“Foolish” Reactions To Vietnam War

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31042, 23 April 1966, Page 3

“Foolish” Reactions To Vietnam War

(New Zealand Press Association >

WELLINGTON. April 22.

Major D. R. Kenning, commander of the New Zealand artillery battery in South Vietnam, today described anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in New Zealand as “foolish”.

“The gunners feel the demonstrators are just acting like childish idiots and that they should go over to Vietnam to see what it is like themselves.”

Major Kenning said the gunners read reports of the demonstrations in New Zealand newspapers sent to the battery’s headquarters at Bien Hoa air base. He said the demonstrators had to realise New Zealanders were fighting a war and that the Viet Cong aggressors had to be stopped. . Major Kenning, whose tour of duty will end in less than two months, was asked if he was experiencing much strain in Vietnam. “We are all under strain all the time and I will be pleased to be in New Zealand again,” he said. Major Kenning arrived in Wellington today wearing American jungle fatigues, American combat boots, a black cravat bearing a silver fern, and the shoulder flash

of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, to which the battery is attached.

His hair was crew cut, but he said he wore his hair short because he was “always hopping in and out of helicopters.”