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© By Bob Cavill
C Company &
Assault Pioneers |
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Circa 1992
"Son as you
know, I served in New Guinea during WW2. When we
returned we just got on with it. What is
this Vietnam Veterans' Association all about?
Many of the men I served with had the right to
wear two, or even three campaign medals. Why
separate yourselves from the established Leagues
and Associations ... What is all the noise
about?!"
The inquiry above was made to me at a family
gathering in the early 1990’s. I immediately
felt the inference in the question was once
again ― that when compared to WW2 the 'V War'
was not a real War. I have always been a little
too ‘quick to get up’ so I decided rather than
answer him in the moment quoting bomb tonnage
statistics, or comparing hours exposed to
tactical combat conditions etc, knowing this
would have led, as it had in the past since my
return, to more unpleasantness. And given I had
a great deal of respect, admiration and fondness
for this man ― my father’s brother, I controlled
the sudden seething sense of injustice that was
always close to the surface in me at the time,
and answered that I would give the matter some
thought, and write to him.
Dear
Uncle John
I do not doubt the pride you feel, for the
achievements of yourself and your fellow
Veterans in WW2, and that the campaign medals
you mentioned are worn with pride, and are more
than justifiably deserved. But I would not trade
places with any other, because it is not these
outward symbols of service that my own personal
pride stems from, it is simply the memory of the
quality of the men I served with. Honour was,
and still is important to these men. I never met
a thief or a coward in the 5th Battalion; they
were simply the bravest men I have ever known.
Though I worked in a large organisation for 30
years after my return and discharge with over
1300 employees, I met few in this time that
could reach their standard. My bond with these
men of the Regiment, as I have said in something
I wrote to you before, has something to do with
absolute trust.
More so than in other Wars, those who fought
‘outside the wire’ in the Vietnam War simply had
to trust their lives to each other and this
would often happen on a daily basis. They could
not trust the very ground they walked on, or
literally anyone who carried or flung a weapon
outside of their own group's perimeter. Mateship
thus tested makes a bond for life that cannot be
broken by any lesser experience.
The contempt and scorn experienced both before
and after their return, from the general
population, in particular the unions
―
many of whose members were veterans of WW2
from whom they could reasonably have
expected some sympathy.
Students from the ‘intellectual left', along
with journalists with more interest in
sensationalism and their own career paths, than
an honest representation of the War’s events,
all claimed us as fools at best, and baby
killers at worst.
Those of us who argued our cause were branded
ignorant, conned or politically naive. It was a
great injustice; it served to make the Veterans
of the Regiment seek an even closer bond. This,
along with an ill judged rejection, from those
said same established Leagues and Associations,
has led directly to the formation of the Vietnam
Veterans’ Association. So what you are hearing,
is the noise that follows finding
―
'Our Own Official Voice for Justice'.
Yours Respectfully,
Robert.
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