Arriving at Nui Dat

I arrived at Nui Dat with the rest of Victor 1 Company in May 1967. We were ordered by the ‘boss' (Sergeant John ‘Scoff' Cootes) to erect and sandbag tent shelters, known as ‘bashas', within our allotted platoon area.

Between operational patrols and stand to duties it was taking a while for the Company to finish their bashas. When Scoff asked for volunteers to complete the job my mate Bob Jones from Greymouth (a cabinet maker by trade) put his hand up and we soon had good bashas to come back to. He even made a common sitting area, where we could get haircuts from Jack Tai.