James Lister MP, Allora Advertiser
On Friday, in my capacity as Shadow Assistant Minister for Veterans, I attended the Brisbane Vietnam Veterans Day service in ANZAC Square and laid a wreath in honour of the fallen. Vietnam Veterans Day is a unique post on our calendar of military remembrances. There are services – big and small – throughout the year for the Victory in Europe, the Victory in the Pacific, the Armistice in 1918, our brave and unsung merchant mariners, our indigenous servicemen and women, the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency, among others.
But Vietnam Veterans Day marks an opportunity for us to remember, not just the sacrifices and horrors of war, but also how servicemen and women returning from that conflict were confronted by indifference and even hostility by our nation. Let that be realised. We commemorate the 18th of August every year, for it is the day that the men of Delta Company, 6RAR fought in the battle of Long Tan in 1966. On that day, 108 Australian soldiers, supported by New Zealand artillery and Royal Australian Air Force helicopters, fought a ferocious battle against over 2,000 enemy troops in a rubber plantation not far from the village of Long Tan.
It is a fitting date for us to remember and pay thanks to all Vietnam veterans. We recognise all who served in the Vietnam War, but particularly the 521 men who paid the supreme sacrifice on active duty during Australia’s engagement in Vietnam.
Our serviceman were first sent to Vietnam in 1962, beginning with a contingent of 30 military advisers, and leading to a peak deployment of more than 7,000 servicemen and women by the mid sixties. Overall, a total of more than 58,000 Australians had served in the conflict by the official end of our involvement in January 1973.
As a nation, we must never forget the service and sacrifice of our Vietnam vets. And we must never forget the past mistakes of our nation in failing to properly respect and look after them. As a military veteran myself, I feel that I have been well looked after, but I am conscious that in less enlightened times, our Vietnam veterans have – many of them – been left behind, suffered, and suffer still.
We owe it to them to reflect with sorrow and regret on that blindness, and to recommit ourselves to paying in full the debt we owe our veterans, in thanks for their sacrifices and service. The number of living Vietnam veterans continues its decline, and those people whose service and sacrifice we honour each Vietnam Veterans Day, deserve to be counted alongside all those whose selfless courage in war has contributed to our national security, and to the shaping of our national character.
On behalf of the people of Southern Downs, I thank all who served in Vietnam and their families, and I pray for those who have been scared, and those who never returned.
Lest we forget.
This article appeared in the Allora Advertiser, 23 August 2023.
