View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
pies4ever
Joined: 11 Feb 2002 Location: rosebud,vic,australia
|
Post subject: Vietnam Veteran's day yesterday | |
|
I didnt know that yesterday was Vietnam Veteran's day yesterday,just wondering if anybody else knew,I honestly think some ppl today dont give them enough respect they really deserve,what do you all think??
Wins in Vietnam loss
Neil Wilson
19aug05
Public respect grows for vets
OUR soldiers in Iraq will benefit from what those who fought in Vietnam suffered, yesterday's Vietnam Veterans' Day was told.
They will be respected instead of spat upon, decorated Vietnam soldier Neville Clark told about 2500 fellow veterans and their families at the Shrine.
The Military Cross winner and former headmaster of Mentone Grammar said Australians now understood the difference between a government policy and the soldiers sent to carry it out.
They fought for freedom and democracy in Vietnam, but whether it was worth it was something everyone had to ask themselves, Mr Clark said.
It was the 39th anniversary of Australia's epic battle at Long Tan and the 30 years since South Vietnam's defeat.
It belonged not only to the Australians who fought in this country's longest, most controversial war, but to about 70 members of the Vietnamese Veterans Association of Victoria marching behind them.
They marched up the Shrine forecourt with sadness and pride.
They followed a banner of yellow with red stripes: the old colours of their old nation of South Vietnam. Many fought in the final losing battles against the communist North in 1975.
Neville Clark was a lieutenant with 106 Battery of 7 RAR in 1967 when it fought in the jungle of Suoi Chan Pha where six Diggers died and 19 were injured fighting off a big North Vietnamese force.
Mr Clark said the Vietnam War, which ended for Australia in 1973, had also benefited this nation through the Vietnamese refugees who fled here.
"If you want an outcome from that war, you could do worse than point to the many fine Vietnamese families whose love of freedom brought them to Australia," said Mr Clark, 64.
"And have contributed so much to Australia ever since. I know, I've taught their children."
Peter Nguyen, 61, who wore his old officer's colours, still suffers from a grenade injury from when he was captured in Cambodia in 1971.
"The Australians were friendly, they tried to save my country," said the former first lieutenant.
"I came here in a boat in 1983. Now this is my country. I have my uniform. I forgive, not forget," Mr Nguyen said.
Mr Nguyen works at a steel casting factory in Dandenong to support his wife and 14-year-old son.
Khac Thi Nguyen was a captain in the special airborne forces when the war was lost in 1975.
"The Communists put me in jail for 18 months and then I escaped and went to Malaysia by a small boat," he said.
He got permission to come to Australia, where he worked at the Broadmeadows factory of Ford.
"We have much good support for refugees who come here, not to lock them away, not to lock up their children," he said.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16308671%255E2862,00.html _________________ As Reg Reagan Says-Go And Get Stuffed..!! |
|
|
|
|
HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
|
Post subject: | |
|
So I taught you something new. Where are you going? Thanks, MR Clark said the Vietnam War which ended for Australia in 1973 had benefited this nation the Vietnamese refugees who fled here. |
|
|
|
|
Eunos
Joined: 07 Feb 2004
|
Post subject: | |
|
Well, I certainly didn't know.
And my father spent '69 in 'Nam. |
|
|
|
|
David
to wish impossible things
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: the edge of the deep green sea
|
Post subject: | |
|
Read an opinion piece in the HS this week.. couldnt find a link for it, but it was written by the head of the vietnamese council... basically said that Vietnam vets were treated badly when they got home, and also wrote about all the lies and propaganda about Vietnam war.... if he is right, then the common theory that Vietnam was wrong is incorrect. Although people should have already realised that the North Vietnamese were basically communist totalitarians trying to conquer another country. _________________ "Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence." – Julian Assange |
|
|
|
|
HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
|
Post subject: | |
|
Sorry I don't have access to that document. |
|
|
|
|
3rd degree
Joined: 22 Jun 2004 Location: John Wren's tote
|
Post subject: | |
|
David from Canberra wrote: | Read an opinion piece in the HS this week.. couldnt find a link for it, but it was written by the head of the vietnamese council... basically said that Vietnam vets were treated badly when they got home, and also wrote about all the lies and propaganda about Vietnam war.... if he is right, then the common theory that Vietnam was wrong is incorrect. Although people should have already realised that the North Vietnamese were basically communist totalitarians trying to conquer another country. |
And the CIA were running a lot of drugs out of vietnam into vegas thoughout the war. Niether side were angels, Interesting that the US funded Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge chronies after Vietnam. |
|
|
|
|
David
to wish impossible things
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: the edge of the deep green sea
|
Post subject: | |
|
yes fair enough I guess Eunos, its just interesting that the war was so universally condemned at the time, and even these days with the benefit of hindsight, some still seem to consider it a totally unjust war. _________________ "Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence." – Julian Assange |
|
|
|
|
London Dave
Ješte jedna pivo prosím
Joined: 16 Dec 1998 Location: Iceland on Thames
|
Post subject: | |
|
David from Canberra wrote: | its just interesting that the war was so universally condemned at the time, |
It wasn't. |
|
|
|
|
Proud Pies
Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Location: Knox-ish
|
Post subject: | |
|
3rd degree wrote: | And the CIA were running a lot of drugs out of vietnam into vegas thoughout the war. Niether side were angels, Interesting that the US funded Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge chronies after Vietnam. |
hmmmmm bit like they funded Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden, the yanks have a hand in everything. And when it goes wrong.....we're there to do their dirty work for them. _________________ Jacqui © Proud Pies 2003 and beyond |
|
|
|
|
HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
|
Post subject: | |
|
That makes a lot of sense to me, now that you explain it. |
|
|
|
|
|