The Greater Geelong community will recognise people who served and died in the Vietnam War with a memorial service and march this Vietnam Veteran’s Day.
The Vietnam Veterans Association Geelong and District Sub-Branch will gather and march from the Geelong North Football Club along Swinburne Street from 10.45am on Sunday, August 18.
The march will conclude at the Geelong Vietnam Veterans Avenue of Honour on Melbourne Road at about 11am, followed by a memorial service.
Organiser Rieny Nieuwenhof served in the Vietnam War with the 131 Divisional Locating Battery in 1971 and said it was important to remember people who fought in the war.
“The war started in about 1962 and finished in 1972 and Australia was involved there for the best part of 10 years,” he said.
“Vietnam Veteran’s Day, sometimes called Long Tan Day, is a memorial service to acknowledge and pay homage to those 523 young Australians who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.
“It is a rather solemn day because we are remembering those people who died, so there’s a Last Post and the lowering of the flags in acknowledgement of that sacrifice.”
Mr Nieuwenhof said the service would feature a guest speaker from the veterans counselling service Open Arms and a song by Geelong school teacher Vin Healy called Long Tan Cross, based on the war memorial in Vietnam.
“We have a band playing, the laying of wreaths and what’s called a poppy drop where people can put a poppy into the memorial at North Geelong,” he said.
“People from Geelong are most welcome to come along to the memorial on the corner of Swinburne St and the Melbourne Hwy, North Geelong, on Sunday, August 18.”
Torquay’s Vietnam Veterans’ Commemoration Service will be held at the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Plaque at the rear of the Surf Coast Shire offices at 11am. Morning tea will follow at the nearby Wurdi Baierr stadium.
“Some 60,000 Australian men and women served in the Vietnam War and tragically, 523 Australians lost their lives in that war, and over 3000 were wounded,” Torquay RSL coordinator Clive Badelow said.
“August is special to Vietnam Veterans and their families, and as the years pass the annual commemorations become even more special as we remember Australia’s role in Vietnam.”
Ocean Grove RSL sub-branch will hold a commemorative service at Ocean Grove Park at 10.45am.
