Anzac Day and Vietnam
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
26 Apr 2009
In 1970 two RAAF servicemen, Michael Herbert and Robert Carver, were shot down over Quang Nam province in Vietnam while returning from a bombing run.
For thirty-eight years there was no trace of them, making them the last Australian servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam war. Last week wreckage from their Canberra bomber was found, bringing the possibility of their families and friends finally knowing their fate. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
The Vietnam war was the most divisive war in Australia's history. While Australia was deeply divided on conscription in World War One, its defeat at a referendum defused this to some extent, and the war never lacked majority support, despite vociferous opposition from some.
Vietnam was quite different. Conscription commenced in 1964, forced on the Coalition government by the scale of the commitment it made. It was immensely unpopular.
Australian military trainers were first sent to South Vietnam in 1962. In 1964 the RAAF began to provide air transport, but it was not until 1965 that Australian combat troops were sent.
At its height, our involvement comprised 8500 soldiers, three RAAF squadrons and a number of navy destroyers. From 1962 until 1973 when the last Australian troops protecting our embassy in Saigon were withdrawn, almost 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam, including a priest cousin of mine who served as a chaplain. 521 were killed and over 3000 were wounded.
The communist threat at the time was real, and the North's victory in 1975 brought all the suffering and human rights violations that come with communist rule; secret police, "re-education" camps, political and religious persecution, and floods of refugees.
While this prospect was actively denied by pro-Hanoi sympathisers, for most Australians it was overshadowed by the mistakes of the Americans in prosecuting the war (the killing of President Diem was a disgrace), and by the incompetence and corruption of elements in the South Vietnamese governments.
The 1968 Tet Offensive was a turning point. A military disaster for the communists, it was turned into a massive propaganda victory for them by the Western media. Anti-war protests and civil disobedience on conscription grew, culminating in Australia in the moratoriums of 1970 which attracted 200,000 people.
Australian soldiers held their own during the Tet Offensive, although one of their finest moments was the 1966 battle of Long Tan, which saw a massively outnumbered Australian force defeat a major communist offensive and free the province.
Our servicemen did us proud in Vietnam but suffered enormously from lack of support at home. This sometimes spilled over into open hostility from more radical elements.
Thankfully those days are behind us, and our Vietnam veterans have the honoured place they deserve in the Anzac tradition.
