3. From 6TTU to Vietnam – An APC for Australia
Posted on: Mon 16 May 2022
Episode 3. In this episode we hear from RAASC Veteran David Childs and RAAC Veterans John McQueen, Peter McDonald and Ian ‘Icky’ Smith about various aspects of life and work in and around Innisfail including trouble with the gearbox on the 113; visiting dignitaries; the various trial vehicles, and the creepy crawlies in the swamp and jungle.
The series is MC’d by RAAC Veteran Craig Haydock.
Throughout this 8 part series, produced via a Saluting Their Service Major Commemorative Grant, Army Veterans recount memories of heading up to Far North Queensland and the little town of Innisfail in the mid 1960s to participate in tropical trials on wheeled and tracked vehicles and an Armoured Personnel Carrier for Australia to take to Vietnam. Some travelled by train, some flew or drove their own vehicles and others were part of a large convoy that left Puckapunyal in 1964.
Image: Australian soldiers patrolling with an APC during Operation Smithfield South Vietnam 1966 (AWM_CUN660706VN) Public domain
