MP: THe First In

MP THE FIRST IN: South Vietnam May 1965.

Ray Bate

Privately published, 2007, 38pp, rrp $19.95.

Ray Bate has written an interesting account of the experiences of the first detachment of Australian military police to serve in South Vietnam.

Starting with the hasty raising of the MP section as part of the 1st Australian Logistic Support Company in May 1965, he follows them through training and deployment by air and sea only four weeks later.

After arrival, the section was split between Bien Hoa and Saigon, with the Saigon group becoming part of HQ AAFV, and the Bien Hoa group joining USAF Air Police to provide police services at the airbase, where 1 RAR and the 1st ALSC were located.  After four months, with many Australian soldiers on leave in Saigon, the section concentrated there.

The MP’s duties included joint military and civilian police patrols in Saigon and at Bien Hoa, and assisting after terrorist explosions in Saigon.  They provided assistance and escort support to ‘Dust Off’ medical evacuation operations.  Both of these duties exposed them to the full horrors of war.

Their experiences included returning curfew-breaking soldiers discreetly to their units, the son of a French diplomat, also breaking curfew, to his parents, and assisting soldiers who had been robbed.  They attended incidents of murder, attempted bomb planting, and violence in the streets of Saigon.

Ray Bate is proud of the service the section provided, and the support it gave to the troops during that first year.

JOHN DONOVAN