April 30, 2025, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the United States of America and South Vietnam weren’t the only nations fighting against Communist forces in that war: South Korea and Australia played important roles.

Regarding Australia’s contributions to the war effort, a total of 500 Australian servicemembers lost their lives in the Vietnam War, according to the Australian War Memorial; 478 of these deaths were suffered by the Australian Army, eight by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), and fourteen by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

So then, a certain Aussie Vietnam War story caught my eye when it showed up on my MSN newsfeed a week ago: a Military Aviation History channel video titled “Last one out of Vietnam | Huey pilot John ‘JT’ Thynne.” The title is somewhat deceptive, as Thynne, then a pilot officer (equivalent to a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force) and now a retired wing commander (equivalent to a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel) wasn’t the last Australian servicemember to leave Vietnam, but simply the last of his specific unit.

However, given the timing of Thynne’s story in relation to the anniversaries we just mentioned, it’s a story worth sharing, nonetheless.

RAAF No. 9 Squadron Basics

The unit that then-Pilot Officer Thynne served with was RAAF No. 9 Squadron, which was created in 1939 and saw active service in World War II as a fleet cooperation unit providing seaplane aircrews for seaplanes operating off RAN cruisers. The unit........

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