of the 9th, 10th, and 11th Coastal Regiments had their Compulsory Military Training obligation removed. A small cadre of regulars remained, but as Henderson, Green, and Cook say, 'the coastal artillery had quietly died.' All the fixed guns were dismantled and sold for scrap by the early 1960s. The three regiments survived on paper until 1967, 'each in its final years at an actual strength of a single warrant officer, the District Gunner, whose duties mainly involved taking care of the mobile 3.7-inch guns allocated for emergency harbour defences.' In 1958 the regiment was redesignated the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery. The 16th Field Regiment RNZA was reformed at this time as part of the Regular Force Brigade Group. In 1961 the last two anti-aircraft regiments were disbanded. Meanwhile, from 1963 Italian designed 105-mm L5 Pack Howitzers began replacing the 25-pounders. 5th Light Regiment RNZA was disbanded in 1964. Vietnam War A rotational RNZA battery was deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. In 1965 the United States government committed its 173rd Airborne Brigade to South Vietnam in a combat role. Being part of the ANZUS pact Australia and New Zealand were asked to contribute military forces too. Up until this time the Australians had committed an Army training team and New Zealand had committed some non-combatant engineers. In response to the United States' request, the Australian government committed an infantry battalion and New Zealand committed an artillery battery. 161 Field Battery, RNZA arrived in South Vietnam on 16 July 1965. The Australian infantry regiment and the New Zealand artillery battery served under operational control of the 173rd Airborne in Biên Hòa Province. 161 Bty was attached as the third battery of the US 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment. The battery began its first major operation on 14 September 1965. Sergeant Alastair John Sherwood Don and Bombardier Robert White of 161 Bty were the first New Zealand casualties of the Vietnam War when the front of their vehicle was blown up by a Vietcong command detonated mine during the initial road convoy on Operation Ben Cat. In their first year, under U.S command the battery took part in: Battle of Gang Toi during Operation Hump, Operation New Life (15 November – 16 December 1965) Operation Marauder (1–8 January 1966) Operation Crimp (8–16 January 1966) Operation Entrée in general support of 1/503 US Infantry's operations, Battle of Suoi