By Mikayla van Loon
As the commemoration of Vietnam Veterans Day approaches, on the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, veterans, their families and the community are invited to remember.
This year, the Outer Eastern Melbourne Vietnam Veterans Association will gather outside the Tim Neville Arboretum on Francis Crescent ready to march to the Knox War Memorial on 18 August.
Committee chair Allan Small said while most importantly the day is about remembrance, the purpose extends beyond that to “keep the harmony and the welfare going”.
“Let’s remember those that we left behind and those that have passed on since and look after yourselves, but also more importantly, think of the families, the children, of friends, or relatives or those who are not here in our community,” he said.
“We’re not here to glorify war, that’s not what we’re about. It’s about remembering our comrades who were with us then, some are still here but not many, unfortunately.”
Mr Small said for many of the servicemen who didn’t come home from Vietnam, their families were the ones who have had to live with “nothing except the memory” of them, making days of remembrance all the more important.
He said this too goes beyond just Vietnam’s servicemen and the invitation hopes to bring all veterans and families from every conflict together, to honour a loved one, to place a poppy at base of each plaque or to just stand in reflection.
National serviceman Bob Farquhar said bringing veterans together on days like Vietnam Veterans Day, allows connections, conversation and that welfare check to happen naturally because of a common thread of experience.
“As we’re ageing and people are having health issues and need support, we tend to group together,” he said.
“Even people that want to talk about issues, sometimes they feel like talking to people from their own era with similar experiences, they talk about things they might not have even talked with their family about because they don’t really have to explain what it was like or what they went through.
“We’ve all got the same experiences, listening to the same music. We grew up as baby boomers, and that sort of thing. So we’ve got common life experiences as well.”
Beginning the morning with the marching procession, Mr Small said everyone will then gather at the memorial, welcomed by the sombre sounds of the Knox School’s string ensemble, who will play from the minute the service starts at 10.30am.
The school’s choir will also sing throughout the service, an important aspect of the day, Mr Small said.
“I’m always interested in bringing the children in to give them a bit of a look-see at what goes on and making them feel involved because I think it might help us in the future,” he said.
Each year the Vietnam veterans associations from across Victoria gather in their smaller communities to host a service to commemorate.
In the outer east, it moves from year to year to ensure each community and RSL sub-branch is able to share the commemorations locally.
This service is a joint initiative between the Outer Eastern Melbourne Vietnam Veterans Association and the Yarra Valley RSL Sub-branches of Croydon, Healesville, Lilydale, Mt Evelyn, Upper Yarra, Warburton and Yarra Glen and the Outer Eastern and Yarra Valley Sub-branch, National Servicemen’s Association.
