The
following is an extract from 'personal recollections' by: Anthony
L. Ey - retired Chief Petty Officer Clearance Diver RAN - 1965/1985.
The
long awaited Postings notice from Canberra, announcing the names
of those selected for training and deployment to South Vietnam
as part of CDT3, came out in May 1970. The Diving Regulating
Chief, CPOCD Vic Rashleigh, actually informed me on my 22nd
birthday that I had been selected for the team, and it was the
best birthday present I could have asked for.
By the time the sailor's postings were announced it was common
knowledge who the 'Boss' was to be and the rumours were already
running thick and fast as to who would be the Senior Sailors
of the Team. The entire CD Branch of approximately 100 odd Divers
held their breath hoping that they had been selected for what
was the most sought after posting in the diving branch. To a
man, it was comparable to winning the Lottery. Most of the civilian
population at that time would have found this to be a very curious
attitude, but we were a dedicated and very proud band of professionals
who were anxious to put our training to the test. I don't believe
any of us thought too much about the politics or the rights
and wrongs of the war, only that we were to have the opportunity
to do what we had been trained to do. Vietnam was to be our
proving ground and we were all worried that it might be over
before we had a chance to get there. Hindsight is a wonderful
thing and perhaps most of us would now agree that Australia
should not have sent combat troops to South Vietnam, however
we were sent, and nothing can erase the past or the fact that
Australia tragically lost over 500 of her finest young sons.
The 8th team to serve in SVN was officially formed up on the
3rd of July. We all posted into HMAS Waterhen, which was to
be our parent establishment for administrative purposes during
our workup period as members of CDT3.
It was normal for each replacement team to be made up of seven
divers. Six would eventually be selected to deploy to Vietnam
on completion of the three month work-up period, with the seventh
member remaining behind as a standby replacement in case he
was needed. The previous team had already needed their replacement;
John Aldenhoven, after the death 'in country' of Able Seaman
Bobby Wojick. Normally the diver left behind was guaranteed
a slot on the following team with the poor devil having to go
through the full work-up period twice. Who would remain behind
was not announced until the completion of the work-up period
and just prior to us all going on 'pre-embarkation leave'. So
we 'Indians' all sweated for 3 months and hoped like hell that
we would not be the one left behind. Our new boss was Lieutenant
Edward (Jake) Linton, already something of a legend in the branch.
One of the very first Clearance Divers to qualify in the RAN,
Jake had earned a BEM for a particularly deep and dangerous
diving operation in the icy waters of Lake Eucumbene. Our second
in command was CPOCD John (Speed) Gilchrist with POCD Phil (Narra)
Narramore taking up the number three slot. The remaining four
Indians were ABCD Larry (Digger) Digney, ABCD Brian (Blue) Furner,
LSCD Tom McNab and ABCD yours truly.
Our pre-deployment training began with a diving refresher, not
that we really needed it, but it started us working and thinking
together as a team. The "Bomb & Mine Disposal Section" had been
moved from Rushcutter to HMAS Watson and had a name change to
'EOD Section'. It was mainly staffed by veterans of earlier
teams with Lt. Alex (Tiger Man) Donald in charge. This training
quite rightly focused on weapons, booby traps and ordnance that
had been discovered by previous teams, and we were immediately
put into the swing of things by exchanging our Navy working
dress for Army greens which became standard dress from that
point on. This early stage saw us in the normal round of training
venues including the Army School of Military Engineering at
Liverpool, the demolition ranges at Marangaroo in the Blue Mountains,
and the underwater training area of Clark Island. We also attended
a week of training at the Army's Intelligence Centre located
at Woodside near Adelaide. This little rest proved to be very
interesting as we learnt a little about the history, culture
and religions of Vietnam with a detailed operational brief on
enemy activity within Phuoc Thuy province .
We did wonder about the value of that as we already knew we
would be operating far to the north, totally separated from
the Aussie Army presence. Later, after we had arrived 'in country',
I did sometimes wonder what the Viet Cong's D445 battalion was
up to at that particular point in time, 500 odd miles away to
the south of us. Nobody ever bothered to tell us who was operating
in our backyard. I suspect no-one knew. At the completion of
the Woodside course, the troops returned to Sydney while our
three fearless leaders remained behind and were subjected to
a week of the Army's 'Code of Conduct' course. This pleasant
little sojourn was meant to introduce selectees to the adventures
and pleasures of being a Prisoner of War in Vietnam. It was
to be a rude awakening for 3 relatively naive matelots. I was
to have the pleasure several years later and it was the most
unpleasant experience of my life, something I will never forget.
When you are finally released, you tend to have a changed perspective
on the virtues of the human race. I presume we lowly sailors
were left off the course at that time because the powers that
be thought we had no knowledge that would have been useful to
the enemy even if we were caught. The stories we later heard
made us feel lucky that we were not considered worthy.
Our work-up continued with a specialized weapons training course,
which much to our surprise was conducted by the Navy's own Weapons
specialists at the Naval Air Station at HMAS Albatross. The
seven of us learnt how to field strip and reassemble, with our
eyes closed, every small arms weapon in the Australian Military
inventory. We all became proficient shots with everything from
the M60 machine gun through the M79 40mm Grenade Launcher and
down to the 9mm Browning pistol. On the range with the M60 we
would fire at targets until the barrels became red hot. During
one morning session with our 9mm handguns, the seven of us fired
well in excess of a thousand rounds. We all felt we could have
taken on Wyatt Earp and his crew at the OK Corral, and won easily.
As it turned out, on arrival in Saigon we were issued with the
much heavier .45 calibre US issue Colt handgun.
While we were at Albatross, we spent a bit of time flying with
the Navy's 'Helicopter Flight' which was also working up in
preparation for deployment to South Vietnam. It was great fun
to be chauffeured around at low level and it gave us some insight
into what the operational flying was to be like once we arrived
'in country'. We were to come to spend so much time in choppers
that we took them for granted as most people take their family
car for granted.
One interesting little sidelight to our visit to the Naval Air
Station occurred the night before we were due to leave. Digger,
Blue and I had spent the evening consuming a few quiet beers
in the nearby town of Nowra. When we arrived back at the base,
a vote was taken and it was unanimously decided to pay a visit
to the WRANS quarters, being strictly off limits to all male
sailors. I had driven my big red Ford V8 down from Sydney and
when we were finally chased out of the Wrans' quarters by the
duty Crushers, we made our getaway in my red beast. It didn't
take an Einstein to track down the owner of the only Candy Apple
Red Ford V8 on base, so at 0800 the next morning I was piped
to report to the gangway. I was promptly marched in to see the
Regulating Officer who was infamous throughout the Navy; especially
for his hatred of Divers. He was Lieutenant "Swoops Swinerton
and the 'swine' in his surname was thought by most sailors to
be very appropriate. Naval officers were commonly called "Pusser's
pigs" by the lower deck, but Swoops brought real meaning to
the word. When he finally rounded up the three of us, he rubbed
his hands with glee as he told us we were going to be charged
with breaking every rule in the book, and if he had his way
we would all serve a good long spell in "cells". He then ordered
us to be locked up awaiting Commander's Defaulters set for later
in the day.
Meanwhile Jake got wind that his boys were in cells and had
a little chat with the Commander of the base. We later discovered
the meat of the conversation was basically that the team was
due in Canungra within two days to start our Jungle Training/Battle
Efficiency course, and half the team in cells was not Jake's
preferred option. As we were in preparation for deployment to
a war zone, official charges were definitely not on his agenda.
The Commander readily agreed after Jake told him that he would
not hesitate to get on the telephone to his boss, the Fleet
Commander, if more explanation was required. The Admiral would
not have been overly amused to see his operational Diving team
delayed by such a petty matter. When Swoops was ordered to drop
all charges and release us, he almost had a fit. He had us ushered
into his office and with no witnesses present, actually frothed
at the mouth as he swore that one day he would have his revenge
on us all. He prattled on for ten minutes about how his memory
was long and one day we would meet again. Standing at attention
listening to the ravings of this lunatic, it was difficult to
hide our grins. This made him spit and froth even more until
he screamed at us to get off his base and never come back. Going
to war certainly had some advantages although Jake made it very
clear that he didn't want to have to bail us out again. Narra
just had a quiet chuckle to himself and muttered to us on the
side, "You bunch of dickheads".
We knew we were in for a tough time at Canungra. It was talked
about far and wide as a particularly hard and demanding 3 weeks.
Almost all personnel posted to Vietnam had to complete the Battle
Efficiency (BE) course at the Jungle Training Centre (JTC),
as it was then known. We had heard a rumour that the US Military
had sent some of its Special Forces instructors to do the course
with a view to sending some of their troops over for training,
but they had gone home saying it was too tough. Situated in
the middle of the hilliest country in Queensland, it was ideally
suited for its purpose. It had near vertical mountainsides,
tropical jungle, rivers, creeks, lots of mosquitoes and snakes
and some very professional instructors. I think to a man they
had all served at least one or two tours. It was very comforting
to know that these boys were not teaching just from a text book.
They had been there and survived, and when they spoke, we listened.
From memory there were about 90 on our course and a new course
started every week. Our day began with us getting roused out
of our cots just before sunrise and it was straight into a nice
little morning run, in typical Army fashion - neatly fallen
in, keeping in step and wearing ruddy big clod-hopping Army
boots.
