John A. Moller

John Moller joined the New Zealand Army at 16 years of age and at 21 was selected to undergo officer training in Australia. In 1968-69 Lieutenant Moller served as a platoon commander with Whiskey 2 Company in Vietnam as part of the 4 RAR/NZ and 6 RAR/NZ ANZAC infantry battalions of the 1st Australian Task Force based at Nui Dat in the Phuoc Tuy Province.

He served for about another eight years after Vietnam, a total of 17 years service to his country.

Since his retirement from the Army John has been a leading advocate of veterans rights, and has been the President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of New Zealand since its inception in the early 1980s.

His poetry is published in a number of anthologies, and in books about Vietnam. Read these and more of John’s writings on his website, “The Punji Pit”

Index of Writings

• A Salute to the Men of Lang Tan
• Anzac Day Dawn Service, 2004
• Body Bags
• Fragments
• Letter to a Digger in the Nam
• Plod
• Presentation by Vietnam Veterans Association of New Zealand to the New Zealand Select Committee of Inquiry into the Matter of Agent Orange Exposure: 25 November 2003
• Private Cameron Wells’ Home Brew
• Seven on the Wire
• Sorry is NOT Enough!
• The Angel and the Tailspinners… At Last Light
• The Devil’s Rainbow
• The Last Step
• The Military Policeman
• The Punji Pit
• The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior: New Zealand