conference proceedings - Australian Army

220
57. McKay, Delta Four, 118.
58. Ibid., 222.
59. Taylor, Last Out, 232.
THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY AND THE VIETNAM WAR 1962–1972
Fortunately Australian and New Zealand infantrymen share certain characteristics, such
as initiative, self confidence, endurance, tenacity, courage, aggressiveness, and reliability.
Perhaps it is something to do with the fact that both are from relatively young nations
where the respective environments can be harsh and unforgiving and people depended
on one another to survive in the early days. Both armies are relatively small; there is
no one else to blame—you cannot hide, and mateship breeds its own loyalty.
Much has been written over centuries about loyalty to sovereign, country and
regiment, but Jerry Taylor, who served in both 2 and 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalions,
best sums it up when referring to fear, something that all infantrymen experience in
battle (some are just reluctant to admit it): ‘It’s loyalty to the group, comradeship, what
we in Australia call ‘mateship’, that really causes men to overcome fear. So the stronger
that loyalty is, in my view, the better men fight. In the end, it’s mainly a function of
morale.’ 57
In the ANZAC Battalions this mateship extended between Diggers and Kiwis. Each
was aware that we were from separate nations but the ‘Antipodeans’ shared an inherited
loyalty over many decades that encompassed one another and neither an Australian nor
Kiwi individual, section, platoon or company would be prepared to let the other down
in battle. They were united on this aspect of dependability—after all, it was their own
unit.
This did not mean that there was not a strong competitiveness between the two in
or out of the bush, particularly when it came to singing and drinking, as an Australian
section commander recalls:
Kiwis—they could play harder in town than we could, but having said that, when
we got into trouble with the 3rd of the 33rd (3 Battalion, 33 NVA Regiment on
21 September 1971) they were the company reacted to come and assist us ...
When they arrived, they really looked the part. They looked like they meant
business, and the thing I liked about them was even though they were made up
of Maoris and Pakehas—they were us. New Zealand/Australians, Australians/
New Zealanders. They were trained under the same system as we were and I
had nothing but confidence in their ability. 58
This respect was mutual, for when the bodies of the Diggers killed during the battle
were carried past the Kiwis securing the track from the bunker system to the extraction
point they faced inwards and shouldered arms. It was, in the words of Jerry Taylor, ‘an
eloquent and moving gesture: the tribute of warriors to fallen comrades’. 59