No Need for Heroes. Sandy MacGregor
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NO NEED FOR HEROES
by
Sandy MacGregor
as told to
Jimmy Thomson
Copyright © 1993 Sandy MacGregor
Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of study, research, criticism, review or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission of the author.
First published in Australia September 1993
Revised and Reprinted November 2006
Published by
CALM Pty Limited
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ISBN 0 646 15167 3
DEDICATION
To Corporal Bob Bowtell who led by example and died going beyond the call of duty in the tunnels at Ho Bo Woods, Cu Chi, South Vietnam, serving with 3 Field Troop, Royal Australian Engineers in January 1966.
To all those soldiers who served with 3 Field Troop Royal Australian Engineers under my command in South Vietnam, September 1965 to September 1966.
To Jamie Thomson.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sandy MacGregor was born in New Delhi in 1940 and came to Ulverstone, Tasmania when he was eight years old. He graduated from Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1960 then completed his Civil Engineering degree at Sydney University.
He served in the Australian Army for 30 years, finishing as a Colonel in the Reserves. He proudly commanded the Officer Cadet Training Unit and the University of NSW Regiment.
Now Sandy trains people in the public, educational, and corporate sectors and has written five books including the best-selling book Piece of Mind, on how to use the power of the subconscious mind. (See page 271 for a list of books and CDs).
He is the father of six from two families. Three of his daughters were killed tragically in 1987. His eldest son is married with three children and Sandy now lives in Sydney with his wife and two younger children.
* * *
Jimmy Thomson was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He became a journalist in 1978 and worked in Glasgow, London, Kenya and New Zealand. He joined the Sydney Daily Telegraph in 1988 and later held a senior position at Woman's Day.
Jimmy now writes children's books, TV comedies and a weekly magazine column. He co-wrote the positive thinking book Succeed With Me with Selwa Anthony in 1993.
Jimmy is also the Australian bureau chief of the World Entertainment News Network – an international news agency.
He is now working on a number of fiction and non-fiction books and his children's book, The Koala Who Bounced was published in October, 1993. He has a son, Jamie, from his first marriage, and lives with his second wife, Sue, in Sydney.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Lieutenant General John Sanderson 8
Preface 10
Prologue 13
Chapter 1 Call to Arms 22
Chapter 2 A Foreign Field 32
Chapter 3 Work Hard ... Play Hard 42
Chapter 4 The Airborne Americans 53
Chapter 5 The Long and Winding Road 62
Chapter 6 Trooping the Colour 79
Chapter 7 Knights in Sinking Armour 89
Chapter 8 Onward and Downward 98
Chapter 9 The Underground City 113
Chapter 10 The Tunnel Rat Files 125
Chapter 11 Like a Rolling Stone 146
Chapter 12 Sex and the Single Soldier 153
Chapter 13 End of an Era 163
Chapter 14 The Wild Bunch 172
Chapter 15 On the Beach 182
Chapter 16 Taking Command 198
Chapter 17 Passing the Baton 208
Chapter 18 The Long Night before Long Tan 215
Chapter 19 Last Post 220
Appendices
A Aussie Tunnel Rats in the "Talking War" 229
B Terror Tunnels of Vietnam War 233
C Translation of Captured Document 237
D Engineers in Operations in Vietnam – by Sandy 248
published in Australian Army Journal August 1967
E 3 Field Troop – Vietnam and Now 263
FOREWORD
The sixties was an exciting and adventurous decade for the Royal Australian Engineers. A relatively small Corps, primarily engaged in construction and works service activities at the beginning of this period, it had doubled in size by 1970 and accumulated a breadth and depth of operational experience which placed it among the foremost western military engineering establishments. Building on the base of experienced officers and warrant officers with World War II and Korean service, the Corps made a leap forward into a new era of professional endeavour.
The deployment of 3 Field Troop to Vietnam under the command of my old friend Alec (Sandy) MacGregor was part of a continuum of growing overseas engagement by the Engineers. In 1965 sappers were on operations in Malaysia and Vietnam and remained engaged in a major construction program in Papua New Guinea. Clearly the Corps was well stretched and there were plenty of experiences to be enjoyed by anyone with a sense of adventure.
I imagine that some members of 3 Field Troop would find the use of the term adventure to be not quite appropriate as a description of their experiences. But their time with the 1RAR Battalion Group was certainly adventurous in many ways. More than that however, it was the most serious operational work, laying the base for the much larger Australian engineer effort to follow. We watched this field troop made up of all regular army soldiers approach its dangerous challenges with professional determination. It was a matter of some pride in the Corps that the combination of initiative and mateship, seen as the hallmark of the sappers, was being so overtly displayed. In this, they typified the Regular Army of that time.
I am pleased to say that I have served with many members of 3 Field Troop during my military career. A number of them gave a lot back to the Royal Australian Engineers over the years, drawing on these early experiences. Justifiably proud of their achievements, they were always ready to let anyone who would listen know that they were part of Australia's first major commitment to Vietnam.
There was always the risk of course that their contribution would be overshadowed by large scale Sapper effort which developed from April 1966 onwards. I am pleased to find that Alec (Sandy)