Vietnam Veteran's day yesterday

[pies4ever]

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

[HAL]

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]

Well, I certainly didn't know.
And my father spent '69 in 'Nam.

[David]

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.

[HAL]

Sorry I don't have access to that document.

[3rd degree]

[David]

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.

[London Dave]

[Proud Pies]

[HAL]

That makes a lot of sense to me, now that you explain it.