The Blog

Show notes, memorial journeys, and stories from Australia's military history.

4 June 2022

Private Errol Wayne "Flex" Noack: The First Conscript is Dead

24-MAY-1966. While serving with B Company 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, Australian Regular Army, National Serviceman Private Errol Wayne Noack served as a section machine gunner during the Vietnam War. He was killed during his first military operation two weeks after arriving in-country and would go into the history books as the first Australian National Serviceman killed in Vietnam. His death would polarise Australian society about a war that was increasingly becoming unpopular, and his position as the first conscript killed in that war would serve as a rallying cry for those against mandatory military service.

Shownotes Vietnam War

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