🦎 Gippsland veteran on Vietnam

Plus: How do we know sea levels are rising?

Author

Jacob Wallace
April 22, 2026

⏱️ This Wednesday edition of our newsletter is a six-minute read.

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

🎤 Last week, I spoke to Mirboo North resident and Vietnam War veteran, Max Speedy, about his experience flying combat missions as part of the US Army’s 135th Assault Helicopter Company during Australia’s involvement in the war.

Speedy and I spoke for half an hour about his life before the war, how he ended up in Vietnam, what flying helicopters full of soldiers around the jungle was like and his experience returning to Australia.

❝

That was basically my job for a year. We were going into landing zones that were hotly contested, 50-80 yards from the enemy, people getting killed and getting hurt on both sides. That's no easy life.

Mirboo North resident and Vietnam Veteran, Max Speedy.

Yesterday, the Monitor published an article based on our conversation and over this week we’ll be publishing short videos from my chat with Speedy.

Take a look at a clip about how Speedy ended up going to Vietnam below.

👀 Looking ahead. In this week’s newsletter we’re also talking about:

  • 🚗 Public pushback against a one-way street proposal in Inverloch;

  • 🌊 How we know that sea levels are rising, and;

  • ☀️ How a new portable solar power unit is lowering electricity bills for farmers.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

Left: 135th AHC slicks approaching a pick up zone in South Vietnam. Image credit: Department of Defence. Right: Max Speedy in Mirboo North.

In September 1968, pilot Max Speedy disembarked a Qantas flight that had taken him from Sydney to Saigon. 

The Vietnam War was raging and from the moment he landed and was sent south to the Blackhorse Base Camp - which had been carved out of remote jungle and a rubber plantation near Xuan Loc - Speedy began counting down the days until he could return home. 

“365, 364, 363,” he told the Gippsland Monitor during an interview near his home in Mirboo North. “All the way. Everybody did it. It was just a habit.”

Speedy was a lieutenant in his mid-20s when he was flown to Vietnam on a 12-month mission with the Royal Australian Navy. 

Out of the blue

“I didn't ever expect that I would go to Vietnam,” he recalled. However, a fatal accident during a training exercise for men due to be sent to the war led to Speedy being called up. 

“Within a day, I was told I was going to Vietnam.”

Speedy spent about 1,200 hours flying combat missions, six days a week, as part of the US Army’s 135th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC).

The 135th AHC was a unique division composed of US Army and Royal Australian Navy Helicopter Flight Vietnam (RANHFV) personnel.

Speedy was tasked with piloting choppers to ferry troops to and from landing zones in an assault helicopter company. 

“There were about 70 [assault helicopter companies] at the time in Vietnam. Each one was configured so that it could carry a company of army troops,” he said.

Each assault helicopter company had 10 aircraft and the ability to move 100 troops.

Bass Coast Shire council is considering turning Surf Parade from Ozone Street to Goroke Street into a one-way road.

Last week, the council received a petition with 772 signatures opposing the change.

Why the change of direction? In February, the council proposed to continue the pedestrian pathway that runs from Cuttriss Street to Ayr Creek Bridge.

However, due to the significant coastal erosion along Surf Parade, there is no room to build the path and proposed car parking while retaining two-way traffic.

At a council meeting last week, lead petitioner and Inverloch resident Michelle Gardiner argued the change would not lessen safety risk for pedestrians but disperse it onto surrounding streets.

Take a look at a video explanation of the story below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

Last week, my colleague Zara Cuthbertson from the West Vic Brolga wrote a story on how a farmer in her patch is saving $2,000 a month by using a new portable solar power system.

Zara spoke to Swan Marsh farmer Peter Mulheron about how a pair of shipping container-sized units are reshaping how he approaches day-to-day power use.

“We milk 240 cows at their peak,” Mulheron told Zara. “[It supplies] all our power needs for the dairy.”

Read the full story here or take a look at a video explanation below.

🎥 Watch: How do we know that sea levels are rising?

I copped a few comments on a video I made recently about how Wellington Shire is preparing to update its flood overlays to better display the impacts of rising sea levels.

One commenter told me to stick to reviewing pies. Brutal.

In response, I took a break from reviewing pies and filmed a short video explainer on how scientists measure sea levels and the research that indicates oceans are rising at an accelerating pace.

Take a look at that video below.

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter.

👀 Call out. I’m looking for a Sandy Point resident to chat to for a story I’m writing on a recent South Gippsland Shire decision to develop 11 permanent residences at the town’s caravan park.

If you live in Sandy Point, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to email me at [email protected]. Or, if you know someone who lives at the caravan park, please let them know we’re keen to hear their story.

I’ll be back next week with more local Gippsland news, so stay tuned.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team

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