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Photographing New Zealanders in Vietnam - Noel Bell

Submitted by Editorial team on 3 June 2009 - 10:54pm.

Noel Bell in Bong Son, 1969

Noel Bell at home, 2008

A slideshow of images taken by New Zealand Army photographer Noel Bell in Vietnam, 1968-1969.

 


‘Get what you can, when you can, wherever you can'. This was the brief given to Noel Bell prior to his deployment to South Vietnam as a photographer for the New Zealand Army.

Noel Bell went to South Vietnam in November 1968 as a Public Relations NCO attached to HQ NZ V Force in Saigon. Tasked with photographing New Zealand military and civilian personnel serving in South Vietnam he spent the next twelve months capturing their daily activities.

Using helicopters and airplanes to move around Bell focused his efforts on the main New Zealand areas of operation. He accompanied New Zealand infantry companies (Whiskey 2, Victor 3 and Victor 4) and 161 Battery RNZA on operational patrols throughout Phuoc Tuy province; visited the 1st New Zealand Service Medical Team at Bong Son and New Zealand Civilian Surgical Team at Qui Nhon; and covered the work of New Zealanders working within the Red Cross and Save the Children organisations.

Closer to Saigon he was involved in a project to construct a playground and schoolroom at the Binh Loi Orphanage. The project was initiated by members of HQ NZ V Force - materials and equipment were scrounged from various aid organisations and the work carried out on the weekends by HQ NZ V Force staff, local workers and the Redemptionist Order nuns who ran the orphanage.

In 1969 Bell was awarded the Vietnam Armed Forces Honour Medal (2nd class) for his dedication to combat photography and work at the Binh Loi orphanage. The award - presented by General Tran Ngoc Tam - was one of only three given to New Zealand personnel by the Republic of (South) Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

See a selection of the Noel Bell's Vietnam photographs below.


Ice cream truck at Long Binh base, circa 1969
Father Olivier and children at Binh Loi Orphanage
Father Wi and orphans at the An Phong Welfare Centre, 1969
F/O Butler and F/O Creelman carry out final pre-flight checks in the cockpit of a Iroquois helicopter
New Zealand engineers clearing mines near Nui Dat, circa 1969
Ceremony at Long Tan Memorial, 1969
Larry Southern, V3 washing in the field, circa 1969
Fred Summers shares a joke with New Zealand soldiers at Nui Dat, 1969
Quin Tikis performing at Nui Dat, 1968
Padre Whakahuihui Vercoe changing money on his last day in South Vietnam
Charge Sister Pamela Miley with Vietnamese orphans, circa 1969
Private Wayne Lindsay with RSA Christmas parcel, circa 1968
New Zealand soldiers on patrol, circa 1969
Children scavenging in rubbish dump, circa 1969
Victor 4 Orders Group on patrol, circa 1969
Nun throwing bricks at Binh Loi orphanage, circa 1969
Corporal TG Gordon treats a wounded VC after a contact, circa 1969
New Zealand troops pictured beneth Din Kho monastery, 19 July 1969
New Zealand soldiers with a souvenired North Vietnamese flag, circa 1969
Members of Victor 3 Company aboard helicopter, circa 1969
Reference: 
The information above is based on the oral history questionnaire and interview Noel Bell completed with Carol Dawber for the Vietnam War Oral History Project, November 2008.
Categories:
How to cite this page: 'Photographing New Zealanders in Vietnam - Noel Bell', URL: http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/photographing-new-zealanders-in-vietnam, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 19-Jul-2011

Comments

THERE IS 1 COMMENT
Hardie Martin commented:
Sun, 05 July 2009 - 01:01am
Noel had the ability to point the camera at you and take photos that you weren't aware of until years later. I can recall only one re-enactment of an ambush, but it was of the soldiers who were involved. Honest photography. I would like to see all of his work preserved on this site.