N.Z. IN INDO-CHINA THE “QUIET NEW ZEALANDER” MAY BE OUR POST-WAR ROLE

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 14

N.Z. IN INDO-CHINA THE “QUIET NEW ZEALANDER” MAY BE OUR POST-WAR ROLE

(By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY)

A glimpse of how New Zealanders can best help South-East As!:>n countries in the years ahead, when overt war is replaced by ditlicuii developmental and" public health problems, is given in the recent n <> <• which resulted in the posting of Warrant Officer Second-t lass K - Treanor, of the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps, back to \ ictna

Sergeant-Major Treanor’s special posting is a recognition by other nations that New Zealanders—or at least some of them—have a special quality when dealing with the ordinary people of other races. This quality is hard to define, but those who have observed New Zealanders in other wars and international situations know it exists. In Sergeant-Major Treanor’s case his value in reaching the grass-roots of Vietnamese peasantry, and securing their co-operation in matters of their own welfare, was recognised by officers working in the field in the province of Binh Dinh, South Vietnam. Requests made through the United States Embassy in Wellington helped to secure his secondment for 12 months to the Foreign Affairs Department, for a tour of duty based on the civilian hospital at Qui Nhon.

“Looking after people” But for Ken Treanor it all began some years ago. He was born in Auckland and educated at Seddon Memorial Technical College. From an early age he was interested in public service, which he interpreted as “looking after people.” This caused him to join the St John Ambulance and work for various Red Cross awards.

He enlisted in the Army in 1959, and was a medical corpsman in Malaya from 1963 to 1965. Later he went back to a country, the vast problems of which fascinated him. To him the deepest and most harrowing of those problems were the people—the homeless ones with the locked, expressionless faces and the sorrowing eyes.

His reaction was that of many New Zealand soldiers before him, in other foreign lands. The refugee is the real casualty of war, and as at so many other times through the ages the soldiers have seen them coming down the road in hopeless, drifting clusters, leaving their own shattered world for the nebulous peace that lies at the end of a rainbow. Crisis in Binh Dinh Treanor went to South Vietnam with the first New Zealand Services medical team, which operated at Bong Son. He was there from 1968 to 1969. During this tour he was detached from the medical team to work with the public health administration in Binh Dinh province.

This sounds as if he was part of a vast, heavilyfunded organisation. Actually the provincial health service was based in Bong Son, and Treanor was the only person representing the Free World (the group of nations assisting South Vietnam) actually doing health work. In South Vietnam the provinces are very large, sparsely settled, and subject to infiltration by night by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese saboteurs. Public health officers are scarce. Apparently it is normal even now to have one public health inspector from the Free World Forces in each province. But this was a time during which North Vietnam made one of its most powerful efforts to overrun the South. Formed units invaded from North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, while bands of terrorists streamed over the mountainous borders. This was the time of the Tet Offensive, when movement in Saigon itself was restricted, and huge areas of South Vietnam were under threat. The refugees began their pitiful journey down the roads again. The attenuated health teams saw it coming. . . . ■ Suddenly there was plague

in Binh Dinh province. Overnight Sergeant - Major Treanor’s task proliferated. He had to ensure the efficient supervision of what elementary plague-control measures there were, as well as bringing in, distributing and using insecticides, carrying out immunisation programmes in schools, setting up and supervising refugee camps, dropping pamphlets, and organising programmes to dispose of the plague-spreading rats.

Treanor was not alone in this battle. He could call on the considerable resources of the Free World organisation, even to the use of helicopters. Deployed under him were some Vietnamese, and he could depend on the help of the various village and civil authorities. The point was that he was the only means of communication — with the peasants, the village elders, the civil authorities. Vast experience The official records give only an indication of the massive task involved. The dread bubonic plague—the Black Death of history—was there among the peasants and the refugees, but it was never allowed to develop. The

counter-attack on the main spreaders of the disease, rat and fleas, was successful, lhe records say the plague was “under control" when Treanor left South Vietnam. Treanor returned to New Zealand in the ordinary course of military service. When his name came up again for Vietnam he was Regimental QuartermasterSergeant at No. 2 General Hospital. Trentham, an appointment which came his wav earlier this year. He had even been able to spend some time with his wife and family (one son and two daughters), who had been separated from him for long enough. During his Vietnam service Mrs Treanor had had to stay, with so many other wives of New Zealand senicemen at Terendak military camp, near Malacca. But this kind of peaceful existence was not to be Treanor’s for long. His reputation finally caught up with him. due greatly to the high opinions held by United States civil officers working in the Binh Dinh area He was passed from Army to the Foreign Affairs Department —and arrived at Qui Nhon last Friday in a civilian capacity. He is administration officer at Qui Nhon, and some of his duties concern travel, housing accommoda tion, mail, morale and general contact with the people. Warrant-Officer Treanor is not the first serviceman to occupy this position at Qui Nhon—but his appointment is regarded as an important one Before he left he was accorded the honour of a farewell function extended by the Ambassador of South Vietnam (Doan Ba Gang) and attended by representatives of the United States and New Zealand Governments. There may be more openings in the future for the “quiet New Zealanders" who can penetrate the barriers of race and language, and “get things done” in the name of humanity. New Zealand has such people, whose presence on South-East Asian soil now may be of infinitely more importance than the threat of armed units.