Kōrero: Asia and New Zealand

A New Zealand soldier is passed a note by Vietnamese children who are teaching him to count in their language at a camp near Dat Do in 1969. Often, however, relations with local civilians were more tense. Many troops were put off by the dirt and poverty they observed in rural areas, and many Vietnamese resented the presence of foreign soldiers. The difficulty of identifying the enemy in a guerrilla war meant that many New Zealand soldiers regarded Vietnamese with suspicion.