On 12th May 1968 the Australian 1st and 3rd Battalions flew to an area about 30 miles north of Saigon. They were setting up a "fire support base" codenamed Coral for an area of operations codenamed Bondi (the names all came from Sydney beaches). This was the Australian contribution to an American operation designed to draw the communists into battle in an area through which they passed to attack the South Vietnamese capital. The landing was chaotic, as recounted by Paul Ham in Vietnam: The Australian War (note "Dustoff" was the radio call-sign in the Vietnam War for an airborne evacuation of a casualty, typically by helicopter).
Meanwhile, Captain Michael Bindley did his best to coordinate the landing zone. Yet nerves frayed. Soldiers noticed a 'funny' — as in strange — atmosphere so unlike the usually boisterous mood. Tempers flared in the intense heat. One private threatened to shoot another, after a dispute, and a New Zealander collapsed from heat exhaustion. When a US observer asked why the man's buddies had not called a dust-off, Bindley replied, "I can't explain New Zealanders to you, but I'm sure he'll be all right."
