The 135th Assault Helicopter
Company was organized at
Fort Hood, Texas on 1 February
1967.
In October 1967 the unit deployed
to Vung Tau,
Republic of
Vietnam. At the time of deployment,
the
Australian Government dispatched a Navy Helicopter flight
to Vietnam
consisting of eleven officers and thirty-six enlisted
men. The Australian
flight was assigned to the 135th, and the
unit became known as an "Experimental Military Unit",
or EMU for short.
The unit's first roll in Vietnam
was to support the
Royal Australian Task Force and other free-world units
working in III and IV Corps.
To facilitate operations,
the 135th moved to Blackhorse in December 1967
and
then to Bear
Cat in November
1968.
Working as part of the 214th CAB
and 222nd CAB,
the EMU's wrought devastation on the Viet Cong from the
southern edges of the U Minh Forest to the
Bamboo of Bu Dop and east to the boundaries of II Corps.
On 8 September 1970, the EMU's moved again,
this time to Dong
Tam, supporting strictly
Vietnamese Army units in
the Delta.
As other Aviation units in the Delta
deactivated, the only
US/Australian helicopter
unit in existence took up the slack.
The 135th daily flew
great distances from home station in
support of the war effort. As the only completely integrated
Multi-national Helicopter Company fighting in Viet Nam,
the
EMU's developed pride and dedication to their motto,
"GET THE BLOODY JOB
DONE".
The gunship platoon (TAIPANS)
adopted their own motto,
In 1971, The EMU's moved to Di
An.
In June 1971, the Royal
Australian Navy portion of the
135th deactivated and was replaced by US
personnel.
The 135th continued to carry out their mission
as well as the
traditions of the EMU's.
The EMU's flew their final mission, a combat assault in support of the
25th ARVN Division in Tay Ninh, on 20 January 1972.
Stand-down operations began the following day.
