Operation "New Life" DPR/TV/601

While celebrations continued at Xuyen Moc, Civil Affairs officers and men from the Australian Logistic Support Headquarters, at Vung Tau, were preparing to lift a huge consignment of clothing, cooking and gardening materials into the fortified village. This was "Operation New Life" in action an RSL sponsored programme which distributes articles donated by the Australian public. Included among the goods, which were loaded onto an RAAF Caribou, was 4,500lb of rice captured from the Viet Cong. A large crowd was waiting at Xuyen Moc to see the biggest aircraft in their lives land for the first time on a recently-completed 2,100 foot strip. From touchdown, South Vietnamese troops and laborers unloaded the aircraft, and were given responsibility for immediate distribution of the goods. Included in the airlift of civil aid goods were school books and writing materials for the 300 school children. Until their distribution they had been in short supply. Since "Operation New Life" began last year, thousands of crates of household items and clothing have been distributed among the people of South Vietnam.