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Kevin John Bineham
1933 - Present
Johny Bineham was a country lad who was from the rural Queensland town of Tully. He was born on the 1st of November 1933, and his experiences growing up in outpost town defined him. By the time he was a young adult, he was fit and full of enthusiasm for a bigger challenge in life and found this by joining the Australian Army.
Johny Bineham in Korea, 1953
Johny enlisted in the later half of 1952, and upon completing basic training found himself being deployed to Korea as a reinforcement. He first went to Japan where he completed further training and had his first taste of the oriental way of life. On the 1st of June 1953, he landed in Busan and was sent north where he Joined 3RAR. He took part in the sweeping operation behind the lines known as Operation New Castle, where he achieved his first kill of an enemy insurgent. Shortly after, Johny was sent forward and took up positions on the main line of resistance. For the first two weeks of front-line life, he took part in a number of patrols into no mans land where he was engaged in further clashes. In late June, a call was put out for soldiers with art experience to assist the intelligence section. Having been and avid artist growing up, Johny volunteered and was assigned to creating maps for the battalion. This is where he served out the remainder of the war prior to the ceasefire on the 27th of June.
Johny posing with Chinese POW's in Korea, 1953
Following the Ceasefire, Johny and the rest of the battalion took on garrison duties, which he did not enjoy. He found that he loved the thrill and organised chaos of battle but didn’t care much for the rigid discipline which followed peace time. In April 1954, he was rotated home, where upon he was discharged from the army. After a short stint working in Sydney, Johny again re-enlisted after hearing about a nearly formed unit that would specialise in precise covert activities, and as a result joined the Special Air Service Company. At some point, he left the unit, and eventually joined the Royal Australian Corps of Engineers as a Sapper. In November 1965, he was deployed to Borneo and remain there until May the following year.
In December of 1966, spurred on by what he saw as the success of democracy in South Korea and a desire to further explore the oriental world, Johny volunteered for service in Vietnam. He found himself attached to the 1st Australian Task Force Intelligence Division. For the most part, his job was in counterintelligence, and he spent a lot of time in the field working with spies and special forces to identify and illuminate enemy threats. His love of oriental culture fueled his interest in the Vietnamese people and their culture. This earned him the trust of many of the Vietnamese working with him. Often, he was entrusted with carrying out searches and conducting snatch missions. Acting on CIA intel, this even resulted in his unit capturing the highest-ranking Viet Cong officer captured in the war. He completed his tour in December 1967.
In his later years, he became an avid supporter of the arts, history and culture. He now resides in Sydney where he is an active participant in veteran activities, does fencing and dancing and continues to create art.
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