Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 21 July people around the world were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a significant event in human history by anyone's measure. The date is recorded in US history as 20 July, but for Australians it happened on the 21st, owing to the difference in time zones. For a number of Australian veterans of the Vietnam War, that day—21 July 1969—has a very different significance.

Many Australians would recognise the lyrics of the song I Was Only 19, by Redgum. One of the lines of the song is:

And Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon

Redgum singer and songwriter John Schumann based the song on the experiences of his brother-in-law, Mick Storen, or Private Mick Storen, during his service. While some of the facts have been changed, the mine incident is a true story, and it did happen on the same day Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. 'Frankie' refers to Private Frank Hunt, who was not killed, as the song implies. Furthermore, Private Hunt did not actually trigger the mine, as the song states; the mine was instead triggered by Lieutenant Peter Hines. The mine was an M16 Jumping Jack; 23,000 of these mines were laid, under the orders of Australian Brigadier Stuart Graham, to create a barrier aimed at isolating the Viet Cong. This turned out to be a tragic mistake, and one for which Brigadier Graham was intensely disliked by the Australian troops. Viet Cong engineers had quite cleverly—although at great loss to their forces—figured out how to dig up the mines and redeploy them against Australian soldiers.

A Jumping Jack mine is particularly deadly. Unlike a conventional mine, which explodes upwards, the Jumping Jack has a spring mechanism which causes it to leap out of the ground before detonating at waist height. This mechanism is what enables the mine to inflict multiple casualties with a single detonation. The mine that was tripped by Lieutenant Hines wounded 18 other soldiers, including Private Hunt and Private Storen, whose stories provided the material for Redgum's iconic song. Lieutenant Hines was to die from his injuries hours later. But despite being mortally wounded, he bravely continued to issue orders to his platoon, to clear paths and to tend to the wounded. During the mayhem that ensured, a second mine was tripped, which killed Corporal John Needs and wounded several more soldiers. Over the course of the war, 60 Australian soldiers were killed and another 250 wounded by redeployed Jumping Jack mines.

On 21 July, on the 50th anniversary of that mine incident, Senator Abetz and I were invited by the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia to an event that commemorated the major battles of the Vietnam War in which Australian soldiers played a key role—in particular, the battles of Hat Dich and Binh Ba. The event was also an exhibition, featuring the artwork of veterans, including paintings by Dave Sturmer, a talented professional artist. Sapper Dave Sturmer, as he was known during the Vietnam War, was one of the soldiers wounded by the mine in the Light Green Zone. Counting the mine that detonated on 21 July 1969, Dave was wounded by landmines three times throughout the course of his Vietnam service. While Dave was unlucky enough to suffer mine injuries three times, he also had the incredible good luck to be able to tell the story by surviving. Dave's paintings are vibrant. They're colourful and incredibly detailed. If you want to see some examples of his artwork, visit www.davesturmer.com and you will see exactly what I mean. His paintings cover a variety of topics, but you can see that the military, and his Vietnam War service, has been a considerable influence for him.

While the exhibition featured some great talent, no artwork, no matter how good, could convey the experience of war in a way that anyone who has not lived through it could understand. Soldiers will often return home from war with physical injuries. Some are hidden; some are very obvious. But soldiers often bear mental scars, too, and these are usually less apparent. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a condition suffered by many soldiers who experience combat and quite a large number of those who serve in peacekeeping operations where they experience war-like conditions. Our understanding of PTSD, what triggers it and how it's treated, has improved greatly compared to 50 years ago. But, sadly, for some Vietnam veterans, the mental impact of the war was exacerbated by the way they were treated when they arrived home. Many returned from Vietnam in the middle of the night with little fanfare. Many were shunned and derided by people in the community, and for years following their return there was also a feeling that they were being blamed for some of the horrors of the war, particularly those perpetrated against civilians, even though these were primarily the fault of American political and military leaders.

This poor treatment was acknowledged decades later by political leaders. In 1988, the Prime Minister Bob Hawke referred to the welcome home parade in October the previous year as 'the recognition at last extended to our Vietnam veterans', and, in 2006, Prime Minister John Howard spoke of 'our nation's collective failure at the time to adequately honour the service of those who went to Vietnam'. It took until 1992 for a national Vietnam memorial to be unveiled on Anzac Parade in Canberra.

I understand the experiences I've spoken of were not universal among veterans. A number of veterans were treated to a welcome home parade on their return from Vietnam, did not feel ostracised by their fellow Australians and adjusted well in the return to civilian life. But the lack of recognition through the seventies and eighties of the sacrifices made by our Vietnam veterans and the lack of appreciation for their service has no doubt had an effect on many others and delayed their recovery.

Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War was controversial, but from those who opposed it there was often a failure to make a clear distinction between their position on the decision to go to war and their support for the troops who carried out that order. Contrast this with the Iraq deployment in 2003 where opponents of the war were at pains to point out that they backed our troops. A key opponent at the time was the Labor opposition and the then leader Simon Crean who listed in a speech to parliament opposing Australia's role in the invasion the points on which the opposition and government actually agreed. The first of these was:

Our total support for the brave men and women of the Australian Defence Forces and their families.

Even when our nation is divided on a decision to go to war, we can be united in our support for our servicemen and women doing the job they were sent to do, doing that job well and returning home safely. It's important that we send a clear message to our Vietnam veterans and that we acknowledge the incredible sacrifice they've made, the bravery with which they've fought and the professionalism with which they've carried out their duty. Any Australian who puts their life on the line in the service of country deserves no less than our thanks and respect.

I'd like to conclude by thanking the Hobart sub branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia and, in particular, Rob Woolley for inviting me to see the exhibition and to speak at it. I find it incredible that veterans who served and fought so bravely would want to hear from me, someone who has never experienced and would therefore never truly understand the horrors of armed conflict, reflecting on their experiences. I consider it to be an honour and a privilege to have been invited by those veterans to commemorate with them, and I thank them humbly and sincerely for their service.