Vietnam has come to be known as perhaps one of the most deeply penetrating and brutal wars in which Australians have ever been involved.
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But it was also a divisive war.
Last Thursday was Vietnam Veterans Day and the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
For those attending the Wauchope cenotaph, it was a sombre moment.
Returned Vietnam veteran and former Wauchope RSL Club chairman Mal Butler gave the address and he pointed out that this conflict was ‘a war in which more and more terrifying weapons were used to defeat an elusive enemy'.
“Vietnam was a war of napalm, jungles, tunnels and endless suffering and carnage,” he said.
“Vietnam constituted Australian forces’ longest involvement in any war. However, this involvement was stepped in controversy and polarised the nation at all levels nationally on the issue of conscription.
“Furthermore, Australia’s involvement in the actual conflict reached far further proportion than what the Australian government had ever envisaged.
“Yet you, the brave men and women who were sent into this horrifying conflict, many not knowing at all what it was about, fighting an enemy which you often could not identify, in a jungle far from home, fulfilled those increased expectations admirably.”
Mr Butler specifically pointed to the battle of Long Tan which featured fighting over many hours in torrential rain.
The battle, one of the bloodiest fought, left 18 Australians killed and 24 wounded; where 249 enemy bodies littered the battle field and many more had been dragged away; where over 500 had been wounded.
“Long Tan was a classical battle where high standards of training and much bravery prevailed,” Mr Butler added.
In all, 521 Australians died in Vietnam and 3129 were wounded.
“The fact that this war still has an impact on those who served over 44 years ago really amplifies to young people just how horrific this conflict must have been,” Mr Butler said.
