A Huey 703 helicopter from HARS will be part of Vietnam Veterans Day commemorations, marking the end of an era. Photo: Howard Mitchell.
An association which has supported Vietnam veterans and other service personnel in the Illawarra for more than four decades has made the decision to disband due to dwindling volunteer numbers, but many members are dedicated to continuing the cause and ensuring RSL sub-branches continue to support vets.
The Vietnam Veterans Illawarra Association was established in 1983, with those returning from service feeling like they weren’t supported by the systems in place, association president Robert Cohen said.
“Our association was formed because many veterans at the time from Vietnam considered that the government at the time in the 60s and 70s and beyond weren’t adequately catering for the needs of Vietnam veterans and the implications from that war,” Mr Cohen said.
“The people that were to support us, the RSL, existed and they had a role but we considered that the role that they fulfilled wasn’t adequate.”
Robert said the RSL at the time considered the new wave of veterans to be ‘radicals’ and didn’t share the same values or understanding of their experiences.
“They were the generation that didn’t ask questions, that accepted authority and considered us to be strange and unnatural being because we didn’t,” he said.
“We knew the truth about the experiences of Vietnam veterans; they didn’t.
“They denied things like the existence of Agent Orange, which the government had said wasn’t a fact; they didn’t support us in claim for psychological disability, despite the fact that most of the veterans of both World Wars I and II were also victims of that.”
So they started a new association within the local community to provide vital supports for veterans who might have otherwise slipped between the cracks.
“Our association has helped hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of service people with pensions, with wellbeing, with housing, with health,” Robert said.
“We have offered advice; we have offered service in every sense.
“We’ve achieved more than we ever set out to do.”
But in recent years volunteer numbers dwindled, and despite having more than 130 members, less than two dozen were taking on a majority of the tasks and it’s taken a toll.
“We’ve had those same 20 doing the same roles on the executive for many many years and it’s become a burden,” Robert said.
“What you give up is your family, your grandkids, your wife.”
At the last meeting, the association voted to accept a memorandum of understanding which would see them close its doors and pass on responsibilities to the Corrimal RSL sub-Branch.
Robert is confident the present-day RSL will continue the work.
“The RSL has made progress over the past so many years,” he said.
“There’s a new generation in the RSL; there’s a new generation because they attract younger serving members or ex-serving members.
“They attract both men and women who’ve served.
“Even if it wasn’t an overseas service, as long as it was one day continuous service in the Australian Army, Navy or Airforce, they will support them with not just pensions but legislation to their benefit, health concerns for them, housing concerns for them, wellbeing for them.”
The group will be honoured during a parade where two iconic Huey helicopters will land at the Wilga Street football ground on 31 August at 10:15 am.
The aircraft have a direct relationship with the people they will be saluting, with one used to train Royal Australian Navy pilots heading for service in Vietnam and the other used by RAAF’s 9 Squadron in South Vietnam.
The helicopters will land simulating a ‘hot’ incursion using smoke flares and then be open to inspection to the veterans and then the general public.
It is just one way that the community is commemorating Vietnam Veterans Day which is on 18 August to honour the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
Even though this year’s events may seem like a farewell to the long-standing group, Robert assured that the mission would continue and members that have been serving the community would remain involved.
“We will still have three members of our current association who will be advisors and monitors of that role that they will perform,” Robert said.
“We will be assisting in the organising of next year’s Vietnam Veterans Day service. We’ll participate. We’ll continue.
“We’re not going to give it away and have no interest in it.”
To find out more about Vietnam Veterans Day commemorations, contact your local RSL sub-branch.
