We Were There: In the RAR by Bill Parry

“I could have stayed on the farm, I could have ended up in jail. However, at the early age of 17 and a half I was adopted by the RAR. They were hard task masters, they fed me, they trained me hard, they treated me fairly and they kicked me in the arse when I needed it.”

This book depicts the exploits and humour of soldiers, from the Korean War to Timor and Iraq.

Humour is an important factor in the Infantry man’s life. The tasks he is asked to perform set him apart from others. To civilians, the word Infantry conjures the idea of the lowest common soldier who walks with his rifle and equipment. In fact an Infantryman has to be intelligent, fit, have a mindset of endurance and the ability to stay alert.

He must know his weapons and his tactics and be able to participate as a member in a combat fighting team.

There are few ex-RAR members in the civilian wilderness who are not proud that they served and once belonged to a family.

Striking Back: the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israel’s
deadly response by Aaron J. Klein

Aaron J. Klein, a former Israeli intelligence officer who now reports for Time’s Jerusalem bureau, has written the first full account of Israel’s response to the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The book describes a lethal, top secret, 30 year anti-terrorism campaign to track down the killers.

The Mossad has never spoken about this operation. No one has known the real story. Until now.

Author Aaron J. Klein is trusted by the Mossad, and tells for the first time the full story of Munich and the Israeli counterterrorism operation it spawned. With unprecedented access to Mossad agents and an unparalleled knowledge of Israeli intelligence, Klein peels back the layers of myth and misinformation that have permeated previous books, films, and magazine articles about the ‘shadow war’ against Black September and other terrorist groups.

The Munich Olympics massacre changed the way governments, intelligence officials and terrorists themselves viewed terrorism.

It’s a fascinating story, and Striking Back is also a cracking good read. A match for any thriller.

Hassett: Australian Leader by John Essex-Clark, DSM
A Biography of General Sir Francis Hassett

This is the story of a great Australian who joined the Army as a boy, trained at Duntroon, and started his fighting with an infantry battalion in the Libyan Desert in World War 11. He served in Palestine, Syria, New Guinea and Bougainville.

He later led 3RAR with distinction, at the Battle of Maryang San in Korea and rose through 40 years of soldiering to command the defence force of Australia.

He was the most decorated soldier in the Australian Army, earning five post nominal honours.

The personal traits and capabilities that made Hassett such a memorable soldier-leader, and the influence of his family and friends, form part of this biography.

This is a story for all who wish to understand leadership under great physical and intellectual pressure.

Author and ex-infantryman, Brigadier John Essex-Clark, DSM (retd) served in the Rhodesian Army before joining the Australian Army in 1963.

He saw service in Central Africa, Malaysia and Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for leadership in action. He currently lives in Canberra.

Write Home for Me by Jean Debelle

Working as a journalist at the Adelaide Advertiser in 1966, Jean Debelle yearned to be involved in the biggest story of the decade - the Vietnam War. But only male journalists were being sent. So she volunteered to work for the Red Cross tending to the non-medical welfare of the sick and wounded ANZAC forces. For one year she lived in the spotlight: a young Australian woman among 5,000 men.

Her story, Write Home for Me is an intimate account told from the rare and compassionate perspective of a young woman living close to the battlefront. Jean tells of the resilience of the soldiers in the face of daily atrocities and of the international medical personnel fighting to save lives and to rebuild shattered bodies and minds.

Jean tells of striving to be like a sister to the men and of the harsh realisation that after nine months in Vietnam she had grown cold to the unrelenting horror of war.

This is a story not only of tragedy but also of hope and humour. It is a compelling adventure story - and one of love.

Future: Tense by Gwynne Dyer

The foundations of World War III are being laid today.

American defeat in Iraq is only a matter of time, but how long it takes matters a lot. The fate of Iraq is a sideshow, the terrorist threat is a red herring, and the radical Islamists’ dream of a worldwide jihad against the West is a fantasy, but the attempt to revive Pax Americana is real. It is bound to fail eventually, but we need it to fail soon.

Ten years from now, an American-led alliance that includes India and occupies much of the Middle East could be facing a European alliance led by France, Germany and Russia AND a hostile, heavily armed China.

In Future: Tense, Gwynne Dyer’s brilliant follow up to the bestselling Ignorant Armies, he analyses how the world made its way to the brink of disaster, and describes how we may all slide over the edge.

Gwynne Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years.

Blue Man Falling by Frank Barnard

It is September 1939 and war is declared. Europe holds its breath. When will the Third Reich strike west across France and the Low Countries? For RAF fighter pilots patrolling the Franco-German border it is a bizarre time: one moment they are chasing an elusive Luftwaffe, the next ordering champagne in Paris. Then, in May 1940, Hitler launches Blitzkrieg and the Hurricane squadrons find themselves engulfed in battle.

From the cockpit of a Hurricane fighter plane to the louche salons of Parisian society, Blue Man Falling follows the fortunes of two RAF pilots, an Englishman, Kit Curtis, and an American, Ossie Wolf, during the Battle of France 1939-40.

Capturing the startling contradictions of a time when people were at their best and their worst, it brings to life the exhilaration and fear of aerial warfare with astonishing power and narrative skill.

Above all, it lays bare the meaning of war, and the selflessness of those prepared to fight until the end.

A Different Sort of War by Richard Trembath

The Korean War, 1950-1953, occupies a doubtful position in contemporary history and also in Australian military tradition. Its scale, measured in terms of destruction and casualties, is impressive enough. It involved the death, dislocation or injury of millions. It threatened to escalate into a nuclear conflict and a third world war, only a few years after the cessation of the bloodiest war in history. It marked the first exercise of collective will by the new United Nations, a huge exercise in coalition forming under the political and military leadership of the United States. Chinese and Western troops clashed directly in combat for the first and last time.

For Australia, the Korean War meant having to make difficult choices about participation and the scale of our participation. These issues are similar to those faced by Australia in a different conflict in 2003.

Despite the political significance of the Korean War, and the ferocity of the conflict, it has struggled to occupy a prominent place in Australia’s collective memory. This book explores the reasons why Korea has so often been called “the forgotten war.”

Australian Airborne By John O’Connor

The book gives a history of Australian military parachuting beginning with its introduction into the RAAF in 1926. Included is the story of the creation of a parachute battalion in 1942, the WWII para operations by Z Special Unit, the Nadzab jump by 2/4th Field Regt in 1943, the operational jump by 3 SAS Sqn on Operation Stirling in 1969 and para activities by members of AATTV in Vietnam.

All Special Forces units are covered as well as special parachute ‘life-saving’ clubs and other airborne clubs. For the first time military competition parachuting has been documented together with the names of most international team members and the medals won by them. The operations of the various parachute training schools are explained along with a list of all Parachute Jump Instructors.

The airborne activities of Riggers and Air Dispatchers are also included together with a list of all Army Parachute Riggers. Additionally, the book contains a comprehensive history on Cadet parachuting and a record of all the types of parachutes used by the military. The A4 size, hard covered book of 440 pages features many hundreds of colour and black & white photos.

Long Tan and Beyond
Alpha Company 6RAR in Vietnam 1966/67
By Lt COL Charles Mollison

I have never met Charles Mollison and was somewhat surprised and honoured when he invited me to review his quite outstanding book, Long Tan and Beyond:Alpha Company 6RAR in Vietnam 1966/67.

A COY were not glory-hunters but skilled, professional Infantrymen who took adversity in their stride, learning to live with the ubiquitous red mud, the monsoons, the leeches, the swamps with their mosquito hordes, skin peeling off hands and feet. We share their gripes, their laconic humour, and their practical jokes. We share their daylight patrols, their night ambushes, eyes straining, ever alert. We experience the trepidation of the "moving bushes", the rustling foliage, and the fire flies. Many were 20 year old National Servicemen. They were some of the finest Infantrymen ever. They fought almost continuously for 12 months, with little respite.

The book concludes on a sad note. The deplorable treatment meted out by many of their fellow Australians, upon return, exacerbated severe depression and illness. This unquestionably led to early deaths and the high suicide rate amongst Vietnam Veterans.

Long Tan and Beyond highlights the debt of gratitude we owe these men. They performed magnificently.

Highly recommended reading.
A. E. (Gus) Breen, PL COMD, 1/2 RAR 5 USAFKOREA.

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