Vietnam war

[Captain Kong]

On the Troopship GEORGIC we had taken Australian Troops to the war in Malaya and then to Viet Nam to get 3000 French Foreign Legionaires off a beach , Vung Tao, they had escaped after losi]ng the battle of Dien Bien Phu. We had to anchor a few miles off shore and run our lifeboats ashore to pick them up off the beach under fire, a bit scary.
We got two and a half thousand off leaving 500 dead behind,after 3 and a half days. and took them back to Algiers and Marseilles.
here is a bit from the story. ........................................



When we arrived in Penang on the 19th of October 1955 , they went ashore and were put into British Army camps on Penang Island. Much to the dismay of the British National Service man, they were on 28 shillings a week gross, the Australian Soldier was on many times that amount, and also had a an extra allowance for using British facilities, and so the price of beer and the girls went up considerably.
The Troops were to be sent to Butterworth across the Strait on the mainland where the action was against the Commies, A British Army Camp had been evacuated for them. We took the Georgic across and spent a week discharging all the 2000 tons of equipment into barges, we had Australian soldiers down the holds and us Sailors drove the winches and landed the gear into the barges, and the soldiers took the barges ashore. There were no native Malay labour involved at all in case of sabotage.
Then for the Australian Army, politics took over, The Australian Prime Minister at the time said the Troops could not go to Butterworth as it was a war zone so they had to stay in Penang, which was safe. This was in October 1955, and the General Election for a new Government was to be held in January 1956, he did not want any body bags coming home to ruin his election so they had to stay there until the election was over.
Later several body bags did go back to Australia. I believe 15 were killed and 27 were wounded. Politicians never change.

If there's a life that follers this
If there's a "Golden Gate",
The welcome that I want to 'ear,
Is just "Good onya Mate"
Lest we forget. Australian Army.


When this was completed we sailed down to Singapore and anchored there awaiting orders. There was no shore leave there as it would have been difficult to transport a few hundred crew back and forth to the shore.
Then we had orders to go to Indo China, to Cape St. Jaques, now renamed Vung Tao, at the mouth of the Meekong River to rescue the French Foreign Legion who had had a rough time at the hands of the Viet Min. This was not long after they had been battered at the battle of Dien Bien Phu..
I went back to Vung Tau, two years ago and it still looked exactly the same as it was then.

We were running the lifeboats to the beach dragging these guys, who were in a terrible state, into the boats and back to the Georgic, We were under fire at all this time, I pulled into the boat a dead Soldier, I took his helmet off as he didnt need anymore and I put it on,. I still have that helmet 66 years later.
As we were dragging them through the shell doors these lunatics who were supposed to be assisting them were robbing them of their weapons, pistols , rifles, bayonets, machine guns, hand grenades etc.
We were supposed to pick up about three thousand but only two and a half thousand made it.
When it was all sorted out and we upped anchor and sailed they realised that all their weapons were missing.
So Military Police and the Master at Arms had to go round every cabin and store and space in the ship searching and recover the weapons. What a mess these guys could have caused with all that lot.
We sewed up and buried at sea some of the Legionaires who died with their wounds and then when the rest of the Legionaires recovered from their ordeal they sorted out the `catering staff` , they were calling them Sir and grovelling to them and they were in tears,
On the way to Algiers, Every Friday the Starboard side of the Prom deck was made out of bounds, the ` moo slim` of the Legionares had their service there, they had picked up some sheep in Aden and they slit the throats of the sheep and bled them all over the wooden decks. for the Halal meat. What a mess, we had to clean it all up after they had finished. the blood stains were very difficult to remove, we holy stoned and barbarised but the stains were still there.
On the way up the Red Sea we saw an usual event. The surface of the sea from horizon to horizon was covered head to tail, side by side, with giant Manta Rays, there must have been many millions of them all heading North on the surface. From sunrise to sunset. Never seen that before or since in 45 years at sea. Next day, all gone.
So we had an uneventful voyage home, past the place where the GEORGIC had been sunk in WW2
Brian

[Keith Adams]

Hello Captain Kong, My older brother Brian S. Adams served for a few years trooping on the MV “GEORGIC” in the early 1950’s. I think he was AB but could have been a QM. He only ever mentioned Australia to Korea round trip ferry service. Have to hunt out his Discharge Book to confirm the dates and rank. He was QM on the “Britannic” for many years after then. Grand ships in their day.
Will message you when have details at hand. Keith.

[Captain Kong]

Hi KeitV
The GEORGIC`S last voyage was to Australia with £10 Poms then to Malaya with OZZY Troops then VIET NAM Take the Legionaires home. The previous voyage was to Australia and Korea, May June and July 1955
I was a AB/Lookout. then in Sydney a QM got married to a passenger and was paid off and I was made QM for the rest of the trip
After 67 years I cannot remember names anymore

Cheers
Brian

[masyerhussar]

in 1967 whilst serving as galley boy on the scottish trader we loaded a cargo of fertilizer for vietnam, discharged it qion non and saigon,we got double pay which in my case was not much.saigon a good run ashore.

[Peter Gill]

My first trip to sea was on Shell's Halia. We often ran up to Vietnam, double pay from the time we started loading in Singapore to the time we left the Vietnam coast. That was fine for the Old Man and such, but as an apprentice, twice nothing still didn't amount to much! In Nov 68 were stuck by a Rocket Propelled Grenade half way up the river to Saigon at Coral Bank Corner . Fortunately? the rocket struck a salior's cabin down aft - the occupant - one Harry Wilkie happened to be on the wheel at the time. His cabin and its contents was largely destroyed. There was only one minor injury to another sailor who was sewing up a repair to his working shorts and he put the sewing needle through his hand. We were carrying 16,000 tons of jet fuel and such like and 11 wings were empty of cargo but full of vapour. What was, one minute, a peaceful day, was very quickly a sobering experience and double money didn't seem quite so important. An accompanying gunboat sorted out the RPG operator who could be seen boldly sitting in the mud at the side of the river - all denuded and bare from Agent Orange. We were immediately overtaken by a Lykes lines ammunition ship which was not waiting to see what might happen next. The occasion was reported in the UK papers- I have a cutting from the Daily Sketch. My dad read about it at work before the company contacted him. Dad was, to put it bluntly, not very amused. The excuse given was that the personnel department were working their way down the crew list and apprentices names were at the bottom. That's life!!!

[Peter Coward]

My first trip to sea was on Shell's Halia. We often ran up to Vietnam, double pay from the time we started loading in Singapore to the time we left the Vietnam coast. That was fine for the Old Man and such, but as an apprentice, twice nothing still didn't amount to much! In Nov 68 were stuck by a Rocket Propelled Grenade half way up the river to Saigon at Coral Bank Corner . Fortunately? the rocket struck a salior's cabin down aft - the occupant - one Harry Wilkie happened to be on the wheel at the time. His cabin and its contents was largely destroyed. There was only one minor injury to another sailor who was sewing up a repair to his working shorts and he put the sewing needle through his hand. We were carrying 16,000 tons of jet fuel and such like and 11 wings were empty of cargo but full of vapour. What was, one minute, a peaceful day, was very quickly a sobering experience and double money didn't seem quite so important. An accompanying gunboat sorted out the RPG operator who could be seen boldly sitting in the mud at the side of the river - all denuded and bare from Agent Orange. We were immediately overtaken by a Lykes lines ammunition ship which was not waiting to see what might happen next. The occasion was reported in the UK papers- I have a cutting from the Daily Sketch. My dad read about it at work before the company contacted him. Dad was, to put it bluntly, not very amused. The excuse given was that the personnel department were working their way down the crew list and apprentices names were at the bottom. That's life!!!

I did frequent Vietnam runs as a deck apprentice on the Anadara in 1966 and the Haminella in 1967/68. We were issued bullet proof vests and jock straps to wear on the bridge when going upriver to Saigon, I've got a photo somwhere, all this on double pay of £32.00 per month. I well remember watching the tracer bullets curving up into the hills at night when we were at anchor off Qui Nhon (I think), and watching the big barrels of napalm being dropped frighteningly close to us as we made our way up to Saigon.

[Keith Mexsom]

No doubt about the war-mongering comment. I served as an EDH on Hanetia and Hemiplecta running JP4 to Vietnam during 1969. Very often, when loading at Pulau Bukom, there would be a Chinese-flagged tanker astern reportedly loading the same product for North Vietnam.

[john walker]

I know that posts inadvertently get side tracked and changed. My original post was 'Does anybody know of or heard of British Merchant seamen working in South Vietnam ???' This apples to the war years.

[johnnyd]

I was on a BP tanker taking aviation fuel up the river escorted by US gunboat to Saigon in 72 there was a huey on fire and when berthed under water explosions every couple of minutes to deter anyone trying to blow us up.

[Michael Bates]

I was on the Hemifusus from about May 69 to Feb 70.we went all over the world but only did one trip out far east and that was Singapore,jakarta and Hong Kong.Perhaps we missed 'Nam cause we were a lub oiler.