Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The Butler military heritage was perpetuated by Dick and Louisa’s fifth child, (their fourth son), Arthur Wallace Butler. 

Arthur’s older brothers served in the post-war CMF in Darwin, and underwent training at East Point. Arthur however travelled to Queensland in the early 1960s and put his age up to enlist in the Regular Army.

He completed his rifleman training and was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), based at Terendak in Malaya, conducting counter-insurgency patrols at the Malay-Thai border. 

After Indonesia launched a series of cross-border raids into Malaysian territory in early 1960's, Australia became committed to military operations in Borneo and West Malaysia within the context of its membership of the Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (FESR). During Confrontation, 3RAR deployed to Borneo, and Arthur Butler served in Sarawak from 23 March to 28 July 1965. Laurie Jones, another great-grandson of Antonio Spain, saw two deployments with the RAN during Confrontation in 1965 – his cousin Arthur ‘Darky’ Butler was in Borneo at the same time but they didn’t know it.

The battalion returned to Australia in September, occupying a new barracks – ‘Kapyong Lines’ at Woodside in South Australia. To support the South Vietnamese government, the decision was made to expand the Royal Australian Regiment to nine battalions. Late in 1965, 3RAR members were sent to Puckapunyal to form the cadre for a new battalion for operations in Vietnam, and the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR) was raised on 1 September 1965.

Arthur Butler was one of these, and he then served in Vietnam with 7RAR in 1967-68. Butler can be seen in the foreground of a painting by Bruce Fletcher (1967) of 7RAR members deplaning from USAF Iroquois helicopters at Xuyen Moc during Operation ‘Paddington’. The Australian War Memorial holds another oil painting portrait of Butler, on patrol as a mortar platoon signaller with Support Company 7RAR, carrying his L1A1 SLR and radio. He is shown as a fit, muscled soldier compared to the skinny boy he had apparently been before leaving Darwin. Story courtesty by Thanks Digger 

Ourt father never talked about Vietnam but it wasn't until towards his last months of his illness he started to tell me some of the stories in what he went through and how many friends he lost along the way.