Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday I attended the Mount Barker RSL Vietnam Veterans Day memorial service to acknowledge the service of Australian personnel in the Vietnam War. Mount Barker's contribution to the Vietnam War was 47 young men. Seventeen of our boys were drafted under the National Service Scheme. Branch secretary Rebecca Douglass shared the story of a young Mount Barker man, Private Thomas Johannes De Vries Van Leeuwen, or Tommy as he was known to his mates. Tommy attended Mount Barker High School and played for the Barkeroos football team. After leaving school, he worked at the local Jacobs smallgoods factory until he was called upon for national service. He, unfortunately, lost his life in a battle defending the major US logistics base of Long Binh. No dreaded knock came to the door for Tommy's parents, who, sadly, learnt of their son's death in the obituary column in the Adelaide Advertiser. His Excellency the Hon. Hieu Van Le AC, former Governor of South Australia, concluded the formalities at the RSL by unveiling the branch's new honour board, which commemorates and remembers those who served for our country in the Vietnam and Korean conflicts. Lest we forget.