The Forgotten Year: How Australia's Involvement in the Vietnam War Started in 1962

It's 1962. Australia is enjoying post WWII prosperity and growth; the baby boom is coming to an end, and tennis legends Rod Laver and Margaret Court are the big names on world courts. Lucky Starr's hit "I've been everywhere" reaches #1 in Sydney and Roy Orbison's "Working for the Man" is a national hit. All is good you'd think, but the world also faces the real threat of nuclear annihilation when the Cuban Missile Crisis takes America and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war. To help stem the spread of communism in Asia Australia commits its first soldiers to the conflict. Our Vietnam War has begun. 

Australia was enjoying a good year in 1962

In many ways 1962 was just another prosperous year in Australia. Popular music stations and record stores were belting out Roy Orbison's Working for the Man (#1) while Australia's own Lucky Starr was dazzling listeners with his rapid-fire lyric hit I've Been Everywhere (#14). People were getting excited about the British Empire and Commonwealth Games to be held in Perth in November/December; Australian tennis icons Rod Laver and Margaret Court were cementing their future legend status on courts across the world, and Australia's population of some 10.7 million was enjoying the prosperity of the post Second World War boom years. 

But 1962 was a troublesome and dangerous year for the world. The Cold War, predominately between the Soviet Union and the United States, was in full flight and came to an almost catastrophic head in October when the Soviets stationed nuclear missiles in Cuba – less than 200kms from mainland America. The 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis took the world to the brink of a nuclear war and Australians were fully aware of the effects it could have. Just two years earlier in 1959 the Hollywood blockbuster On the Beach, a post-apocalyptic film set in 1964 Australia and staring Hollywood legend Gregory Peck, sees deadly radioactive fallout from nuclear war slowly consume the globe – with Australia one of the last to succumb – but it does succumb. It was a terrifying prospect. 

Life and Times

It was the Cold War, and an ever-pressing concern about the expansion of Communism in Asia (and Europe), that was a driving force in Australia's first commitment to the Vietnam conflict. In 1961 then Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev promised support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world. This promise encouraged communists in North Vietnam to escalate their ongoing armed struggle to unify Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. South Vietnam pleaded for help from the US and its allies to stem the invading communists. Australia committed 30 highly skilled military advisors (The Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) to work alongside the South Vietnamese. 

Image provide by the AATV

AATTV was increased to 73 in September 1964, and then to 112 in June 1965. Its strength peaked in 1970 when 217 advisors were in place. From early 1971, as part of Australia's decision to reduce its commitment to the war, the size of the Team was gradually reduced before it was fully withdrawn in December 1972. 

Music of 1962  

It's 1962 and Lucky Starr's hit "I've been everywhere" reaches #1 in Sydney and Roy Orbison's "Working for the Man" is a national hit. But Australia is worried about communism's spread and the real prospect of nuclear war. Australia sends special military advisers to Vietnam marking the start of Australia's longest war of the 20th Century. 

Join the Conversation

We're helping Australians of all ages better understand the life and times of our Vietnam Veterans as we commemorate the end of Australia's involvement in the war 50 years ago. We're sharing interesting social bits and pieces from the Vietnam War era to give you a feel of the world back then, but most importantly we're sharing your memories, stories, and pride. Your memories of the Vietnam era; your family growing up in the 1960s and 70s; or stories you have about the life and times of your veteran dad, pop, uncle, or aunt will breathe life into their story. Share your pictures, anecdotes, and memories so others can see our veterans as more than soldiers. We honour, respect and admire, but few know.  Help us honour our Veterans.