Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War combat operations against the communists. Whitlam recognised North Vietnam, which welcomed his electoral success. However, Australian troops remained in Saigon guarding the Australian embassy until 1 July 1973. The withdrawal from Vietnam meant that 1973 was the first time since the beginning of World War II in 1939 that Australia's armed forces were not involved in a conflict somewhere in the world. In total approximately 60,000 Australians—ground troops, air-force and naval personnel—served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1972. 521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded. 15,381 conscripted national servicemen served from 1965 to 1972,
Australian Army Training Team Vietnam later. Serong would later be seconded, and in one capacity or another would remain in Vietnam until the fall of Saigon in 1975, serving as a senior advisor to both the US and South Vietnamese governments. On arrival, the unit joined a large group of US advisors and were dispersed across South Vietnam in small groups. Three groups were dispatched to South Vietnam's northern provinces, training members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) at the National Training Centre at Dong Da and South Vietnamese Regional Forces (RF) at Hiep Khanh, while a fourth was based at the