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Leslie’s biography 
 
Leslie (Les) Howard Maynard was born in Strathalbyn, SA on the 25th of December, 1946. 
Les’s upbringing involved roaming around Strathalbyn and playing in the creek with his brothers Keith, Gary and Ted. Leslie’s home life involved him helping his parents around the house and yard, cleaning, cooking, wood cutting, picking almonds and looking after animals. 

Leslie’s 15  year long school life was spent in Strathalbyn Primary and High Schools where his favorite subjects were Math, Science, Latin, Physics and Chemistry. He also joined the Boy Scouts where he learned various survival skills and knots. 
In 1968, Les was conscripted at 21 years of age as a national service member (Nasho) into the Australian Army to assist in the Vietnam War. At the time he was learning to be a teacher at teachers' college in Adelaide. 

On the 8th of February 1968, Les went to Puckapunyal to complete his ten weeks basic training. During this time Les learned discipline, how to march, field craft, how to shoot, fitness and how to perform proper self-care in the field. After this Les went to Woodside for 7 weeks to learn how to be a foot soldier. This involved more shooting and marching, contact drill training, how to pack your gear properly and how to perform self-care in harsh conditions. After those seven weeks he learned to patrol in a larger group called C company of the 9th Battalion. During this time Les went to different parts of Australia and learned to work with APC’s (armored personnel carrier), helicopters, engineers, trucks. During this time, Les says that his fitness was improved significantly through long slow ruck marches, getting used to food and water shortages. Les’s final exercise was done in Queensland in Shoalwater Bay where he was tested against the “enemy” to see if he was ready to go into battle. 

 After this Les went back to Woodside with 9th Battalion and had a farewell parade through Adelaide before being granted leave to pack gear and say goodbye to family and friends. After Les’s leave came to an end he boarded HMAS Sydney, on the 9th of November 1968. The 9RAR was hit by a large storm on the way over to Vietnam and many were seasick by Leslie’s account.  Leslie and 9RAR arrived in Vietnam on November 20th, 1968. Once there, Les and 9RAR had in-country training with tanks, helicopter gunships, claymore mines and other weapons that they had not been familiar with beforehand. On 12 December, Les and 9RAR carried out a cordon search of a village. Leslie and 9RAR then carried out standard operations over the next 12 months. Standard operations meant patrolling for most of the day and dealing with incidents that occurred. At night C company would ambush tracks, they would “tracksquat” on busy tracks and on the third night Les and C company would just harbor up for a “normal” nights sleep. The C company was always busy, even when back at camp, except for the 2 days leave Les and C company were given every 6 weeks. The tour continued until 28th November, 1969, when 9RAR boarded HMAS Sydney again for the trip home at the end of their tour. Upon arriving back in Adelaide on 9th December 1969, the 9RAR had a return to country march and they were all greeted by a mostly cheering crowd. Many of the crowd being young woman in miniskirts, that had not been seen before, (Les said it was a wonderful experience). After the march, the 9RAR handed in their rifles and any equipment they weren't allowed to keep and then they went their separate ways, wondering if they would ever see each other again. That was a very lonely feeling. Les, was given leave from 10th December, 1969, until they were discharged on 7th February 1970. This effectively completed Les's service. Les and 9RAR were on call for the next two years but were never recalled to service. 
 
Leslie has said there are many stories he could share, and indeed, he could have written a book about them. Les says there are funny stories and sad stories, scary stories and the obviously violent ones. Les tells the story of falling into creeks when putting in the cordon as the person in front of you, who you had to hold onto as it was so dark they disappeared and after one more step, it was your time to follow the man in front, and then the bloke behind you did the same. Les said that you had to be helped out it was so deep and so steep. 

 Just after arriving in Vietnam, a notice was posted about the chance to go to the Hoa Long dance on a Saturday night. It turned out, Hoa Long was an enemy strong hold near base camp, it was a hoax. 
 Les recalls the lovely rides in the helicopters and jumping when the door gunners started firing as Les came into land. The hours and hours of patrolling with heavy packs in the heat and humidity. Les maintains that the food wasn't very appealing, that he was often so tired at the end of the day, all he felt like doing was making a cup of tea and laying down, too exhausted to bother eating. He also talks of being frightened when being woken by exploding claymore mines as an ambush was triggered or having to drink water from the lid of your bottle, not trusting yourself that if you took the bottle to lips that you could stop drinking. 
Leslie is included in the Strathalbyn Honor Roll in the Town Hall. His last rank was Private, and he has said that he would have gladly furthered in rank if it was offered. 

After arriving home, and being on leave, Les started his teaching career in late January, 1970, at Norwood High School, even though he was still listed as a military personal.  

Les has said that one hard part, especially just after 9RAR arrived home, was not swearing like they had done before. Les became immersed in his teaching job, which took a lot of time as it was his first-year teaching and there was a lot of preparation and marking to do. Les didn’t have time to think about his army life. He obviously thought of his mates, but Norwood High was a big school with lots of new people to meet. He was still a bit jumpy, which was embarrassing at times, and indeed he still is. His greatest difficulty was trying not to drink so much, and that problem lasted many years. 
 
There were no apparent injuries apparent at the time of discharge. However, twenty-four years after getting discharged, Les had a severe panic attack at school one day, which really shook him up and it took him a long time to recover. The stresses and pressures of his service had caught up with him and the symptoms still affect him to this day. 

Many years after Les arrived home, he joined the RSL. He went to one meeting soon after arriving home, Les recalls that no one talked to him, so he felt not wanted and didn't go back for many years. 

Since retiring from education, Les has shown himself as a true community man. Les has spent many years as President of the Kadina RSL attending all veteran services, volunteering at the plant society and Wallaroo Rifle Club where he audited their books. A true family man, Les is beloved by his Wife, Children and Grandchildren. He has a positive impact on so many people, and I am proud to call him my Pop. 
Written by Lachlan Bryce Maynard 
 
9 RAR operations Vietnam 
 
OP King Hit One   10-11 Dec 68 
OP King Hit Two   12-24 Dec 68 
OP Goodwood   1 Jan-17 FEB 69 
OP Federal   17 Feb-2 April 69 
OP Overland   2-10 April 69 
OP Over Lander   11-15 April 69 
OP Surfside   16-23 April 69 
OP Reynella   8 May-15 June 69 
OP Matthew   29 June-17 July 69 
OP Hat Dich   18-31 July 69 
OP Neppabunna   18 Aug-15 Sept 69 
OP Jack   30 Sept-31 Oct 6 

The following are some of Les's stories that he’d like to share 

An event that scared the living daylights out of us at the time, but after a couple of minutes most of us could see the funny side. We were sitting beside a road, waiting to be picked up. We were relaxing, but had sentries out as usual and all seemed quiet. Suddenly there was an extremely loud roar which came out of nowhere. Everybody in the company was immediately spreadeagled on the ground, very alert and wondering where that noise came from. The roar continued as a USA Phantom jet made a vertical climb with afterburners belching smoke, fire and noise. The pilot had obviously seen us sitting there and thought he would give us a fright by flying about 100 meters above the ground and then climbing with his afterburners on. He certainly succeeded in scaring us. 
 
Another incident occurred as the company was using a log to cross a river. The log had been deliberately put there for such a use as there was a track in the jungle leading up to it. We had been following the track. About 10 men had got across, wobbling from the weight of their load and the narrowness of the log. It was Jacko’s turn, and he duly stepped onto the log and slowly started to wobble his way across. When he was about halfway, someone started shooting at him, we, who were waiting to cross could see the bullets hitting the log and knocking bits off the log from around his feet. In an instant, Jacko broke into a run despite all things, and completed his crossing as fast as his legs would take him. He crossed safely. After a clearing patrol had unsuccessfully looked for the shooter, and all was quiet for a moment, the boss looked at me with a grin and said to me, “right, you are next Farmyard”. So, off I went, wobbling across the log, arriving safely without being shot at. 
Mosquitos. 
 
Mosquitos were the bane of our lives. There were millions of them wherever you went. The main disease they carried was malaria, and many people caught it. The main defences we had were: 
1. To stop the development of malaria bugs in our blood, we were given anti-malarial drugs, I can't remember whether it was once or twice a day. We learnt to take them without water as in the bush in the dry season water was very scarce. 

2. Whenever tactically possible, we slept under mosquito nets. Sometimes it was not possible, e.g. ambush or tracksquatting or doing piquet. 

 
3. We were given mosquito repellant to use. This was something special as if we put it on while there was a hint of sun in the sky, it would burn like crazy. It would also dissolve paint if you touched something that had been painted. 

I remember one night we were camped by a river. We were under our nets, but there were so many mosquitos trying to get to us, many, many more than normal that they were making so much noise that we could not get to sleep.