My tour of duty in Vietnam commenced as a reinforcement soldier to the 6th Battalion in January 1967 and then the 7th Battalion in June. As a reinforcement soldier, it was a daunting experience to assimilate and be accepted as the ‘new boy’ into a group that had already been together for some months on operations. My role in both battalions was M60 machine gunner in the rifle section. The M60 being a large weapon, I always travelled sitting in the open door of the helicopters when flying to and from operations.
Service No. 44007