More Vietnam crossfire 30 years on

ALISON HORRWOOD looks at claims that Vietcong prisoners were killed by Anzac soldiers.

Amid the war-torn chaos of Vietnam more than 30 years ago, at least five New Zealand soldiers and their Australian comrades intercepted a radio message.

Time has blurred the men's recall of exact dates and details, but the content of the message has been burned into their memories.

What they say they overheard was an Anzac unit receiving an instruction to execute - in cold-blood - two wounded Vietcong prisoners.

Depending on whose memory you rely on, the unit carrying out the orders was either 4 Troop - the first New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) unit to arrive in Vietnam, in mid-December 1968 - or an Australian infantry unit.

The debate over what actually happened in the jungle hill country of Phuoc Tuy province 32 years ago has raised the ire of soldiers here and across the Tasman.

The allegation of the killings was first made by an Australian 2nd Lieutenant helicopter pilot with 161 (Independent) Recce Flight, Peter Rogers. He was quoted in the newly released biography of the former Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Vietnam vet, Tim Fischer, in The Boy From Boree Creek.

Mr Rogers said the unit - he believes it was NZ SAS because of the callout signs and accents - was reporting three VC KIA [killed in action] and two WIA [wounded in action]. They wanted the prisoners lifted out.

After a tense few minutes, the after-action report was changed to five VC KIA, he said.

Mr Rogers says he overheard the message in late December 1968, when he was at the Fire Support Base supporting 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and it must have been a radio retransmission.

He is aware our SAS used only Morse, but "the situation was so obviously desperate there was no reason for security."

Since making the allegation, five New Zealand soldiers have told the Herald that they also heard the message - but believe their Australian counterparts were responsible.

John Moller, president of the Vietnam Veterans' Association of NZ and a Whiskey 2 platoon commander, overheard it with two of his troops and is prepared to sign an affidavit detailing his account.

The trio intercepted the radio message when they were dropped about 800m from the Australians and the VC in the Phuoc Tuy province.

In an interview with ABC radio this week, Mr Moller blamed an Australian infantry unit for the killings. He also went one step further by saying such executions at their hands were "not all that uncommon."

Everyone had heard about Australian veterans "dispatching Vietcong after various battles," he said.

His comments provoked a response from Brian McKenzie, national president of the Vietnam Veterans' Association of Australia, who said hard evidence was needed before anyone pointed the finger.

As a former private with 3 Battalion, RAR, he had no knowledge of Australians torturing or killing prisoners.

New Zealand SAS troop commander Terry Culley led the first of three 26-strong SAS units into South Vietnam and was there at the time of the alleged killings. An Australian veterans' website lists them as arriving on December 12, where they joined the Australian 2 SAS squadron at Niu Dat.

Mr Culley has dismissed the claims as rubbish. The SAS were not on active duty until mid-January, and instead of speaking, they communicated in one-off Morse code.

He has been backed by Army spokesman Major Kendall Langston, who says: "We have investigated and as a consequence of that investigation, we have come to the conclusion it could not have been a New Zealand SAS patrol."

Complicating matters is a New Zealand section commander with Whiskey 1 and 2, who does not want to be named, who also overheard the message and pinpoints the time to some time after June 1969. He says he has checked his log-books and is sure of the dates because he left Vietnam to tour Malaya in mid-November 1968.

If he is correct, then New Zealand SAS would have been on active duty at the time of the alleged killings.

Whatever the truth, Mr Rogers told the Herald that he stands by his original allegation.

"I never intended a witchhunt, but I know what I heard. I guess what it comes down to now is differing opinions on something that happened 30 years ago.

"And if that's what actually happened, then that's what war is all about."