
One night 54 years ago, I was drinking a beer in bar on a hotel rooftop in Saigon listening to the distinctive krrrump of bombs falling from American B-52 planes on the countryside not too far distant and wondering what I had let myself in for.
I had begun the year on a new post as Asian correspondent for the late, lamented New Zealand Press Association (NZPA). Reporting on New Zealand troops' activities in Vietnam was an integral part of the job, and having moved a pregnant, understanding wife and two children to our new base in Singapore, I had to deal quickly with my nervousness about becoming a war correspondent.
Unlike the renowned fellow Kiwi reporter Peter Arnett, who made his name in Vietnam, I was never of a "warry" disposition. Perhaps living through the World War II Blitz in London as a child removed any trace of that from my DNA, and two years' of Royal Air Force national service in the 1950s Cyprus emergency left me devoid of affection for things military.
I freely confess that fear seldom left me during many subsequent visits to Vietnam to report on the war over the next three years. I was comforted many years later to read the confession of my journalism hero, Scotsman James Cameron: "I have never met a war correspondent/photographer who was not far braver than I."
Retiring after 60 years in the newspaper business, from 15-year-old office boy on a London daily to reporting from more than 50 countries, I wrote three volumes of memoir, while dreaming nightly about press conferences, interviews, unhelpful diplomats and filing difficulties from remote cities. Memories of the days before mobile phones, emails and the internet continue to haunt my sleep today, perhaps understandably after six decades of round-the-clock commitment to getting and sending the news.
Esta historia es de la edición March 30 - April 5, 2024 de New Zealand Listener.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March 30 - April 5, 2024 de New Zealand Listener.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar

A hint of mermaids
Erin Palmisano's latest novel once again has food and romance at the heart of its well-plotted story.

Execution over innovation
Big and bold ideas are fine, but being the best beats being first.

Something's wrong with all of them
Engaging dissection of the 20th-century novel likely to send the reader in search for the book under discussion.

Cell warfare
A NZ trial using immunotherapy to beat a form of blood cancer is expanding after promising results – and it's hoped the 'gold standard' treatment will soon be widely available.

The virus that stole all the smells
In this edited extract from The Forgotten Sense, Jonas Olofsson traces the rise in anosmia as a result of Covid-19 infections.

When caring is ‘woke'
Some years ago, I sat in a small plane circling over Punta del Este in Uruguay. There was a delay and we sat in tense silence until we began our descent. Outside the tiny airport, a taxi ferried us past private Lear jets; these had been the cause of the hold-up. The driver pointed to two planes side by side. \"This one is a Trump plane.\"

Getting along swimmingly
The presenters of Endangered Species Aotearoa spend a fair bit of time on and in the water in the second season.

That clingy feeling
Our pets display the same types of attachment behaviours as we do, or so it seems.

The famous furred
A peaceful little spot in LA is the final resting place for the pets of some of Hollywood's biggest names.

Gone girl
She wandered in on Thursday morning looking very wan, and climbed into her bed. I sat on the edge and stroked her back.