Book contents
- An Army of Influence
- Acknowledgement of Country
- An Army of Influence
- Copyright page
- Foreword
- Contents
- Figures, maps and tables
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The concept of an army’s influence abroad
- Part 2 Lessons from past relationships
- Chapter 4 General Blamey and the Backroom Boys
- Chapter 5 ‘Not rich in standing armies or immediately available resources’
- Chapter 6 Helping the Americans help the Vietnamese?
- Chapter 7 East Timor and the crisis of 1999
- Chapter 8 Onward and onya
- Part 3 Ongoing relationships
- Index
Chapter 6 - Helping the Americans help the Vietnamese?
Defence engagement with the Republic of Vietnam, 1955–1975
from Part 2 - Lessons from past relationships
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 November 2021
- An Army of Influence
- Acknowledgement of Country
- An Army of Influence
- Copyright page
- Foreword
- Contents
- Figures, maps and tables
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The concept of an army’s influence abroad
- Part 2 Lessons from past relationships
- Chapter 4 General Blamey and the Backroom Boys
- Chapter 5 ‘Not rich in standing armies or immediately available resources’
- Chapter 6 Helping the Americans help the Vietnamese?
- Chapter 7 East Timor and the crisis of 1999
- Chapter 8 Onward and onya
- Part 3 Ongoing relationships
- Index
Summary
In the early afternoon of 25 April 1975, the Australian Embassy to the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) shut its doors for the last time. One Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-130 Hercules had departed Tan Son Nhut air base earlier that morning, carrying a mixture of Vietnamese nuns, refugees and United Nations personnel to RAAF Fairbairn in Canberra. Two more left in the late afternoon, carrying the embassy’s Australian staff, their equipment and a handful of other Australians and Vietnamese to the safety of Bangkok. The embassy’s Vietnamese staff were, over the objections of Ambassador Geoffrey Price, not evacuated. Eschewing dramatics, Price sent his final cable to Canberra at 1 pm local time: ‘So I suppose all I need say now is thank you for all your support and close up the shop. Goodbye from Saigon.’ Thus ended – among other things – Australia’s defence engagement with the RVN.
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- Information
- An Army of InfluenceEighty Years of Regional Engagement, pp. 115 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021