Retired Brigadier David Gilroy remembers the Vietnam War well.
He did three tours and although Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War was controversial, for Mr Gilroy, and many other veterans, it was just part of the job.
“Coming home from Vietnam I was told to wear a Hawaiian shirt when I got off the aeroplane so I wouldn’t be abused or recognised as a defence force fella,” the Ocean Grove resident said.
“I came home mid-tour for a break just to see my newborn daughter and there was this nonsense going on that they didn’t want to be confronted with the protesters at Mascot Airport.”
Mr Gilroy’s daughter was born when he was serving in Vietnam and he didn’t get to meet her until she was four months old.
“She was born in April and I saw her in August for the first time,” he said.
“We got a telegram about a day after the birth and I was able to make a long-distance call back from the headquarters when I got back to base.
“The good wife and the good ladies of the regiment looked after her and all went well. I wasn’t the only one, there were others in the unit with the same thing. You just can’t change compact units to suit personal instincts and things like that.”
Mr Gilroy believes support for veterans with PTSD is taken much more seriously now.
“More so after Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran and those places,” he said.
“Vietnamese mental breakdowns were not as many as they have been on modern fellas. DVA (Department of Veterans’ Affairs) has been remodelled and remodelled so it is handling things faster, handling things better and restaffing itself so it can now commit to looking after the defence force fellows properly.”
On August 18, Mr Gilroy will remember the Diggers who didn’t make it home.
“You just remember the fellas that didn’t come back and those that did come back, but suffered from some sort of mental anguish or something of which there were quite a number,” he said.
