Major General Ronald Laurence Hughes, was a senior infantry officer in the Australian Army, seeing service during the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Joining the Australian Army in 1937, after graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1939 he served in New Guinea and Borneo during the Second World War. He commanded the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment during the static phase of the war in Korea in 1952–1953. Later, he commanded the 1st Australian Task Force in South Vietnam in 1967–68, during some of the heaviest fighting of the war experienced by the Australians. He subsequently filled a number of senior command and staff positions before retiring in 1977.
Brigadier Hughes with Paul Hasluck, the Minister for External Affairs, in South Vietnam in 1967
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is a mechanised infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Kapyong Lines, Townsville as part of the 3rd Brigade. 3 RAR traces its lineage to 1945 and has seen operational service in Japan, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, South Vietnam, Rifle Company Butterworth, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Members of 3 RAR move forward during the Korean War in 1951
U.S. General James Van Fleet inspects members of 3 RAR after awarding a Presidential Unit Citation to the Battalion in December 1952
Hill 614, Korea, 1951-03-01. Led by Corporal (Cpl) Len Wright (left), members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), move forward from Hill 614 to attack Hill 587. Cpl Wright is carrying an Owen submachine gun and has a smoke grenade and a hand grenade attached to his belt. The soldier following him, who is smoking a cigarette, is carrying a Bren gun over his shoulder. Behind him, another soldier is lighting a cigarette. Cpl Wright was a cinema projectionist in civilian life. .
3 RAR soldiers during a January 1968 operation in South Vietnam