The next few days were spent packing. We had to return most of our ammunition ... we were only left with two full mags. Walking around virtually disarmed felt very unreal. The toilets were a big pit, filled with lime and 6 seats put over the pit. It had become a habit to drop excess ammunition down this pit. God knows what state that ammo was in sitting at the bottom of the pit. We heard that the South Vietnamese would take over Nui Dat after we moved out. We decided to give them a surprise ... we dropped everything that we could find down the pit ... smoke grenades, claymores, anti tank weapons, everything ... and then a final gift we pulled the pins out of every grenade that we could lay our hands on, wrapped rubber bands around the levers and dropped them down the pit. I would have loved to have seen what happened when those rubber bands perished.

We got issued with our new medals, they just seemed to be handed out without any ceremony. We pulled out our dress greens, our green lanyards, our slouch hats with the polished infantry badge on the side, our spit polished boots ... and got dressed up like real soldiers. It felt good to be in full uniform again and we all puffed out our chests with pride as we looked at the Platoon in dress uniform. The dress greens were starched and in the tropical heat it was only a matter of seconds before they were sweat stained ... but we diregarded how uncomfortable they were ... we were Australian fighting soldiers and we had kept the ANZAC tradition alive ... we had followed in the footsteps of our forefathers. Now we would be accepted by the people at home ... we were ANZACS.

October 4 we had a full dress parade at the Kapyong Pad. There was a commemorative service for our fallen comrades. (1 & a Wakey to go).

October 5 we were back at the Kapyong Pad for a Battalion Parade and the presentation of Awards and Medals. I'm sure the blokes who got them all deserved them ... but we kind of stood in the background feeling a bit left out of it ... we were basically a backdrop for all the brass. We couldn't even hear what was going on where we were, right at the back.

Awards were given to

Lt Col F.P.Scott Cross of Gallantry with Palm

Sgt E.L. Desfontaines Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star

Lcpl N.R.Walker Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star

Pte J.W.Charlton Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star

The End of Vietnam War List (1998) also made the following awards
Lt P.E. Green MG OC 8 Platoon Medal of Gallantry	William James Hill DSM Regimental Seargant Major Distinguished Service Medal	2Lt R.B. Lewis (OC 9 Platoon) Commendation for Distinguished Service

That night, with only a Wakey to go, HQ ordered a TAOR patrol out. The job was basically to go out with basic webbing and limited ammunition and sit in the J as an early warning against an attack on the base. Cpl Dicks was chosen to lead the patrol and Pte's Barrett, Ginnivan and Wood were chosen to accompany him. Hell that was all that was left of 3 Section. We had started off with 10 blokes in the section, but with one thing and another our numbers had been whittled down until there were only 4 of the original members left in the section ... and that was us 4. We were too short for this ... we were going home next morning. I wasn't that worried about it ... it was one last chance to be in the J ... but it was the last straw for Boodgie. I grabbed his gear, Dixie and Ginna physically forced him into the APC. We drove out beyond the base and got offloaded from the APC. After the APC left, we headed away from our drop off point and into the J. If anyone had seen us then we were going to be sitting ducks ... 4 lone blokes in the scrub with 2 mags each. Dixie found the biggest tree that he could and we laid down with our feet against it, each facing a compass point. Dixie told us that if we met any Nogs we were to open up and then run like hell back to Nui Dat. Not a problem Dixie. As usual I fell asleep, but the other blokes kept waking me up ... so one way or another we stayed awake all night long staring at the black jungle. At first light we picked ourselves up and wandered back to be picked up by the APC.

We had breakfast, showered and got into our dress greens and joined the rest of Charlie Company waiting for our turn to fly out to the Vung Tau Ferry (HMAS Sydney).

The trip out in the Huey was too quick ... memories came flooding back of our arrival ... the helicopter trip seemed longer. We strained for glimpses of the coast, the jungle, the harbour, the beaches and Vung Tau itself. We landed on the Sydney and got our gear stowed away. There was nothing else to do so we stood around watching the barges come in with the trucks and gear ... watching the choppers land and depart and the rest of the Battalion arriving on the ship. Already we had lost some of the Goons ... Junior had stayed on with the rear party.

That night a few of us went up on the deck of the aircraft carrier for a last look at Vung Tau. The night was clear and quiet as we got onto the flight deck. A navy sentry challenged us as we were halfway down the flight deck.

"Who goes there!"
"Piss off" was the response
"This is a war zone, you can't be up here in the open" he informed us.

We looked at him ... he was just a kid with a rifle and obviously nervous at being in a war zone. He looked so young and yet he was probably the same age as us ... we were old beyond our years. We ignored him and continued walking along the deck ... then he made almost the last mistake of his life ... he pointed the SLR at us. I think he was going to order us to stop but he never got the chance ... someone (I don't remember who, it wasn't important) ripped the rifle out of his hands and reversed it. I heard the safety catch come off and then I saw the rifle gracefully arc over the railing into Vung Tau harbour. We continued walking to the rear of the ship. We sat on the flight deck looking longingly at the lights of Vung Tau ... we imagined we could hear the sounds of revelry drifting across the harbour ... we sat there, drawing on our cigarettes, imagining what was going on in the bars ... all our number one girls would have their latest new number one man buying them Saigon Tea.

We finally went below and went to bed. The next morning we were at sea and heading back to Oz and other peoples reality ... our reality was disappearing behind us. A different sort of reality was waiting for us ... but we had no idea of what lay ahead.