By Parker McKenzie
Yarra Valley Vietnam Veterans came together on Sunday 14 August at a service in Yarra Glen to remember and commemorate the sacrifice of their comrades, friends and family members who served in the Vietnam War.
The ceremony was held at the Yarra Glen Memorial on Anzac Avenue and started at 10am with a march from King Street featuring vintage military vehicles from the Victorian Military Vehicle Club, accompanied by a cadence by the Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums.
Yarra Glen RSL Secretary and Treasurer Ed Bartosh said each year the service rotates between the six RSL groups throughout the Yarra Valley.
“Each of the RSLs gets to sponsor it and then showcases the Vietnam Veterans Day to the local residents,” he said.
“We’d like to thank everyone for their support showing up and showing their support to the veterans.”
The march was followed by a service marking the 60th anniversary of Australia’s deployment of troops to Vietnam and the 56 years on from the Battle of Long Tan, with speeches by keynote speaker Emeritus Professor Maxine Duke AM, Vietnam veteran John Methven OAM and Casey MP Aaron Violi.
Mr Bartosh said the speakers were well received by those in attendance.
“Maxine Duke is the wife of one of the Vietnam vets and a nurse. She spoke about her experience getting married, him going off overseas, the change in him after the Vietnam War and how they dealt with that,” he said.
“John Methven is a Vietnam veteran from 7RAR and he is on the board of the National Vietnam Veteran’s Museum down at Phillip Island. He talked about his experiences and when how he came back he had the same sort of problems.
“Our new member for Casey Aaron Violi talked about the government’s role and how from John Howard on they realize how badly the vets were treated and tried to make it up to them a bit, then also about this latest Royal Commission on veteran suicide and how they need to take the recommendations seriously and see that they’re all implemented.”
At the end of the ceremony, a scale UH-1D helicopter commissioned by Yarra Glen RSL and built by George Miller, an iconic symbol of the Vietnam War, was unveiled by Mr Methven and Yarra Ranges Mayor Jim Child.
Mr Bartosh said the plan is to have the sculpture installed permanently by the Yarra Glen Cenotaph.
“We just have to get the shire to agree that it can be placed in there next to the Cenotaph as a sort of a veterans area,” he said.
521 Australian soldiers were killed during the Vietnam War from 1965 until 1972. It was Australia’s longest involvement in a conflict until the Afghanistan War.
The service was an initiative of the Outer Eastern Melbourne sub-branch of the Vietnam Veterans Community and the Healesville, Croydon, Lilydale, Mt Evelyn, Upper Yarra, Warburton and Yarra Glen RSL sub-branches.
