The Tiger Man of Vietnam

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/
Just when did Australia enter the Vietnam War? The official record is 1965, when the then prime minister Robert Menzies announced that we would send an infantry battalion to fight in the Vietnamese civil war. But almost three years prior to the formal announcement, Australian army trainers were already working and fighting with local troops. And one officer in particular, Major Barry Petersen, had been seconded by the CIA to train and command a guerrilla force of Montagnard fighters from the Vietnamese hill tribes. Their task was to patrol the hills that covered the Ho Chi Minh Trail, used by the communists to supply their forces in the south. Dubbed the 'Tiger Men' for the uniforms they wore, Petersen's force was very successful, but by 1965 the CIA was threatened by Petersen's growing reputation, and when he refused to follow a CIA plan to create squads of assassins, they wanted him gone.

'The Tiger Man of Vietnam', by author Frank Walker, is published by Hachette Australia

Category:

News & Politics

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• tiger man
• vietnam
• montagnard
• CIA
• war
• Barry Petersen
• Frank Walker
• book
• radio national breakfast
• fran kelly
• australia
• army

[ScottJohnsonMFI]

The 1st Montagnard force started in 1961 (3 years earlier).ie: Capt Shackleton. Montagnards did not NOT use "bows and arrows". Phoenix began in 1967 two years AFTER Peterson left. 30,000 Montagnards served at any one time during the war in many other combat and village defence capabilities. The author's knowledge of Phoenix, the counter-insurgency in Vietnam and his role of this Trung Son force belittles many others who vallantly served. The author's interview is a massive embellishment.

[saturnvsean]

Great read An understated Australian who deserves more recognition

[torpedodropkick]

Great book, a must read. A great Australian; Barry Petersen.

[berowra7]

@buondhung Get in touch with the author

[berowra7]

I've have started reading this book and will not stop!Barry you are amazing have a strong heart,caring,commpassion and a sense of humour which most people don't have these days!Yes you are a true hero,Iam deaf and was amaze about the deaf montagnard(the hand) thanks for saving them mate!Tiger tiger tiger.

[buondhung]

hello i'm from vietnam but im not vietnam es i'm montagnard people

you dont for get my montagnard in centrale highland vietnam we need the freedom thank you so much