The departure of the last of the Task Force from SVN.

When I went to Vietnam I was a major in RAE. My first posting was as OC HQ Coy I ATF in Nui Dat. I did not see the "Dat" in daylight until I had been in country nearly a fortnight as I went straight out on Operation OVERLORD the night I arrived. Unfortunately five soldiers of D&E platoon and the two crew of the APC were killed just before the end of that time. The op ended because of that loss.

I carried the letter from the Minister for Army to the Commander Australian Forces Vietnam informing him that the government intended to withdraw the force. I suspected its contents as I had been working on the withdrawal in Army Headquarters and I was guarded and escorted all the way to Saigon. Because of that I did not go to the Dat on the usual flights from the charter and got there after dark straight into a briefing. I managed to get something to eat about 2300.

When we withdrew from the Dat I took the last soft convoy out. 3 RAR had already left to a temporary camp outside the 1 ALSG base as had everyone else other than 4 RAR, a troop of tracks and a battery from 12 Fd Regt RAA. After 3 RAR left on HMAS Sydney 4 RAR (except D Coy) come down to the same camp in Vung Tau. D Coy moved into the club on the beach and the troop of tracks moved to a spot near the "Hill". By this time I was OC det 30 Terminal Squadron. Bit strange as the squadron OC in Sydney was a Captain. Jerry Taylor was the OC of D Coy 4 RAR we were and still are mates.

After we withdrew from the Dat, I took command of det 30 Terminal squadron, which had grown to be a somewhat larger outfit than you would remember. In fact it was larger than it's alleged parent back in Sydney. As there were not enough stevedores to fill the need, many air dispatchers were sent in as they at least had some idea of slinging loads. We also trained all the D Coy 4RAR NCOs in basic stevedoring for one week and all the rest of the Coy were given a day's safety training. APC drivers were converted to rough terrain forklift operators so the RAE(Tn) trained stevedores could work the cranes, ship's winches and maintain the safety of operations on the ships. Originally it had been planned for the backloading to be completed by the end of March 1972. However, I went to see Col Phil Greville, A/Comd 1ATF, just after we had loaded another ship shortly before Xmas 1971, and informed him that, if he could have the shipping schedule changed, we could be out by the end of February 1972.

This was because I had insisted on every bit of capacity being used and every "Hercules" went home with a full passenger load and all cargo space in the ships was utilised.

The result was that the last vessel to load was HMAS Sydney in the closing days of Feb 1972. We had the advantage of a leap year and thus the 29 days of February, all of which we used to the full. It was after midnight 29 Feb/1 Mar by the time The Vung Tau Ferry cleared the heads and set course for home. At that stage only a US Army Sergeant and myself were left on the wharf at Vungers. I then drove my clapped out Landrover to a hole at the back of the airfield and the sergeant chauffeured me to the Pacific where I spent the night. About 8 others, mainly from the headquarters spent the night there too. Next morning, 1 March 1972 we went to the airfield and two 1st Air Cavalry helicopters flew us to Saigon.

Thus ended First Australian Task Force's presence in South Vietnam.

I had a bit of paperwork to finalise in Saigon, so I spent a few days days there in the Five Oceans BOQ (Batchelor Officer's Quarters) which was one of the spots hit in the TET offensive. I was not stupid enough to sleep there though and spent the nights in a chinese pub near the waterfront. The next problem was to get home, the charters had finished and so had most of the C130s. The RNZAF was still flying in occasionally to support their hospital team up in the hills, so I got a lift to Singapore in a Bristol Frightener (sorry Bristol Freighter - 40,000 rivets flying in formation). I managed to hide there for a few days thanks to some mates. However, the civvies objected to paying the bills for a four star hotel and reluctantly I had to board a QANTAS flight home.