be highly dangerous. That is when a good leader is effective, not through oratory or histrionics, but by quiet reasoning and example, he can bring the team together.

A commander should not forget that too much battle stress, for too long, will render soldiers incapable of efficient performance. The signs are there when good officers and men fail to react effectively. Sometimes troops have to be driven beyond this point, but the commander must know that there is a price to pay.

There have been rare instances, throughout history, where our soldiers have not performed well, but they have occurred when other factors have been paramount, such as inadequate time for training, shortage of equipment, low morale within units, lack of sound planning and indifferent or bad leadership. The fall of Singapore was a classic example of this.

Mateship Soldiers in other battles and wars fought better because they were part of a team of mates - a team which would come to help you, when you were in trouble. He gained strength from them and they from him. The many arduous and hard-fought battles in Korea owed their success to the strong spirit of mateship which existed within the battalions, notably at platoon and section level, among subalterns, sergeants, corporals and infantrymen.[Secretary:] I think it is fair to say that this spirit exists throughout all ANZAC units and personnel. It certainly existed in places like the School of Artillery where staff numbers were small so everyone had to help and where required give advice to each other. With that mateship the School of Artillery was a great unit. Even though it was in Waiouru.

Leadership Good leadership embodies all the personal qualities already mentioned and much more. It is essential to the success of the military team. We tend to forget that leadership is not confined to senior command level. Every member of the team, from the commander to the private soldier, must be able to lead and influence his own particular group. [Secretary:] In the NZ Forces this would be best illustrated by the leadership shown during the days of Compulsory Military Training and National Service.

State of the Regiment

Images from the final stages of the Korean War

Images from Alex Weir's album. See the Photo Gallery.

163 Battery Reunion

The reunion will be held 07 - 09 December 2006, costing about $50 plus accommodation and some meals. For more information, contact Captain DJ Sheridan.

Take it easy out there.
God Bless you all.
Graeme (Jack) Black