New Zealand's Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was our longest and most contentious military experience of the twentieth century. Over 3000 New Zealanders served in South Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. Back home, the Vietnam War led to enormous political and public debate about New Zealand's foreign policy and place in the world.

New Zealand's road to Vietnam

New Zealand service personnel and civilian volunteers were in the jungles, skies, hospital wards, training camps, villages, and offices of South Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. Joining the US-led campaign to curb the spread of communism in South East…

On operations

New Zealand forces fought in Vietnam between 1965 and 1972, with the majority involved (after mid-1966) in artillery offensives, cordon and search patrols, intelligence gathering and reconnaissance missions around Phuoc Tuy province. New Zealand…

Rest and recreation

In Vietnam, New Zealand infantrymen and gunners spent a much higher proportion of their time on operations than soldiers in previous wars did. In the first half of 1967, members of V Company and 161 Battery spent more than 80 per cent of their…

Surgical and medical support

Initial assistance to Vietnam was a civilian surgical team based at the Binh Dinh Provincial Hospital, Qui Nhon. Part of New Zealand’s aid programme – and our hesitant support for the war – the first team deployed in 1963, two years before New…

Key battles

Every veteran has a defining memory of their time on operations – a particular firefight, a near miss, a comrade killed in action. V3 veteran Bruce Goodall recalls: “The trouble with contacts is the first one's great. Second one not so bad. Third…

The war back home

There was a vocal and well-organised anti-war movement in New Zealand. Worldwide protest against the war centred on the policies and actions of the United States government. Critics of the war accused the New Zealand government of simply doing…

Homecoming

The allied coalition’s tactical shift from direct military intervention to ‘strategic Vietnamisation’ – a staged handover of responsibility to local forces – marked the beginning of the end of New Zealand’s combat commitment in the south. In…

After the war

The war’s true impact on veterans’ wellbeing, health, and close relationships has taken many years to emerge. Research within families now confirms that the emotional and psychological impact of war trauma can pass through generations. In the…