Leopold veteran Mick Hoare speaks to Luke Voogt about the mates he lost to war 50 years ago, ahead of Vietnam Veterans’ Day next Wednesday.
The last Australian killed in the Vietnam War is always foremost in the mind of Leopold veteran Mick Hoare on August 18.
Ralph Niblett was shot in the chest almost 50 years ago on September 21, 1971, during the Battle of Núi Lé, the last major engagement fought by Australian soldiers in Vietnam. He was 22 years old.
“He had a girlfriend and plans to get married when he came back,” the 75-year-old said.
“Our boys were patrolling and they came across a bunker system and got into a bit of strife. He turned out to be the last Australian soldier killed in action over there.
“We lost five killed and 24 wounded in that. They were all well-trained soldiers with similar plans.”
Mr Hoare and Mr Niblett were in the same platoon at Puckapunyal during recruit training for national service.
They would meet up on weekends off for coffee as their battalion, 4RAR, undertook jungle training in Queensland while awaiting deployment to Vietnam.
Mr Hoare was initially conscripted in 1966, but authorities allowed him to defer his national service as he completed an accounting course at night school.
At 1am on May 1, 1971, he and his comrades flew out of Townsville on Boeing 707.
As an operations clerk, Lance Corporal and later Corporal Hoare would record radio messages and disseminate orders at the Australian base in Nui Dat.
Three or four nights a week he would man an M60 machine gun at a sentry point behind claymores – anti-personal mines packed with explosives and about 700 deadly steel balls each.
“At night you could see all the bombing and that in the distance,” he said.
He and his comrades celebrated in August when the Australian government announced it was pulling out of the unpopular war.
“We all used to keep a calendar and every day you’d get up and blank a square,” he said.
“Everyone was pretty thrilled. The Viet Cong were probably quite happy to hear that too.”
The lifelong Leopold local, whose ancestors in Geelong date back to 1858, went back to his job with Country Roads Board, now VicRoads, after returning from Vietnam in October 1971.
But he has never forgotten those lost, and the veterans who survived with the physical and mental scars of war.
“We lost nine all up while we were there, but you don’t hear so much about the ones that were wounded,” he said.
“It was more about the body count, as the Americans called it.”
For the past two years 4RAR veterans had planned to hold a reunion in Canberra on September 21 for the 50th anniversary of Núi Lé.
But the recent COVID-19 outbreak in NSW forced them to cancel.
“It’s very disappointing – we were really looking forward to this one,” Mr Hoare said.
“But with everything happening it was the only responsible thing to do.”
Instead Mr Hoare will join a veterans lunch at Geelong West on Sunday and fly the Australian flag at half-mast at home next Wednesday as he quietly contemplates the fallen for Vietnam Veterans’ Day.
“For me Ralph is always front of mind of those we lost,” he said.
“The spirit lives on. We’ll carry on, keep in touch and open up when we can.”
