Little Pattie ‘I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD LAST'

The Aussie popstar talks about fame, family and having fun

- Jenny Brown

Vicious gunfire erupted in the nearby jungle as Little Pattie stood on stage singing for Australian troops. Struggling to be heard above deafening explosions, the brave 17-year-old tried to keep going. But it rapidly became clear that something very bad was unfolding just a few kilometres down the road. It was 1966 in Vietnam and the bloody Battle of Long Tan had just broken out virtually next door to Nui Dat base, where the bubbly, pint-sized pop sensation was performing for thousands of cheering servicemen.

“I continued. It really was a case of ‘the show must go on’,” the former forces’ sweetheart recalls, 55 years down the track. “But then our escorting officer came to the side of the stage and put his fingers across his throat, which in showbusiness means ‘hurry up and get off!’”

IN THE FIRING LINE

It was perhaps the only time in a career spanning almost 60 years that Patricia Amphlett OAM – the youngest and, standing at just147cm, shortest person ever to entertain Vietnam War troops – has been told to stop singing.

“We were very swiftly evacuated by Iroquois helicopters,” reveals the 72-year-old musician, teacher and activist, who shot to fame with her hit single He’s My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy in 1963.