'I was There': Maj Torrance
I have a RNZIR Component Roll dated 25 Feb 70 that gives all the
arrival dates in theatre for our folk. The three lists on this
page are pretty accurate but there are a few changes. On the
advance party list Sgt's Gorman and Heywood are shown as having
arrived 28 Oct and Perawiti and Ryan on 5 Nov. Contrary to your
pre-main list Makowharemahihi doesn't rate a mention on the
Component list, or on a W3 nominal roll dated 1 Mar 70 so I
assume he arrived later. From the third list Broughton arrived
much earlier on 16 Jul 69 [likely posted as driver to NZ Component until he joined
W3], Campbell and Moana on 15 Nov 69, Rangiwai on 26 Nov 69, and
Carmichael on 29 Dec 69.
if you were with these parties and can add to or correct the
above details please
email the webmaster
W3 Main Body Movement Order
At the link is the HQ 1RNZIR Administration Order for the ‘Movement
to South Vietnam - W3 Coy Main Body’
signed by Captain Tony Birks on behalf of the CO Lt Col John
Brook. Issued on 31 October 1969 the order has five pages,
a distribution page and four pages of clothing and equipment
lists – it promises to issue at a later date the actual movement
details once these had been decided by OC W3 Coy.
The website copy of the movement order was the personal copy of
Maj Torrance and has the occasional amendment made by him.
The Order advised the intention to move W3 Coy to South Vietnam
on 14 Nov 69 utilising two RNZAF C-130 flights by the same
aircraft. It is unlikely to be 'original', the format and
detail would have evolved from the successful deployment of
earlier Company's so a simple change of dates and names each
time would have mainly been all that was required [having a
document that worked successfully makes it easy for later staff
officers to keep getting it right].
The Order is written against the background of 1RNZIR’s own
separate move to Punjab Lines Nee Soon in Singapore in December
1969, meaning W3 personnel would not return to Wellington Lines
Terendak Garrison and the 1RNZIR move needed to include the
management of W3 base kits, the movement of W3 single personnel
civilian cars to storage in Singapore, and the handover of
housing by families left behind.
The order allowed for weight of stores per person to be 250 lbs
per soldier – this was based on the RNZAF assumption that the
actual soldier would physically weigh 180 lbs so each individual
was allowed 70 lbs of kit including weapon and webbing on the
flight.
The order issues ‘security’ instructions requiring 28 Bde
patches to be removed from clothing, and for command of the
Company to pass to HQ NZ Army Force Far East [FE] for the
24-hour period covering the movement to Singapore and on to
Vietnam, playing out the political ‘game’ that the Malaysian and
Singapore governments, and 28 Commonwealth Brigade, were not
supporting the training and despatch of New Zealand troops for
South Vietnam.
It is assumed that the OC did get a company clearance for all
Coy personnel who had debts with the tailor, boot maker, dhobi,
gift shop, Lee’s Photo, boot boy and charwallah, by 1700 hours
the night before we departed...
While the postal address for W3 on arrival in South Vietnam
changed to C/- HQ NZ V Force, GPO Auckland New Zealand, families
remaining in Singapore had a different address that
utilised the weekly RNZAF SATS flight from Changi.
W3 Main Body Flight Nominal Rolls
At this link are the two flight nominal rolls for the
movement of the W3 main body from Changi to Vung Tau on 14
November 1969. The initial flight started on time at 0700 hours
local but the aircraft experienced bird strike while still on
the runway and a 3-hour delay was experienced while RNZAF
engineers checked the aircraft. The flight finally left Changi
at 1000 hours. This delayed the turnaround for the second
flight which should have left at 1300 hours but which arrived at
Vung Tau much later in the afternoon. One recollection is
that the draft arrived at Nui Dat after last light – this true
anyone..?
The 0700 flight had 47 passengers
including one destined for ARU [Aust Reinforcement Unit – a pool
of supposed in-country reinforcements] but Ian Caldwell might
like to comment if he actually served in ARU before joining
1Pl. The 1300 flight had 70 passengers including two for ARU
and three for NZ Component. Again, Fred King might like to
comment if he actually served with NZ Component before joining
W3 Coy HQ.
The records are probably the draft
nominal rolls only, not the RNZAF form 1256 for personnel
required by the RNZAF Flight Movements staff and the
responsibility of the 1RNZIR Movement Officer. The earlier
movement order
required OC W3 Coy to decide on the composition of all flights
and to pass draft flight rolls to the Movement Officer 72-hours
prior to flight date. The RNZAF form 1256 for personnel
[if found] is the authoritative record of who travelled when.
This link is to the B Coy Nominal Roll as at 1 Oct 69. This
roll is likely to have been the OC’s planning document for who
would board which flight but comments and amendments are in Capt
Jim Brown’s or Cpl Ted Mason’s handwriting. Were 1RNZIR short
of paper..? The roll was printed by 1RNZIR in Terendak but on
the back of old French maps of Vietnam – an example is shown on
the last page of the roll.
The single-digit number on the
left side of the B Coy roll relates to the flight
planning:
A – Advance
party, 1 – Pre main party, 2 – 0700 main body, 3 – 1300 main
body, dash or 0 – left behind
Arrival in South Vietnam
The detail of W3 Company activities once in Vietnam greatly
depend on the
official Australian war diaries on-line at The Australian War
Memorial based in Canberra -
www.awm.gov.au
Read this description to understand the detail available to
military researchers:
"What is a Duty Officers Log..? It is an
Australian requirement that when on active
service headquarters, formations, and units
are required to keep war diaries recording
their daily activities. The purpose of
the diaries is twofold: to provide data on
which future improvements in training,
equipment, organisation, and administration
can be based; and to provide future
historians with a record of activities of
units and formations in operational periods.
The war diaries generally consist of war
diary or intelligence summary sheets located
at the beginning of each diary. The
sheets record the date of each entry, the
unit’s location, a summary of events, and
any remarks or references to appendices.
The appendices, which make up the larger
part of each diary, may include:
- strength and casualty
returns
- routine orders and
administrative instructions
- operation orders and
instructions
- reports
- messages
- location statements
- intelligence
summaries
- photographs,
sketches, maps, and traces
The war diaries vary
greatly in the amount and level of detailed
information they contain. Their
quality reflects the dedication and interest
of those in charge of compiling them.
There will be errors in the narrative, due
to either difficulties experienced at the
time of recording, or transcription errors
when the detail is later typed into a consolidated
record."
For the period 1 to 30 November 1969 the
reference is Australian War Memorial
'6RAR Duty
Officers log
AWM95 Item No 7/6/27'.
W3 Main Body Reception Programme
At this link is the administration programme published by
the W3 advance party - although unsigned it was the work of Capt
Jim Brown MC no doubt with assistance from W2 Coy HQ and Bn HQ
6RAR/NZ(ANZAC). The programme was required to fit around the departure of
W2 Coy on the same day that the main body arrived, [the first W2
flight out using the incoming aircraft carrying the first W3
contingent in e
tc],
explaining why the W3 people were being directed to move into
the W Coy accommodation from 0800 hours 14 November despite
having been in-country for a fortnight.
entrance to W Company lines
The programme anticipated the
arrival of the first contingent at 1100 hours, but given the
problem with the aircraft while taking off from Changi it is
likely the actual arrival time was three hours later around 1400
hours and the 2nd flight arrival at Nui Dat much
later than 1730 hours.
It is apparent that W3 advance
party echelon people did not replace W2 people until 14 November
[the day W2 departed] although they would have been working
alongside them for some days [cooks, canteen manager, clerk].
The 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) commanders Diary records that it was not until 15 Nov
that W2 Coy was to depart Nui Dat to be relieved by W3 Coy,
possibly a reflection of the sub-unit operational training
programme dates rather than flight planning.
Reception and stores distribution:
Allocation of accommodation. Each
platoon was allocated the tent spaces of the departed W2
platoons, usually four soldiers to a tent [or an officer and
sergeant shared], each bed space having a 6’ locker, steel
folding bed, and an array of home-made furniture left behind by
previous occupants. The WW2 vintage canvas tents had been
elevated to allow comfortable posture inside, had a board floor
to cope with ground water during the wet season, and were
surrounded by a waist high blast wall to protect the occupants
while sleeping. The sides of each tent were mostly removed to
allow ventilation. this
link shows the 2Pl lines
![bedspace & surrounds in the tent lines [Rowsell]](images/photo_38.jpg)
Bedding.
Bedding issued on 14 November to incoming W3 personnel would
have likely been the same bedding handed in by departing W2
people the same day. The bedding was a foam mattress, foam
pillow, clean green sheet and pillowcase, mosquito net, and a
thin Australian tropical blanket.
bed space and surrounds in the tent lines [Rowsell]
Ammo. Each flight on arrival at
Vung Tau was given the ammo taken to the airport by W2 people,
generally a magazine of 20 rounds per rifleman and a belt of 200
rounds per M60 machine gun. On arrival in the Nui Dat lines the
advance party had stacked rations and ammunition in platoon
lines and these were distributed to match operational scales on
15 November. This was the first time most personnel
felt the weight of the full operational ammunition requirement,
and many wondered at their ability to carry the full load – over
time this was sorted out by either conditioning, reshuffles of
people within sections, or by adjusting the requirement.
Rations. The issue of rations on
the programme is surprising as there would have been no
requirement for pack rations for the initial period in base
given the Company cookhouse was offering fresh food, but there
might have been a requirement [SOP] to always have a minimal
amount of food in the webbing for emergencies. The rations
would have been a mixture of Australian 24-hour packs and US C
ration meal boxes, both unfamiliar to the new arrivals so some
experimentation would also have been encouraged.
The W3 tent lines were not located
against the Nui Dat base outer wire so there was no
requirement to man sentries on the first night in-country.
The W3 Coy administration programme for 15 and 16 November
involved a ‘bullring’ approach of rotating the platoons and Coy
HQ around four activities:
Issue of specialist equipment from
the CQMS store [controlled and class A stores were programmed
for the evening 15 November – perhaps due to a heavy workload in
the company store during the day].
Briefing on Company orders for the
Nui Dat base [weapon safety and carriage of weapons when away
from the tent lines, stand-to periods, what to do in the event of..., areas off-bounds,
etc]
Issue of small arms ammo and
rations
Documentation and familiarisation
of the 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) area - basically the platoons did a squad
run around the sprawling 1ATF base to identify amenities,
aircraft staging points, unit boundaries, no-go areas, etc.
W3 In-Country Training Programme
offer corrections and updates to this detail -
send here
full glossary here
This is the W3 Coy
Operational Training Programme issued 4 Nov 69 by HQ 6RAR/NZ(ANZAC) to
allow preparation by instructing subunits for the period until the Company
deployed on its first operation away from Nui Dat on the morning
of 24 November 1969, confirming recollections of a series of
lectures by unit instructors or supporting arms on VC mine
methods, ‘know your enemy’, and equipment and Supporting Arms
familiarisation,
including time out of base
overnight with either APC or
doing overnight TAOR patrols to the east of the base [the Op
Order date is probably 19 Nov 69]. The
weather during this period was on occasions wet but the wet
season passed by the time W3 deployed on operations.
W3 Operational Work Up at Nui Dat.
Maj Torrance had his first company
O Gp in-country at 1930H 14 November, and CO 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC)
Lt Col David Butler RAR was programmed to address the Company at
1430H 15 November. 6RAR as a unit were absent from the
base on operations, with V4 Coy at the Horseshoe and the
Australian companies on Operation ROSS based around
FSPB DISCOVERY in
AO GULLIVER
to the east of Nui Dat near the coast. On the day W3
arrived in theatre, 14 Nov 69, D Coy air assaulted into a LZ at YS583728
at 0800H.
20 Nov
Pte ‘Stretch’ Bermingham W2
who was WIA at DAT DO on 12 Aug 69 in a mine incident DOW in Concord
Repatriation Hosp
SYDNEY, news reaching 6RAR 21 Nov 69 - this was a similar scenario
to what occurred to Dave Wright W3 in January and March 1970.
21 Nov
W Coy spent the
day and night with a troop of APC at YS417692
on a training operation as part of
the company work up programme. A future
intention was announced for W Coy to air assault into AREA B of
AO LINTON on 24 Nov.
22 Nov
W Coy prepared for
and conducted an air assault and
extraction rehearsal [airlift times were from 1330 – 1500H] with 9Sqn RAAF
helicopters.
23 Nov
OC A and W Coy received verbal
orders from CO 6RAR at 1100H, followed by a helicopter visual recon at 1215H. Maj Torrance is directed that W Coy is to move to FSPB
DISCOVERY and from there air assault a LZ at YS652601
commencing 241025H, expected to be complete on the ground at 1050H.
The Company was then to search the area of padi fields south of XUYEN
MOC.
The Coy remained at Nui Dat doing final preparations and orders
for the move on 24 November. It was soon obvious that
while expected to pull their weight W3 Coy was being offered a
shakedown period under operational conditions. Some
soldiers grizzled about being sent on a 'sideshow' but with hindsight the
opportunity to practise flat country navigation, to carry the
operational weights and to adjust to the climate in a 'quiet'
area was a good leadership decision.
24 Nov
W3 Coy join 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) on
Op ROSS [Op ROSS had commenced on 14 Oct 69]:
A sobering reminder of what the company might
soon face happened as W3 Coy were about to leave Nui Dat on
their first operation. A V4 Coy patrol [2Sect 2Pl]
operating from their base at the Horseshoe at 0705H suffered casualties
from a VC command detonated mine [three VC were seen leaving
the area]: Spr Joe Barret was killed [KIA], Pte Peter
Rauhihi was wounded but DOW at 1AFH Vung Tau at 1325H, and LCpl RC Davidson, Pte PR Smith, the patrol interpreter Sgt Tung, and two ARVN soldiers were
also wounded.
A and W Coy arrived at
FSPB DISCOVERY YS605685 to the west of XUYEN
MOC and near route 328
at 1020H, having travelled there by truck [TCV] in convoy with A
Coy and escorted by a section of APC [3-APC]. About 1025
hours W Coy were airlifted into a LZ at YS652601 7-kilometres
south of XUYEN MOC and 2-kilometres from the coast, being complete
on the ground at 1107H. The LZ was an area of overgrown
padi fields at the end of the old disused Route 328.
Once
secure on the ground the coy separated into three
groups [2Pl remaining with Coy HQ] and started patrolling to the
west and SW, basically patrolling for 3-days in an area of 3Km
by 2Km before moving north 5-6Km to be extracted by APC to FSPB
DISCOVERY.
By
nightfall 24 Nov 69 the separate elements were at these locations: HQ
and 2Pl
YS637701 [this LOCSTAT in the diary is probably a typo and should
read YS637601], 1Pl YS633606, 3Pl YS641590.
Map scale:
each side of a map square is 1000 metres; squares are
sequentially numbered left to right and then bottom to top and
are further divided by 10 to give 6-figure references.
25 Nov
W3 Coy had their
first contacts with the local VC infrastructure:![Map of area W3 Coy operated in between 24 & 30 November 1969 [Young]](images/Map_Op_Picton1.jpg)
At
1200H at YS628607 1Pl located 2x bunkers and 1x hut, recovered 1pr
black sandals, 1x pr OG trousers, a quantity of sandbags, 1x raincoat, 1x M16
lifting device, 1x US M69 HE grenade and 12x fuses.
Contact: 1406H at YS627601 while 2Pl
were at halt with Coy HQ preparing an ambush, the diary records "contact 1x VC nil
result. 1x pack captured, docs ID VC as Vo Van Mai, later
thought to be Tu Mai, production team leader of PHOUC BAU
village". This brief contact started when the lone VC
walked unawares into the sentry position, the sentry
operated the claymore switch but the claymore failed to detonate enabling the VC to quickly bolt but dropping a satchel containing a
quantity of money and documents.
Map of area W3 Coy
operated
in between 24 and 30 November 1969
W Coy night locations: HQ
and 2Pl
remained at YS627601, 1Pl YS621605, 3Pl YS627594.
26 Nov
At
1500H at YS632607 W Coy [2Pl/Coy HQ]
located a cache in a hollow tree, 2x boxes SAA, fishing gear and
small med kit were recovered.
Contact: 1630H at YS632613 W Coy [2Pl/Coy HQ] engaged 3-4 VC with arty and SA with unknown
result. From the map it appears Coy HQ/2Pl observed the VC
party north of their position and probably in an area of
disused padi.
W Coy night locations were: HQ
and 2Pl
YS633609, 1Pl YS625606, 3Pl YS627603.
27 Nov
During the day the
detached platoons patrolled into a company RV near the location
of Coy HQ's previous night location, all night locations then
being generalised as YS632609. A future intention was
announced for 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) to conclude Op ROSS on 1 Dec 69 and deploy to AO GULLIVER
some distance north of FSPB DISCOVERY as part of a new operation called Op
MARSDEN, W Coy being warned to fly from FSPB DISCOVERY to
secure the area of the new FSPB PICTON.
28 Nov
The Coy turned
north to continue the padi search, 3Pl having swapped the Coy HQ
protection task with 2Pl. Night locations were recorded as HQ
and 3PL YS615658,
1Pl YS615666, 2Pl YS605660, these locstats show
the Coy slogged north over 5Km from the previous night
location at YS632609, crossing a large open area of padi and
stopping north of Route 23 near the junction of Route 23 and
Route 328.
29 Nov
During the
morning the platoons likely RV'd with Coy HQ in the vicinity of
YS615666. Early afternoon a troop of APC arrived to move the Company to FSPB
DISCOVERY arriving at 1442H [probably moving along the
axis of Route 328 but there is no record of this move in the
3Cav unit diary]. W3 Coy night location was FSPB DISCOVERY.
30 Nov
W3 coy remained in
the vicinity of FSPB DISCOVERY while preparing for the air
insertion task on 1 Dec 69.
Read the
original Contact After Action reports for November 1969
read December 1969
Timeline here
full glossary here
