Hangi at the Kiwi Club

Submitted by Editorial team on

Feeding large numbers of guests with a hangi was one of the cultural traditions New Zealanders brought with them when they served in Vietnam.

In early 1972, Kiwi servicemen based at the Free World Military Assistance Office in Saigon put down a hangi beside the Kiwi Club, an after hours social venue set up behind the compound.

The hangi was attended by members of Headquarters New Zealand Vietnam Force; Headquarters Australian Force Vietnam; the US ‘Seabees’ Naval Construction Battalion; and staff from the New Zealand High Commission.

Organisation of the event was typical of the resourcefulness demonstrated by Kiwis serving in Vietnam. The hangi was laid with stones from New Zealand which had been delivered to 1RNZIR in Singapore and then flown to Vietnam. The food for the hangi, including chicken and lamb, was delivered by the RNZAF from cold storage in Singapore.

See another photograph of the Kiwi Club hangi here.

Reference

Information courtesy of Martin Thompson

How to cite this page: ' Hangi at the Kiwi Club ', URL: https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/hangi-kiwi-club, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 17-Dec-2013