Tall tales and true from the Peter Badcoe Club, 1ALSG, Back Beach, Vung Tau, South Vietnam.
The Vietnam War, surfing, rock'n'roll... defining themes for a generation of young Australians in the 1960s and 1970s. And for six wild years, all three elements came together on a wide, sandy beach in South Vietnam.
The Army built a clubhouse so the troops could stow their weapons, have a hot shower, change into civilian clothes, enjoy a hamburger and a beer with mates. It also provided the surfboards and the Sunday entertainers, and fortified its beach with barbed wire and machine-gun emplacements. This was Australia's very own surfing enclave on the South Chine Sea, and the Viet Cong - aka the VC, or Victor Charlie in military parlance, or just Charlie - most definitely did not surf there.