Vietnam War – 1972: Departing Australian troops as “Jade Warriors”?

You might find the attached January 1972 US press item interesting:

“Jade Warriors – Aussies Leaving But Legend Stays”.

The US journalist has apparently “misheard” Australian troops – i.e. thinking their reference to the “dark green jungle”- as “the J”, was “the Jade”!

Other comments on the Australian military involvement are also interesting e.g.: Australians were unlikely to leave a “permanent mark” despite their “victories”; Australians “paid their way” and their image was not “tainted” – unlike other non-US Free World Forces; Vietnamese bar girls taunted Australian soldiers as “cheap charlies” because of their “thriftiness”; and “the Aussies were untouched by the US drug sub-culture … the potent Australian beer was a substitute used by many.”

Regards, Ernie Chamberlain