Farewell for Anzac Battalion DPR/TV/1277

Nearly 800 men of the 6th Battalion the Anzac Battalion today paraded at their Nui Dat base for a farewell to Vietnam at the end of their 12 months tours of duty. The men were led on the parade by their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel David Butler of Townsville, Queensland and the unit's pipes and drums. They were inspected by the commander of the 1st Australian Task Force, Brigadier Stuart Paul Weir and he took the salute as the men marched off the parade ground to their company areas for farewell barbeques. Brigadier Weir told the men of the Anzac Battalion that theirs was the finest battalion he knew and the battalion had functioned in Vietnam as a first class fighting machine. The battalion had done every task he had required of it and had done it well. He said it was appropriate that the battalion was parading on Anzac Day as the battalion had demonstrated by its work in Vietnam that the Anzac theme was well to the fore and the Australian and New Zealand elements of the unit had intergrated well. The 6th Battalion is to be relieved by the 2nd Battalion early in May.