Boat People meet the Aircraft that saved them in 1981.
Carl Robinson
NHF UPDATE REPORT 11/2021. 15 March 2021.
By Carl Robinson assisted by John Sperring, co-Editors of the HARS NHF Newsletter & Facebook page.
VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE MEET RAN NAVY AIRCRAFT WHO SAVED THEM IN SOUTH CHINA SEA 40 YEARS AGO.
What a remarkable reunion on Saturday, 13 March 2021, when more than 40 Vietnamese refugees & family visited HARS Albion Park to meet then-HMAS Melbourne-basedTracker 851 who spotted their distressed boat on its last patrol of the day over the South China Sea on 21 June 1981 -- and a connection we only discovered two months ago.
Former RAN Tracker pilot Commander Owen Nicholls co-hosted the visit, welcomed and showed the boat’s captain Nguyen Van Tam and his wife around. Now 80, Tam distinctly recalls the relief of seeing the Kangaroo roundel and the word NAVY on the aircraft as it swung over his broken-down and drifting 13.7 metre boat with 99 thirsty & starving refugees aboard.
In a remarkable coincidence and flying out of Darwin on 13 Nov. 1978 - and also on Tracker 851 - Owen spotted & assisted two Vietnamese refugee boats, one of which was the Hong Hai with 38 aboard after completing a 51-day 6000-km journey from southern Vietnam. That vessel and relics are today an exhibit at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.
Also assisting in the refugee reunion with Tracker 851 was Brian Kelly (unpictured), a Qantas veteran who’s made a second career at HARS from its earliest days at Albion Park and the museum custodian of Tracker 851 since its arrival back in 2006.
And a visit up into the cockpit with a long queue of others behind him.
Earlier, the group - from Sydney & Newcastle - was officially welcomed by HARS President & Chief Pilot Bob de la Hunty who explained the Museum’s role in preserving & restoring Australia’s commercial and military aviation heritage. Former Vietnam War correspondent Carl Robinson, and one of your co-editors, and wife Kim hosted the event which included ever-popular Vietnamese Bread Rolls for lunch.
The venerable HMAS Melbourne was on its last deployment in 1981.
And Tracker 851 was aboard after an earlier stint out of Darwin searching for and assisting Vietnamese refugee boats making the 6000-km run from Vietnam. By 1981, however, the flow was now to neighbouring countries where the refugees were interviewed & processed to Australia & other countries.
Back on 21 August 1981, the engines of the Nghia Hung had broken down, the vessel adrift for two days and its passenger facing death in stormy seas when Tracker 851 - on its last mission of the day and flown by SBLT Dave Marshall (dec) with Observer Steve Langlands and Leading Seaman George Casey aboard - spotted flames, actually a burning barrel of fuel-soaked rags, at dusk and three miles away.
After shadowing Tracker 851’s landing, the HMAS Melbourne’s Wessex 31B Pedro 15 piloted by FLT Vince Di Pietro swung into action and out over the floundering vessel relaying more detailed information as a Gemini with Medical Officer Surgeon Commander J.M. Anderson arrived on-scene as dark descended. Assisted by the crew of the HMAS Torrens, an hours-long rescue and transfer operation began using the Gemini and a Utility boat up into the aircraft carrier.
In the rough seas, shifting the hungry & dehydrated refugees, including children, aboard the HMAS Melbourne was a major challenge. Thankfully, while suffering from dehydration, some dysentery and extreme seasickness, they were all in reasonable health and provided with clothing, bedding and food with accommodation in the forecastle.
After further operations in the South China Sea over the next five days, the HMAS Melbourne docked in Singapore on 26 June 1981 where the refugees transferred to a United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) camp, quickly processed and flown for settlement in Australia before the aircraft carrier arrived back in Sydney.
After their hour-long visit of Tracker 851, the Group moved on to view HARS NHF’s own Wessex 832, sister helicopter to Pedro 15 which played such a key role in their rescue nearly 40 years ago, here hosted by veteran Tracker & Wessex - and just about every other chopper around -- Commander P.J. ‘Pete’ Cannell (right). The group’s leader Stephen Nguyen who organised the visit is at left.
A happy wave from a then-young lady saved by the HMAS Melbourne and hopes all-round for a return to HARS for a massive 40th Anniversary Celebration around 21 June 2021.
We’ll keep you posted.
A truly wonderful day for everyone involved.
And finally, a bit more background on what brought this reunion about.
While Tracker 851 has resided at HARS since 2006, its dramatic story could well have remained forgotten if not for an amazing coincidence. The rescue was also a unique event as during the Vietnamese boat people crisis of the late 1970's and through the 1980's, Australia's official policy in the South China Sea and related waters was only to assist fleeing boats, such as reprovisioning them and notifying passing merchant ships. But with an Admiral on board from a recent joint operation further north with the US Navy, the order was given to assist the floundering vessel.
Officially labelled the MG-99, for Melbourne Group 99, after their rescue in the South China Sea, the Vietnamese refugee group settled successfully in Australia and kept in regular touch with John Ingram, the then HMAS Melbourne’s Commander Supply Officer, with regular get-togethers.
For the rescue’s 40th anniversary on 21 June 2021, however, John Ingram, now retired in Port Macquarie, wanted something special and put out a call to the Australian Society of Marine Artists early this year for a dramatic painting of the moment Tracker 851, on its last patrol of the day and under dark stormy skies and rough seas from the HMAS Melbourne.
From over in New Zealand, RAN veteran and marine artist Darrell White answered the call and began his research. Darrell needed help drawing a Grumman Tracker and contacted his brother Glenn, also a RAN veteran and HARS volunteer, for help.
And there, at the end of January 2021 right in front of him and one of his regular projects at HARS, was Tracker 851, the very same Tracker his younger brother needed for his painting.
The swell of excitement of this discovery bounced back & forth across the Tasman Sea, up to Port Macquarie and into the MG-99 refugee community in Sydney, now swollen into 300 over the years.
Captain Nguyen Van Tam (above) was the most keen of all to see Tracker 851 again, along with the group’s leader Stephen Nguyen who was only aged 20 at the time of the rescue.
And when everything came together last Saturday, more than 40 former Vietnamese refugees and their descendants showed up to personally meet and pay a belated tribute to Tracker 851.
And what an emotional reunion it was too!
How Can You Help Us?
Firstly, a reminder that HARS receives no Government funding, and we rely on your contributions and sponsorship to continue to rebuild and operate the NHF airframes
If you interested in supporting the efforts of volunteers, a meaningful and very practical way you can assist us is to donate some dollars by purchasing a HARS GIFT CARD or by making a specific $A value donation to HARS.
You can do this by clicking on:- https://www.harsmuseumshop.com.au/ and please have your credit card details ready when you do!
Thank you for any support that you can give!
Carl Robinson
Derek Williams
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Carl Robinson
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