• There seems to be no definite date as to when the Vietnam War occurred as there was no official declaration of war. From what I can see the Vietnam War was either from 1955-1975 or 1959-1973.
• The countries involved in the Vietnam War were France, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, United States, South Korea, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, People’s Republic of China, Republic of China, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, North Korea, Cuba, Canada, Poland, India, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Some of these countries only had non-combat or support roles throughout the war.
AUSTRALIA’S INVOLVEMENT
• Australia's military involvement in the Vietnam War was the longest in duration of any war in Australia's history.
• Australia’s involvement in the war started in July-August 1962 and ended on 11 January 1973.
• The Australian commitment consisted predominantly of army personnel, but significant numbers of air force and navy personnel and some civilians also took part.
• Almost 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam
• 521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded.
• Australia supported South Vietnam
VIETNAM WAR PROTESTS
• In the early years Australia’s participation in the war was not widely opposed. But as the commitment grew, as conscripts began to make up a large percentage of those being deployed and killed, and as the public increasingly came to believe that the war was being lost, opposition grew until, in the early 1970s, more than 200,000 people marched in the streets of Australia’s major cities in protest.
• Vietnam war protests were at first small and non-violent and were organised by already established anti-war movements.
• They were made up of middle aged and middle class people and young radicals who favoured extreme change.
• The forms of protest included:
Teach-ins took place from 1965. Speakers holding a variety of opinions debated the issues.
The Youth Campaign Against Conscription (YCAC) – university students who organised marches and demonstrations.
Save Our Sons(SOS) movement (1965) largely middle-aged women held silent protest vigils.
Seamen’s Union in 1965 refused to carry war materials to Vietnam.
From 1966 protests became more radical. Young men burned their draft cards and protests saw clashes between the demonstrators and the police.
Some young men decided to go to jail rather than be conscripted. The courts could exempt those who could prove they were pacifists (opposed to all wars on religious or moral grounds).
• Grounds for opposition to the Vietnam War
It was believed that Australians were being sent to fight for an unpopular and corrupt dictatorship.
It was a civil war and we had no business being there.
It was immoral to send young conscripts who were too young to vote. You had to be 21 at that time to vote.
Television coverage showed the horrors of war eg use of napalm, execution of old people, women and children. Famous image of Saigon’s Police Chief executing a Viet Cong dead in the street.
Fire free zones – places where Vietnamese villages were bombed ad machined gunned without restriction.
"Mai Lai Massacre" in 1968 where 120 Vietnamese were slaughtered shocked the world.
The question was, "Did we have to kill them, in order to save them? Could they have been any worse off under communism?"
• Protests increased and became more directed towards symbols of the United States in Australia.
• Public opinion began to change in August 1969 55% of Australians favoured withdrawing the troops.
• During 1970 and 1971 huge public protests called the Vietnam Moratoriums (stop the war) saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in protest.
• These protest finished when Gough Whitlam and his Labor Government were elected in 1972 on a promise to bring home the troops. (By this time most had already come home).
CALL OF CONSCRIPTION
• The Birthday Ballot
Under the National Service Scheme, twenty-year-old men were required to register with the Department of Labour and National Service (DLNS), they were then subject to a ballot which, if their birth date was drawn, meant the possibility of two years of continuous full-time service in the regular army, followed by three years part-time service in the Army Reserve. As part of their duty, national servicemen on full-time duty were liable for ‘special overseas service’ including combat duties in Vietnam.
• The Defence Act was amended in May 1965 to provide that National Servicemen could be obliged to serve overseas.
• In March 1966, the Government announced that National Servicemen would be sent to Vietnam to fight in units of the Australian Regular Army and for secondment to American forces.
• Men who wished to avoid National Service could join the Citizen Military Forces and serve only inside Australia, claim a student deferment, or attempt a conscientious objection application.
• In 1965 a group of concerned Australian women formed the anti-conscription organisation Save Our Sons.
• Movement protested against conscription of Australians to fight in the Vietnam War and made the plight of men under 21 (who were not eligible to vote at that time) a focus of their campaign.
PUBLIC TREATMENT OF VIETNAM VETERANS POST-WAR
• Although initially there was considerable support for Australia's involvement in Vietnam, as opposition to the war increased service in Vietnam came to be seen by sections of the Australian community in less than sympathetic terms and opposition to it generated negative views of veterans in some quarters.
• In the years following the war, some Vietnam veterans experienced social exclusion and problems readjusting to society
• Excluded from joining the Returned Servicemen's League during the 1960s and 1970s on the grounds that the Vietnam War veterans did not fight a "real war".
• many Vietnam veterans were excluded from marching in ANZAC Day parades during the 1970s because some soldiers of earlier wars saw the Vietnam veterans as unworthy heirs to the ANZAC title and tradition,
• People spat at them
• Called them ‘baby killers’.
• They couldn’t find work
• Their own government turned their backs on them and many never got the medical or psychological care they deserved.
ONGOING HEALTH PROBLEMS OF THE VIETNAM VETERANS
• Exposure to chemicals including Agent Orange caused skin blisters, itching, flushes, nasal problems, blurred vision, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, gastro-urinary, muscular and nervous system disorders, cancers and tumours
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Symptoms include:
Tension and agitation
Sleep disturbance including dreams and nightmares
'Flashbacks' - intrusive memories and feelings
Emotional detachment - 'coldness'
Social withdrawal
Self-preoccupation and/or egocentric behaviour
Irritability
Avoidance of reminders associated with trauma
Moods swings
Depression
Anxiety, panic attacks
Fearfulness
Continual alertness for future emotional or physical threats
Physiological reaction such as headaches, stomach upsets, rashes
Poor concentration, loss of confidence
Alcohol and other drug abuse
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