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sage-----
From: BOB [mailto:bobm@pacific.net.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2007 18:10
To: Ames, John MR
Subject: RE:4RAR.

 

Dear Mr Ames

I had to reply to your mail which I did read and this is the first time we have seen the RO No 36.

I myself are one of the ex soldiers that have been at this for a long time.

I have been to both the reviews you have stated and I can assure you it is never ending.

Firstly all of the ex soldiers involved were all volunteers for Vietnam 1966-67 at reinforcement wing Infantry Ingleburn NSW.

The facts were as we were told:

The Battalion was still Active and in a designated War Zone and the area was not to be downgraded till the Battalion returned to Australia and replaced by 8 RAR 1967.

We were also told we would receive the GSM or as they stated(ink blot)

We would also get our War Service Benefits as they were known then that was the reason we as soldiers volunteered for Vietnam.

This is where everybody starts a tangled web.

All soldiers records including Borneo have WOWS 1965 to 1967.

The soldiers that went to Borneo only received the GSM, the soldiers left on the mainland were not entitled to that award so part of the Battalion was in and part was out. 

This was all bought to the table at the SE ASIA REVIEW.

The other strange fact if you can find it and I do have a copy somewhere is before the Active Service Medal was struck the soldiers were only entitled to the GSM not the returned from active service badge? I do have this in my mountain of paperwork somewhere.

Mohr, Kennedy did accept that hostilities were to cease on those dates you have said however our Government still kept the area classed as a Special Area as reflected in our DVA Act 1986 till the 30th Of September 1967.

Roger Wickham who was the assistant adjutant at the time states hostilities were ordered to cease however after all conflicts there is the so-called cooling off period and in the history at the time of the treaty it was known that the Indonesians did not quite keep the bargain and move back from the border.

It is also now accepted Col East was given CO of 4RAR due to his fluent Indonesian and the familiarisation with the Indonesian Commander as he was attached to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and also incase of a second deployment back into Borneo.

Mr Ames this goes on and on its a mess the whole act is a mess.

These soldiers do not want medals that is fact they want what they were told when they volunteered was their war service benefits the right to be looked after by DVA if it was needed.

They are two strikes out of three within the Act they are not lying Mohr, Kennedy accepted this.

Also there is something that was not done correctly all those years ago.

Have a look at the INSTRUMENT OF ALLOTMENT 1986.

Why were all units realloted including 2 SAS Sqn plus 3RAR and 4RAR and all support units ships, airforce etc for example 3RAR was 1964 to September 1965 why do it again on the 28th of September 2000 by Christopher Angus Ritchie RAN? if it was correct in the first place.?

Mr Ames we are just trying to point out here that what we were told differs from what defence now tells us if it was not true we would not all have the same storey.

I state again here that nobody wants medals out of this just the right to DVA if needed we have lost a couple with motor neurone another few with cancer and we have one in Queensland we were able to get a white card he also has cancer the white card pays for his injections and that is a huge help, there were approx 140 reinforcements that went to 4RAR 1966-67 not thousands half stayed on with the unit and went to Vietnam so minus a few that have already died there would be no more that 50 and some you would not even hear about the Vietnam ones are ok.

Also here Mohr Kennedy accepted it , Clarke did not have a clue that review was overloaded it could not judge on the limited information you could give to it as it simply did not have the time.

I will close I hope I have not bored you I just want to give you some idea of what we are about, these men are not trying to backdoor into a system they were told they were in, in the first place.

 

Regards

Robert Manning.

Hi

My name is Adam Rainford. I'm the son of a Vietnam vet (navy) and son-in-law of a Vietnam vet (infantry). I'm a documentary film maker, and I'm researching a particular unit that fought in Vietnam in June 1969 - the 2nd D&E Platoon. I understand that it was made up of regulars from the 4th Battalion, and operated on APC's. I would appreciate any assistance/information that anyone can give me regarding this unit (names, dates, action, photos etc). Some names and references I have so far include: Jim Riddle; "Sabre Two"; Captain Arrowsmith; Normie Rowe; Ernie Entwhistle; Xuyen Moc; etc. Please forward this request on to as many vets as you can far and wide. I'm very interested to hear directly from anyone involved with this particular platoon. I'm researching this platoon as a potential subject for a documentary. It seems like a very interesting story, a piece of Australian military history not yet fully told.

Please ask anyone who can volunteer information about this unit to put 2nd D&E Platoon in the subject box of any email back to me. I can also be contacted by phone.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Adam Rainford
Mobile: 0403 213 332
rainingfilms@yahoo.com.au

My name is Alan Mark Dinnison and I would like to be included on the 2/4 RAR nominal roll. I served in the Battalion between 12 August 1974 to February 1979. I was in Bravo Company and then Signals Platoon, Support Company over this period. I was a L/Cpl when I departed to Intelligence Corps.