NZHistory, New Zealand history online - vietnam war

NZ medics start work in South Vietnam

On Anzac Day 1963, a six-strong New Zealand civilian surgical team arrived in Qui Nhon, South Vietnam as part of the Colombo Plan assistance programme. Their deployment – two years before New Zealand combat troops – marked the beginning of this country’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

The team based at Qui Nhon, in central Binh Dinh province, treated civilian war and accident casualties from the surrounding area, and trained Vietnamese medics and nurses in all aspects of modern hospital medicine, including maternity, paediatrics and public health promotion.

Dunedin surgeon Michael Shackleton – accompanied by his wife and five children – was the first team leader in Qui Nhon. Given the task of establishing a base for his staff, he performed admirably despite uncooperative Vietnamese counterparts, inadequate facilities and limited New Zealand administrative support on the ground.

By 1966, the team had grown to 14: three surgeons, a physician, an anaesthetist, an administrator, a laboratory technician, six nurses and a maintenance officer. It continued to operate until March 1975, when it was evacuated to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) a few days before Qui Nhon fell to North Vietnamese forces. The last team member, Dr Jack Enwright, left South Vietnam in late April 1975.

In 1991, a coalition of 12 agencies, including Volunteer Service Abroad and the Red Cross, revived the relationship with Qui Nhon that had been forged by New Zealand medics and public health practitioners during the war. This collaboration continued until the government withdrew aid funding in 2002. Training continues to be sponsored by the New Zealand Viet Nam Health Trust (NZVHT), which was formed in 1997 after a reunion of New Zealanders who had taken part in the medical effort in Binh Dinh between 1963 and 1975.

Image: NZ Surgical Team doctors in Qui Nhon (VietnamWar.govt.nz)

New Zealanders in South-East Asia

A 1965 National Film Unit report on the activities of New Zealanders in South-East Asia: the 1st Battalion of the Royal NZ Infantry Regiment in Borneo; the RNZAF ophthalmic team in Sarawak and Thailand; and in Vietnam, the arrival of 161 Battery, the departure of the NEWZAD engineers, and the work of the New Zealand Civilian Surgical Team at Qui Nhon Hospital.

Archives New Zealand YouTube Channel

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

Media Group:

video

NZ history:

The Cold War

Vietnam War

Confrontation in Borneo

Video thumbnail:

Video URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECog042WV2A

tags:

malaya

cold war

vietnam war

Protest and dissent - New Zealand and the Cold War

Anti-Vietnam War poster, 1966

Questioning the Cold War

The fall of South Vietnam in 1975 did not have the dire consequences predicted by ‘domino’ theorists. Although the Indochina dominos – Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos – fell to communism, the rest of South-East Asia remained politically stable. With boundaries in the region settled, the focus of the Cold War shifted away from Asia and the need for ‘forward defence’ diminished. These changes, together with the anti-Vietnam War movement, ushered in a new era of debate about Cold War policies and New Zealand’s place in the world.

MAD

The doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) states that the full-scale use of weapons of mass destruction by two opposing sides would result in the complete annihilation of both attacker and defender. Developed by US mathematician John von Neumann, MAD was seen as helping prevent a direct full-scale conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

These challenges to the Cold War consensus were, in part, fostered by the rise of the non-aligned movement in the 1960s. Led by Indonesia, India, Yugoslavia, Egypt and Ghana, the movement comprised countries which did not want formally to ally themselves with either Cold War power bloc. The United States and the Soviet Union soon found themselves competing for favour among the non-aligned states. Neither side made major gains, although their support of client states in Central America and Africa caused periodic alarm.

‘Dètente’

Behind this diplomatic manoeuvring, both ‘superpowers’ continued to enhance and enlarge their arsenals of nuclear weapons. Despite this nuclear build-up, the prospect of ‘mutual assured destruction’ limited the threat of direct confrontation. This became apparent after the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when, faced with the threat of war, the Soviet Union withdrew nuclear missiles it had begun to instal in Cuba. From 1969 both sides entered negotiations to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. This period of co-operation was known as ‘détente’.

Mururoa Atoll nuclear bomb test, 1970

Peace movement

The Cuban crisis turned global opinion against the proliferation of nuclear arms. New Zealanders joined a growing international peace movement concerned at the devastating potential of nuclear weapons. Nuclear testing in the Pacific by Britain, the US, and France during the 1950s and 1960s heightened these fears. In 1974 the Labour government proposed the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the South Pacific, and this was eventually ratified in 1985.

Anti-Vietnam War protesters

View of a crowd of about 4500 anti-Vietnam War protesters gathered outside the Wellington Town Hall on May Day 1971.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP/1971/1880-F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

Tuapa war memorial, Niue

Detail from memorial

War memorial commemorating soldiers from the village of Tuapa-Uhomotu in Niue who served in the First World War (1914–18), Second World War (1939–45), and Vietnam War (1964–72).

Credit:

Margaret Pointer

Find out more about the people listed on this memorial on the Auckland Museum's Cenotaph website

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

Post-war operations - Royal NZ Navy

HMNZS Black Prince

After the Second World War the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), like all the services, faced difficulties readjusting to peacetime conditions – not only in drastically reducing numbers but also in determining the shape of the post-war fleet. On the other hand, there was much wartime surplus equipment available, and New Zealand took advantage of this to acquire six Loch-class frigates (HMNZS Tutira, Pukaki, Taupo, Rotoiti, Kaniere, and Hawea) in 1949. These would supplement a force still based around two cruisers, the Dido-class HMNZS Black Prince and Bellona, which replaced Achilles and Gambia shortly after the war.

Middle East commitment

Defence plans by the end of the 1940s were dominated by the developing Cold War between the Soviet Union and its former wartime allies in the West, led by the United States. They centred on preparing to fulfil the so-called Middle East pledge – the promise to provide forces immediately for the defence of Egypt in the event of war with the Soviet Union. The government promised to send all surplus naval capacity to the region. Readiness was enhanced by the exchange of frigates with the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet in 1950.

Korean War

HMNZS Pukaki

In the event, the RNZN became involved in a conflict in a very different setting. The Korean War erupted in June 1950 when North Korea, believed in the West to be a Soviet puppet, invaded its southern neighbour. After the US secured a Security Council resolution calling on members to support South Korea, the New Zealand government agreed to provide naval forces for the UN effort. Two frigates, Pukaki and Tutira, deployed immediately and reached the theatre in early August. They began escorting ships between Japan and the South Korean port of Pusan. In mid-September 1950 they escorted troopships to Inch’on, where the UN landing transformed the war, leading to the rapid liberation of South Korea.

When UN forces attempted to occupy North Korea, China intervened and threw them back. The frontline eventually stabilised near the 38th Parallel, the former border between the two Koreas. An armistice brought the fighting to an end in July 1953. Throughout the war New Zealand sustained its naval contribution, with all six frigates serving tours with the UN Command. The ships formed part of a British squadron which operated mainly on the west coast of the Korean peninsula, patrolling in search of enemy craft and protecting various South Korean-held islands. In all, about 1300 RNZN personnel served in the Korean War; two lost their lives, one during a shore raid on North Korea by HMNZS Rotoiti in August 1951.

Malayan Emergency

During the 1950s New Zealand’s defence focus shifted from the Middle East to South-east Asia.

Nuclear tests

The RNZN played a small part in the British nuclear testing programme in the Pacific. Its hydrographic survey vessel surveyed sites in the Line Islands, and the frigates Pukaki and Rotoiti acted as weather ships during four tests at Christmas Island in 1957.

In 1955 New Zealand agreed to supply forces in peacetime for the British Commonwealth Strategic Reserve, which would provide the initial response to any attack on the region by China. As a result one RNZN frigate was stationed in Singapore. Although intended to meet a ‘hot war’ situation, the reserve forces became involved in guerrilla warfare then wracking Malaya.

The Malayan Emergency had been in place since 1948, as the authorities battled mainly Chinese guerrillas – ‘communist terrorists’ (CTs), as they were known. New Zealand frigates occasionally took part in shore bombardments of CT positions.

Re-configuration

HMNZS Waikato

By the 1960s the RNZN, like the other armed services, faced the problem of replacing now obsolesent war surplus equipment. The Lochs in particular were nearing the end of their useful life. Two Rothesay-class frigates (HMNZS Otago and Taranaki) arrived early in the decade. A Leander-class frigate, HMNZS Waikato, the RNZN’s first ship designed to embark a helicopter, joined them in 1966. A fourth frigate, the Leander-class HMNZS Canterbury, was added in 1971, replacing HMNZS Blackpool, which had been borrowed from the Royal Navy.

Meanwhile the RNZN’s cruiser era had come to an end. Black Prince reverted to the Royal Navy in 1961. The last cruiser acquired by the RNZN, HMNZS Royalist, another Dido-class, was by the mid-1960s becoming a liability. Its final Far East deployment ended ignominiously when it had to be towed back to New Zealand, after breaking down in the Solomon Islands. It was scrapped in 1966.

Confrontation and Vietnam

During the 1960s the RNZN became involved in yet another conflict in South-east Asia, stemming from Indonesia’s 'Konfrontasi' policy towards the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. This took the form of armed incursions in Malaya and Borneo. Two minesweepers – HMNZS Hickleton and Santon – deployed to carry out anti-infiltration patrols in Borneo waters and in the Malacca and Singapore straits. The frigate Taranaki was also involved. This commitment ended in 1966 when Indonesia abandoned its campaign.

Hopes within the RNZN that New Zealand might contribute a warship to the US-led effort in support of South Vietnam went unrealised, the government proving reluctant to face the cost of shore bombardments. Instead, the RNZN commitment in Vietnam was confined to medics. Most of the 26 RNZN personnel who served in Vietnam did so in a joint services medical unit, which operated in Binh Dinh province from 1967 to 1971. Subsequently a few served with one of two New Zealand training teams deployed to Vietnam.

1966 - key events

NZ’s longest running TV show debuts

The first episode of Country Calendar screened on the evening of Sunday 6 March. The 15-minute show was intended as a roundup of news for country folk. New Zealanders' identification with their rural heartland and traditions ensured that even 'townies' embraced Country Calendar, which has consistently been one of the most popular locally made television shows. It is believed to be the second-longest-running series in the world – after the English soap-opera Coronation Street.

Kaitawa tragedy

On the evening of 23 May all 29 crew on board the MV Kaitawa died when the ship was lost in heavy seas as it approached Cape Reinga. This was one of New Zealand’s worst shipwrecks of the 20th century. On a routine run with a cargo of coal from Westport to the Portland cement works, near Whangarei, the Kaitawa sent a Mayday call around 9 p.m. All contact was then lost and wreckage began floating ashore the next day. Investigators concluded that the Kaitawa was most likely swamped by one or more great waves. As the ship took on water it began to list and drifted on to the Pandora Bank. Here it was smashed by the heavy seas and capsized before drifting to a point closer to Cape Maria van Diemen, where it sank to the ocean floor. Only the body of motorman John Wright was ever recovered.

Coronation of new Maori Queen

In May the Maori King, Koriki, died at his home in Ngaruawahia. Shortly before his burial on 23 May his daughter Piki was crowned as Te Atairangikaahu, becoming the first Maori Queen. The sixth Maori monarch since the creation of the Kingitanga in 1858, Te Atairangikaahu is to date the longest-serving Maori monarch. She died in August 2006, shortly after celebrating her 40th jubilee as Queen.

The White House comes to New Zealand

In a bid to shore up support for the war in Vietnam, New Zealand received two high-profile visitors from the White House in 1966. A visit in February from Vice-President Hubert Humphrey was followed in October by the two-day visit of President Lyndon B. Johnson. ‘LBJ’ was the first President to visit this country. It was not, however, his first visit New Zealand – he had been stationed here (and in Australia) during the Second World War.

Other events of 1966

The local television music show C’mon made its debut. Hosted by Peter Sinclair, it showcased a number of local artists and dancers who became household names including the Chicks, Mr Lee Grant and Dinah Lee.
Don’t Let It Get You was only the third New Zealand feature film since the end of the Second World War. Made by John O’Shea for Pacific Films, it starred Howard Morrison, a heavily brylcreemed Lew Pryme and a young Kiri Te Kanawa.
Maria Dallas won the Loxene Golden Disc Award for Tumbling down. These awards were the forerunner of today’s Tui Awards or New Zealand Music Awards.
The Socialist Unity Party was established by the pro-Russian faction of the New Zealand Communist Party. With strong trade union ties, the SUP established itself as the most powerful extreme left-wing group in the country.
The All Blacks completed a 4-0 clean sweep against the touring British and Irish Lions. The Lions played 25 matches in New Zealand, also losing to Southland, Otago, Wellington and Wanganui-King Country. Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay drew with the visitors.
The new inter-island ferry Wahine arrived at Wellington on 24 July 1966, making its first voyage to Lyttelton on 1 August. Its sinking at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in 1968 is one of the enduring images of New Zealand in the sixties.
The 20-year-old two-party monopoly of Parliament was ended when Social Credit leader Vernon Cracknell won the Hobson electorate in the 1966 general election. National won the election with a nine-seat majority from Labour.
The state monopoly on commercial radio broadcasting was challenged by pirate station Radio Hauraki’s first transmission from the vessel Tiri in the Colville Channel.
The poet James K. Baxter was awarded New Zealand's premier literary residency, the Robert Burns Fellowship.
Gisborne was hit by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake on 5 March with considerable damage to property.
The first Trekka, the only vehicle to be designed and mass produced in New Zealand, rolled off the assembly line for the first time. Some 2500 of these jeep-style farm vehicles were built between 1966 and 1973.

Can you remember 1966? Add your memories and comments in the form below.

1965 - key events

New Zealand sends combat forces to Vietnam

New Zealand's involvement in Vietnam was highly controversial and attracted protest and condemnation at home and abroad. For a growing number of New Zealanders the war triggered a re-examination of our foreign policy and identity.

The government was initially cautious in its approach, choosing to send a Civilian Surgical Team in 1963. Under increasing pressure from the United States, army engineers were dispatched in June 1964 to help with reconstruction projects. In April 1965 the US Secretary for State, Henry Cabot Lodge, arrived in Wellington. He was greeted by anti-war demonstrations but the following month the government announced it was sending its first combat force: the Royal New Zealand Artillery's 161 Battery. In July 161 Battery, now stationed at Bien Hoa air base near Saigon, opened fire on a Viet Cong position in support of the American 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Prison Riots

Mt Eden Prison is one of New Zealand's oldest prisons and probably its best known. By 1945 there were public calls for the ageing Victorian stone building to be demolished. In the winter of 1965, as over-crowding reached a critical point, a prison-wide riot erupted. On 20 July, following a failed mass breakout attempt, prisoners lit fires that quickly spread along the roof. By the time they surrendered 33 hours later little remained of the prison other than its exterior stone shell. The rebellious mood quickly spread. Conflicts and fires were started at Wellington's Mt Crawford Prison and Paparua Prison in Christchurch.

NAFTA signed

Australia played an important part in New Zealand's early economic development but Britain became the main market for both countries' agricultural exports. New Zealand continued to trade with Australia, though, and the trans-Tasman neighbours signed their first formal economic agreement in 1922. But due to the guaranteed access to the British market it was of little consequence. By the early 1960s Britain had made clear its intention to join the European Economic Community, which would mean an end to New Zealand and Australia's cosy arrangements with the British market. Against this background a New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed on 31 August 1965. It came into force on 1 January 1966.

The agreement allowed for the phasing out of duties on a range of products over a period of up to eight years. Each country submitted lists of products to be included in ‘free trade’ schedules, which were then subject to an annual review. This led to criticisms that the agreement was ‘too complex and bureaucratic’. NAFTA had a modest impact on trade between the two neighbours. By the end of the 1960s Australia continued to provide around 20% of New Zealand's imports, while our exports to Australia had increased from 4% to 8%. Others argued that NAFTA played an important part in stimulating debate on trans-Tasman economic integration, culminating in the 1983 Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement.

Cook Islands achieve self-government

New Zealand's formal ties with the Cook Islands began as a result of a petition by the chiefs of Rarotonga. In 1901 the Federal Parliament of the Cooks was abolished and the islands were incorporated into the boundaries of New Zealand. Until 1946 the islands were governed by the Resident Commissioner of Rarotonga, who was appointed by the New Zealand government.

After the Second World War steps were taken towards establishing responsible internal self-government. By 1957 a representative Legislative Assembly of the Cook Islands with increased legislative powers was created. In 1962 this Assembly declared its intention to achieve internal self-government, which was achieved in August 1965.

Other 1965 events

Waikato University at Hamilton was officially opened in February
TEAL became Air New Zealand
Ray Columbus and The Invaders won the inaugural Loxene Golden Disc Award for Till we kissed. These awards were the forerunner of today's Tui Awards or New Zealand Music Awards
The Benmore hydroelectric scheme came on line. Electricity was sent to the North Island via a new inter-island cable
The last steam express on the North Island main trunk line left Auckland for Wellington
The first commercial services flew out of Auckland's new International Airport at Mangere (which was officially opened in January 1966)
The Lawson quintuplets were born in Auckland. They were the first set of quintuplets to survive in New Zealand
The final link in the Haast pass road was completed
The stellar career of Kiri Te Kanawa was launched when she won the Mobil Song Quest
Norman Kirk replaced Arnold Nordmeyer as leader of the opposition Labour Party. ‘Big Norm’ would later end National's 12-year stranglehold on power with a landslide victory in 1972.

Can you remember 1965? Add your memories and comments in the form below.

Battle damaged M16 automatic rifle

This battle-damaged M16A1 automatic rifle belonged to Captain Peter Williams, 161 Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery (RNZA). The rifle was damaged when Williams was hit and killed by a mine/booby-trap on 14 February 1967, while acting as Artillery Forward Observer with 5 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) in Vietnam.

The rifle was returned to the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) headquarters at Nui Dat and sent back to New Zealand with Williams' personal belongings. It is currently on display at the National Army Museum in Waiouru.

See also: Peter Williams entry in Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database

Credit:

Image courtesy National Army Museum Te Mata Toa
Accession Number: 1978.331
Permission of the National Army Museum Te Mata Toa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

Victor 4 Company flag

Flag used by Victor 4 (V4) Company during their deployment in South Vietnam with 6RAR/NZ (Anzac) Battalion, May 1969 to May 1970.

The flag was made in 1968 while V4 was stationed in Malacca, Malaysia. During their deployment in Vietnam, the flag was raised and lowered daily at the Company Headquarters in Nui Dat. This ceremony was conducted regardless of whether the Company were present - on the 320 days that V4 was in the field on operations, rear personnel conducted the ceremony.

Ex-members of V4 kept the flag safe until its presentation to the National Army Museum Waiouru in 2004.

Credit:

Image courtesy National Army Museum Te Mata Toa
Accession Number: 2004.426
Permission of the National Army Museum Te Mata Toa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

vietnam war

flag

war objects