Vietnam War Veterans Remembered in Ceremony at ANZAC Park Myall Coast Myall Coast by News Of The Area - Modern Media - August 24, 2023 Vietnam veterans and partners at the Tea Gardens Country Club after the service. (L-R) Rhonda and Leon Bobako, Carol and Bill Heylbut, Ron Green, Terry Munright. REMEMBRANCE for veterans of the Vietnam War was conducted in a solemn and poignant ceremony at ANZAC Park, Tea Gardens, on Friday, 18 August. While the Vietnam War’s end-date may be debated, 18 August was chosen as it commemorates the Battle of Long Tan, “a significant moment in Australia’s war in Vietnam,” said Terry Munright, Treasurer and Trustee of the RSL Sub-Branch of Tea Gardens. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au “For three and a half hours, the 108 soldiers of Delta Company, 6th Battalion, RAR, bravely engaged an enemy force of 2000.” Mr Munright detailed the battle’s major actions, including the ‘ANZAC spirit’ of the 161 Field Battery of the Royal New Zealand Artillery, “without whom the Australians would have been overrun and no-doubt wiped out.” Mr Munright’s oration featured Gordon Sharpe, a conscripted national service soldier from Tamworth, whose life story tragically ended on that day in the Long Tan rubber-tree plantation, while he was redirecting the vital artillery fire. “On this day, we commemorate all the battles fought by Australians in Vietnam,” Mr Munright continued. Reverend Richard Goscombe spoke about the very real, and admittedly uncomfortable, need to acknowledge and heal the disrespect and indignity meted out to returned veterans after the war. “The 50th anniversary of a decade-long war is significant, not just for those whose lives were lost, but those who bear the scars years, decades later,” he said. Reverend Goscombe remarked that, in biblical terms, “the 50th anniversary is the ‘Jubilee’, a time when things that were taken away are given back, and now is a timely moment to give respect and dignity to these people who served our country so sacrificially.” The service was accompanied by Redgum’s ‘I Was Only 19’, and Terry Kelly’s ‘A Pittance of Time’, both powerful reminders that most of the troops sent over to Vietnam were, in fact, just 19-21 years old, a fact that is lost on a saddeningly large proportion of today’s society, those, ironically, spared the enforced horrors of conscription into a war. By Thomas O’KEEFE Reverend Goscombe spoke about the timely need to heal from the sad mistreatment of veterans in the past. Flags of the Australian Defence Forces fluttered in the strong, gusty winds. Veterans and family gathered at Tea Gardens ANZAC Park for the Vietnam Veterans Day service.
