The Vietnam War occurred from 1959 until April 30, 1975. The war was fought between the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam, also known as North Vietnam, and the Republic of Vietnam, also known as South Vietnam. Vietnam War 1962-75 Australian support for South Vietnam in the early 1960s was in keeping with the policies of other nations, particularly the United States, to stem the spread of communism in Europe and Asia. In 1961 and 1962 Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of the government in South Vietnam, repeatedly requested security assistance from the US and its allies. Australia eventually responded with 30 military advisers, dispatched as the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), also known as "the team". Their arrival in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. In August 1964 the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also sent a flight of Caribou transports to the port town of Vung Tau. By early 1965, when it had become clear that South Vietnam could not stave off the communist insurgents and their North Vietnamese comrades for more than a few months, the US commenced a major escalation of the war. By the end of the year it had committed 200,000 troops to the conflict. As part of the build up, the US government requested further support from friendly countries in the region, including Australia. The Australian government dispatched the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) in June 1965 to serve alongside the US 173rd Airborne Brigade in Bien Hoa province. Vung Tau, Vietnam: door-gunner from No. 9 Squadron RAAF using twin-mounted M60 machine-guns.

AWM P01951.007 The following year the Australian government felt that Australia's involvement in the conflict should be both strong and identifiable. In March 1966 the government announced the dispatch of a taskforce to replace 1RAR, consisting of two battalions and support services (including a RAAF squadron of Iroquois helicopters), to be based at Nui Dat, Phuoc Tuy province. Unlike 1RAR, the taskforce was assigned its own area of operations and included conscripts who had been called up under the National Service Scheme, introduced in 1964. All nine RAR battalions served in the taskforce at one time or another, before it was withdrawn in 1971; at the height of Australian involvement it numbered some 8,500 troops. A third RAAF squadron (of Canberra jet bombers) was also committed in 1967 and destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy joined US patrols off the North Vietnamese coast. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) also contributed a clearance diving team and a helicopter detachment that operated with the US Army from October 1967. In August 1966 a company of 6RAR was engaged in one of Australia's heaviest actions of the war, near Long Tan. After three hours of fierce fighting, during which it seemed the Australian forces would be overrun by the enemy's greater numbers, the Viet Cong withdrew, leaving behind 245 dead and carrying away many more casualties. Eighteen Australians were killed and 24 wounded. The battle eliminated communist dominance over the province. The year 1968 began with a major offensive by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, launched during the Vietnamese lunar new year holiday period, known as "Tet". Not only the timing but the scale of the offensive came as a complete surprise, taking in cities, towns, and military installations in South Vietnam. While the "Tet Offensive" ultimately ended in military defeat for the communists, it was propaganda victory. US military planners began to question if a decisive victory could ever be achieved and the offensive stimulated the US public opposition to the war. For Australian troops, the effects of the offensive were felt around their base at Nui Dat, where a Viet Cong attack on targets around Baria, the provincial capital, was repulsed with few casualties. Vietnam: a wounded digger, hurt in a booby-trap explosion, is evacuated to Vung Tau.

AWM COL/67/0140/VN By 1969 anti-war protests were gathering momentum in Australia. Opposition to conscription mounted, as more people came to believe the war could not be won. A "Don't register" campaign to dissuade young men from registering for conscription gained increasing support and some of the protests grew violent. The US government began to implement a policy of "Vietnamisation'', the term coined for a gradual withdrawal of US forces that would leave the war in the hands of the South Vietnamese. With the start of the phased withdrawals, the emphasis of the activities of the Australians in Phuoc Tuy province shifted to the provision of training to the South Vietnamese Regional and Popular Forces. At the end of April 1970 US and South Vietnamese troops were ordered to cross the border into Cambodia. While the invasion succeeded in capturing large quantities of North Vietnamese arms, destroying bunkers and sanctuaries, and killing enemy soldiers, it ultimately proved disastrous. By bringing combat into Cambodia, the invasion drove many people to join the underground opposition, the Khmer Rouge, irreparably weakening the Cambodian government. When the Khmer Rouge came to power in April 1975 it imposed a cruel and repressive regime that killed several million Cambodians and left the country with internal conflict that continues today. The extension of the war into a sovereign state, formally neutral, inflamed anti-war sentiment in the United States and provided the impetus for further anti-war demonstrations in Australia. In the well-known Moratoriums of 1970, more than 200,000 people gathered to protest against the war, in cities and towns throughout the country.

Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, November 1966: 6RAR soldiers follow an armoured personnel carrier (APC) during Operation Ingham, a "search and destroy" mission.

AWM P01404.028 By late 1970 Australia had also begun to wind down its military effort in Vietnam. The 8th Battalion departed in November but, to make up for the decrease in troop numbers, the Team's strength was increased and its efforts, like those of the taskforce, became concentrated in Phuoc Tuy province. The withdrawal of troops and all air units continued throughout 1971 - the last battalion left Nui Dat on 7 November, while a handful of advisers belonging to the Team remained in Vietnam the following year. In December 1972 they became the last Australian troops to come home, with their unit having seen continuous service in South Vietnam for ten and a half years. Australia's participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973. The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam were a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon, which was withdrawn in June 1973. Vietnam, 1966: Australians patrol near the village of Tan Phu, near Bien Hoa Air Base.

AWM CUN/66/0161/VN In early 1975 the communists launched a major offensive in the north of South Vietnam, resulting in the fall of Saigon on 30 April. In the previous month a RAAF detachment of 7-8 Hercules transports flew humanitarian missions to aid civilian refugees displaced by the fighting and carried out the evacuation of Vietnamese orphans (Operation Babylift), before finally taking out embassy staff on 25 April. From 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. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. Many draft resisters, conscientious objectors, and protesters were fined or gaoled, while soldiers met a hostile reception on their return home. THE AATTV Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War started in August 1962 with the formation and posting in country of the unit know as AATTV, or the 'TEAM'. The Australian Army Training Team Vietnam was to become one of the most well known units in the Vietnam War winning in the process four Victoria Crosses and scores of other decorations.

The first deployment saw 30 officers and NCOs sent to help train the ARVN, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Although the Team were integrated into the US Adviser framework the "Aussies" quickly established themselves as independent thinkers and brave soldiers. Over the years the 'TEAM' deployment of officers or warrant officers reached a figure of 100 in country and were rotated after a one-year 'tour'. From 1970 till its disbandment the figure increased to 222 of all ranks. The 'Team' was in the field with the units they were training both ARVN units and Special Forces. The 'Team' was withdrawn from Vietnam and disbanded on 19 December 1972. The 'Team' had 990 members during the war, of which 30 were KIA and 122 WIA. Together, with the Award of the Victoria Crosses, the 'Team' members were decorated with, 2 DSOs, 3 OBEs, 6 MBEs, 6 MCs, 20 DCMs, and 49 MIDs. The unit was awarded the US Meritorious Unit Citation and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. THE BATTALIONS IN VIETNAM During May-June 1965, following a decision by the Australian Government to assist the government of Vietnam further, one of the battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment arrived in Vietnam together with a logistic support element. Later in September artillery, armoured personnel carriers, (APCs or Tracks) engineers, and army light JFK had the CIA doing secret bombing in Laos in 1961. They used the cover "Air America" so if they were killed they would tell the families it was an accident. so from 1961-1973 when the armistice was. We "Vietnamized" the war and the war finally ended with the fall of Saigon which is now called Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 under President Gerald Ford

1959 - April 30, 1975

The war started in 1959, the U.S. became involved in the 60's and sent in troops in 1965. The war ended in April 1975
The Vietnam War : the conflict lasted from December 1956 through 30 April 1975 (18 years, 4 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) .

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