On 29 April 1965 Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced in parliament that Australia would send a battalion of combat troops to Vietnam. The decision was motivated by a desire to strengthen strategic relations with the United States and to halt the spread of communism in South-East Asia.
There was no nearby British interest, and Britain followed its settled policy of observing that its land forces (and their tactical air power support) were being geared to the Shield Force. Hence, there were no British troops in Indochina.
Why did Australia and New Zealand fight in the Vietnam War?
New Zealand's entry into the Vietnam War was driven by a blend of alliance politics and Cold War fear. As a committed member of the ANZUS Pact (with Australia and the United States), New Zealand felt pressure to show solidarity with its allies.
After the Whitlam Government was elected on 5 December 1972, it decided to withdraw the last of the Australian troops from South Vietnam. So the AAAGV was disbanded on 17 December 1972. The last veterans of the AAAGV, including the AATTV, left South Vietnam in two RAAF C-130 aircraft on 18 December.
Some 60,000 Australian defence personnel served in Vietnam over 10 years of the war. Our initial commitment of 30 military advisers in 1962 grew to include a battalion in 1965 and a task force in 1966. Australia's last combat troops came home in March 1972, about 3 years before the war ended.
At the heart of the conflict was the desire of North Vietnam, which had defeated the French colonial administration of Vietnam in 1954, to unify the entire country under a single communist regime modeled after those of the Soviet Union and China.
Which country lost the most soldiers in the Vietnam War?
The war exacted an enormous cost: estimates of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed range from 970,000 to 3 million. Some 275,000–310,000 Cambodians, 20,000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 US service members died.
How were Vietnam veterans treated once they returned to Australia?
All Australian military personnel who returned from South Vietnam aboard HMAS Sydney received a 'welcome home' parade. Troops who arrived home by air were invited to join them, but few accepted the offer. Some returning veterans were subjected to abuse by anti-war protesters.
As the war progressed Australians were less convinced by the original rationale that China and communism posed a direct threat. Opposition to the war also grew as national servicemen were killed and wounded in the course of their service.
The wars in Vietnam lasted thirty years. They began when France tried to restore colonial rule after World War II. Fear of losing Southeast Asia to the Communist-led independence movement brought U.S. backing to the French effort during the 1980s.
Although the United Kingdom did not officially participate in the Vietnam War, it provided de facto diplomatic support for the United States' war aims and it participated in international talks concerning the ongoing conflict.
Australian SASR personnel also worked with US Army Special Forces in Vietnam, and provided instructors to the MACV Recondo School, and then to the LRRP Training Wing at the AATTV-operated Van Kiep Training Centre from 1967.
The UK and Vietnam share a strong strategic partnership and are celebrating 51 years of diplomatic relations. Apart from collaborations in trade, education, research, technology innovation and climate change, tackling illegal migration and human trafficking is hugely important and mutually beneficial to both countries.
Most Americans wanted to forget the trauma of the Vietnam War and move on. As a result Vietnam veterans were seen as a reminder of defeat and of a time that should be forgotten. Some veterans struggled with physical and psychological injuries often felt isolated from family and friends.
Why did people leave Vietnam to come to Australia?
Vietnamese migration to Australia was spurred by the Vietnam War. Many Vietnamese people arrived as refugees after the conclusion of the war in 1975. Others arrived as the wives of Australian servicemen or as war orphans.
Having rebuilt their forces and upgraded their logistics system, North Vietnamese forces triggered a major offensive in the Central Highlands in March 1975. On April 30, 1975, NVA tanks rolled through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, effectively ending the war.
Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age.
The justifications for the Vietnam War were seriously flawed. The Central Intelligence Agency had repeatedly informed the Johnson administration that most Southeast Asian countries were not in danger of falling like dominos to communism, even if North Vietnam won. The credibility theory was also exaggerated.
Despite the stark differences between North and South Vietnamese personalities, there is a sense of unity that transcends geographic boundaries – a common bond forged through centuries of shared history and the struggle for national independence.
1955-1975. The Vietnam War was a long, costly, and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.