Memorial Day, August 17, 1997
Speech by BRIGADIER COLIN KHAN DSO (Rtd)

The State member for Blue Mountains - Mr Bob Debus; The Federal member for Macquarie - Mr Kerry Bartlett; The Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains - Councilor Michael Neall AVM Peter Nicholson Chief Superintendent Dick Adams Mr Jack Lake - President of the Blue Mountains Vietnam Veterans & Associated Forces

Other distinguished guests, the very distinguished Vietnam Veterans and their families, Ladies and Gentlemen and younger school members. This is a time of anniversaries.

35 years ago in 1962, the first Australian troops went to Vietnam. And 30 years ago our Navy Clearance Divers commenced their hazardous work in the waters in Vietnam. And 31 years ago, on this day in a rubber plantation during a major battle in Vietnam, an Australian Corporal turned to a young Lieutenant and asked "do you think we will get out of this ?", the reply was "I don’t think so". Both men did somehow manage to survive the battle of LONG TAN but 18 of their mates did not. And 32 years ago, in the valley of TRA BONG, two Warrant Officers, from our famous Training Team, lay together during another major battle against an overwhelming enemy attack. One of them was dying of his wounds but his mate refuses to leave him to the enemy - the next day their bodies are found, alongside each other. Both these actions epitomise, what our soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women did and the service they rendered around, above and especially in the jungles and paddi fields of Vietnam, in a war fought in a foreign land that few had ever heard of and fewer cared about, a war that many said was not ours and in which we should play no part. (We should remember the striking similarities in much community attitude that existed to our involvement overseas in World War 1).

We saw a year ago the conclusion of 'Australia Remembers', the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II, when all Australians were reminded of the great contribution of one million servicemen and women who put on uniform and the countless others who served in defence, in that time of, our nation and its values. No less did 50,000 others, during 10 years from 1962 - 1972, face for Australia, what was then perceived by our Government, as another threat against the nation and its’ values.

And for other reasons it is again timely and entirely fitting that Veterans of Vietnam, their families and others gather, on a regional basis, here in the Blue Mountains, to commemorate those of our colleagues who died, those who suffer, and all who served.

It is 10 years since the first time we gathered in numbers on a national basis and that was in Sydney in 1987. There, because of a tumultuous public reception, we started to put to rest, for a large number of veterans, many of the ghosts, especially those arising from some unfortunate community attitudes, that had haunted and effected their resettlement, their establishment and their acceptance back into normal life.

For it was there, that any legacy or burden of concern about the war, held by some segments of the community, was lifted from the backs of the soldier, where it had been quite incorrectly placed and replaced with a national pride, a justifiable pride felt by the community as had been bestowed on all its soldiers, sailors and airmen from and war to which the Government had committed them. On that day in Sydney we listened to not he murmur but the roar of the crowd in the streets, and it was not an ugly roar but one of approval, of respect that gave to all of us the reality that we were indeed welcomed home.

And then, just 5 years ago, in 1992, in Canberra, in Anzac Parade, our national avenue of military heroes, we built and dedicated a magnificent memorial to which, in our tens of thousands, we marched past and paid homage. And there, in building a memorial in stone, we started to build a bridge, to attempt to bridge that unbridgeable gap between those who served in Vietnam and those who did not. And there, then, we remembered, and little separated us. And there today when you listen long and carefully enough, and especially at dawn, you can once again hear the sounds of the past and see the images of our colleagues who fell. While it

may be truly said no memorial or wreath is worthy of our dead, it is at that memorial and at other memorials such as here at Springwood, on occasions like this, that we realise again that we served in good company and we see again, although at times through tears when it is hard to see, the dead who were our friends. That was our second national significant bonding experience that further helped lay those ghosts of decades past. But today on this, your annual gathering, here in the Blue Mountains, while we primarily honour and remember our dead, we also remember those veterans and their families who have suffered, in a long darkness for 30 years, in the same way as veterans and families from all other wars have suffered from unhealed scars that reach deep down. Some have even felt as strangers in their own society, as men without shadows.

So today, we see again the faces of those with whom we served. We remember the great gap that was torn into the routine of many lives, a gap that was filled for the time with a great adventure, with friendship, courage, trust, teamwork and loyalty. Today’s march and service rekindles, relights those qualities, feelings and emotions - the spirit we had within our units. We remember with happiness the things we enjoyed together. Other things we remember with pain, at times a pain that can be difficult to extinguish. We, who have learnt the meaning of death remember standing together seeking comfort in each other. We remember a world: where one day, at times one hour, or several minutes, could be a lifetime where home was normally a metal deck, a tent, a fold in the ground where emotions at time replaced logic, where comradeship replaced selfishness, where duty and loyalty to the team was paramount. Today we will recount to each other our tales of the past and see the bond of comradeship that was once, is again with us. I doing so we will be remembering our colleagues who are no longer with us, in a way they surely want us so to do.

May I conclude with a word to the young, a word to put into some meaningful context what today is about and what we, no ever ageing Veterans represent. It was during World War II when the then President of the United States, Roosevelt, made a memorable statement about his Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen. What he said remains relevant to us today. He said: "The credit belongs to the man who is in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, and sweat, and blood - who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a cause, who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

In Vietnam, those we specifically honour today, and let no one doubt, they spent themselves in a worthy cause, they lived the triumph of high achievement and they fell daring greatly. For we veterans, the caravan of life moves on; we attempt through our actions, our values, our beliefs to leave you, the young, more than just the ashes of our camp fires. It is you we ask to think about why we celebrate and remember days like this and why we all must attempt to carry on into everyday life, those many things which were good and worthwhile from our service and their sacrifice.