While 161 Battery was in South Vietnam one of the best chess players was Sergeant Heta Tobin, (Ngapuhi). As a chess player, Heta was brilliant, and his reputation was well known.
One afternoon, Battery Commander, Major John Masters MC, flew into a Fire Support Base occupied by 161 Battery and challenged Toby to a game of chess.
Toby declined on the pretext that it would be "No contest".
The Battery Commander, so they say, offered Toby a two-day R in C to Saigon, again Toby declined. "OK, Sarge” asked the Battery Commander, "what do I have to offer you so that you'll play a game of chess with me?” "Well, I'll tell you what Sir," Toby replied, "I'll play a game of chess with you on the condition that if I win you name the next Fire Support Base after me." (Officers often named FSB’s after their wives).
He held out his hand..."Do we have a deal?"
They shook hands.
And that, whanau, is how come FSB Toby came to be named after a Ngapuhi from the Bay of Islands.
Mike Subritzky
