Series number

AWM348

Series title

Records of 235066 Lieutenant Colonel David Chinn, MBE

Contents date range

1958-1969

Extent

18cm

Access conditions

Subject to the Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and provenance

David Chinn (18 July 1931—30 November 2007) graduated into infantry and served as a platoon commander with 2RAR in Malaya during the Emergency. He later commanded a company of 2RAR in 1963-1964. From 30 September 1968 to 14 February 1969, he served in South Vietnam as Operations Officer with 1RAR; and from 15 February to 1 October 1969, as Senior Operations Officer, GSO2 (Ops), on the headquarters of the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF) at Nui Dat. For his assiduous work as senior operations officer 1ATF, he was awarded the MBE.

Colonel Chinn qualified as both a fixed and rotary wing pilot and in 1976-1978 he commanded the Army Aviation Centre at Oakey, Queensland. He graduated from the British Army Staff College and was later an instructor at both the Australian and Canadian Army Command and Staff Colleges. He was appointed Chief of Staff of 2nd Division before retiring in 1984.

Content

This series comprises of assorted published material, slides and maps accumulated by Colonel Chinn during his army service and donated by his widow.

System of arrangement and control

The records of Colonel Chinn are a mix of official and private records. As such, no original arrangement or control applied. When the records were accessioned into the Memorial’s collection, each was top numbered with a single imposed number (beginning at 1) and continued serially.

The booklets and maps in the collection retain their original titles and serial numbers. Where no title was found, the AWM has imposed one that best describes the item’s contents. This direction was applied to the slide transparencies and some maps. All imposed information is enclosed in square brackets.

Using the series

Each item in the series is recorded on the RecordSearch database, which researchers can access via the Internet.  Further assistance in finding relevant information may be gained from related series of records (click on Series Links at the bottom of this page).

Sources

AWM administrative file, AWM305 Series dossier

AWM95, 17/6/26, Australian Army commander’s diaries: Vietnam: 1 ARU - present role and organisation of 1Aust Rft Unit, draft report, 7 Oct 1968

AWM98, R310/2/32, Part 2, Headquarters, Australian Force Vietnam (HQ AFV): Establishments - AFV - 1 ARU

Hall, Robert A. 2000, Combat Battalion: the eight battalion in Vietnam, St Leonards, NSW, Allen and Unwin, pp 224-231