P01011 004

Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War

By g123715f

  • Military advisers (not soldiers)

    Military advisers (not soldiers)
    The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.

  • First Australian to die in Vietnam

    First Australian to die in Vietnam
    Advisor, Sergeant William Hacking becomes the first Australian to die in Vietnam when his weapon accidentally discharges after being caught in vegetation

  • Lyndon B. Johnson for President

    Lyndon B. Johnson for President
    Lyndon B. Johnson becomes US president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and announces that the US will continue support of South Vietnam. By year's end 15,000 US advisors are serving in Vietnam, which received $500m in US aid that year.

  • 6RAR's & RAAF's

    6RAR's & RAAF's
    n August 1966 a company of 6RAR was engaged in one of Australia's heaviest actions of the war, in a rubber plantation near Long Tan. The 108 soldiers of D Coy held off an enemy force, estimated at over 2000, for four hours in the middle of a tropical downpour. They were greatly assisted by a timely ammunition resupply by RAAF helicopters, close fire support from Australian artillery, and the arrival of reinforcements in APCs as night fell.

  • The Battle of Long Tan

    The Battle of Long Tan
    D Company, 6 RAR, strength of 108 men, battles North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) forces estimated at between 1500 and 2500 until relieved by A Company, carried in by armoured personnel carriers of 3 Troop, 1 APC Squadron. The enemy leaves 245 bodies on the battlefield while 17 Australian infantrymen and one APC crewman are killed. The Company earns the US Presidential Citation.

  • The Battle of Binh Bah

    The Battle of Binh Bah
    Two companies from 5 RAR, supported by APC and Tank troops and Australian helicopter gunships, engage in house-to-house fighting to clear the town of a strong force of NVA regulars. The fighting destroys much of the town and costs the NVA more than 100 dead for the loss of one Australian.

  • Ho Chi Minh dies.

    Ho Chi Minh dies.
    Ho Chi Minh dies in Hanoi, aged 79.

  • US troops

    US troops
    Last US troops leave Vietnam.

  • Withdrawal from Vietnam

    Withdrawal from Vietnam
    Communist forces capture Saigon as the last Americans leave in scenes of panic and confusion. Australia closes its embassy in Saigon, completing withdrawal from Vietnam on ANZAC Day. The final task of Australia's military in the Vietnam War is conducted on ANZAC DaFrom the time of the arrival of the first members of the Team in 1962 almost 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam; 521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded.