The Independent is looking back at our best Friday features of last year, and this is one of them.
National Vietnam Veterans Day, this Friday, August 18, remembers the men and women who died during the Vietnam War. Independent journalist Jena Carr speaks with Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia’s Geelong and District Sub-Branch president Rieny Nieuwenhof about his time serving the Australian army in Vietnam.
Rieny Nieuwenhof was in his early 20s when he was drafted into the army in 1970 to fight in the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975, with Australia becoming involved in 1962.
“I was nervous because at the time there were lots of stuff in the press about the war in Vietnam,” he said.
“There had been many television broadcasts about alleged atrocities in Vietnam, so that was a worry, and people were being killed.
“At the same time as that fear, I also had a sense of service that I was going to serve my country and so I accepted that I would need to give up those few years under national service.”
Rieny said that when he arrived at Vietnam’s Tan Son Nhat airport near Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, it was bustling with aeroplanes and was very different from Australia.
“The heat in Australia and the heat in in South Vietnam were completely different and a very high humidity as well,” he said.
“The thing that hits you first when you get off the plane onto the tarmac is the heat and the smells, which we’re not used to here in Australia so that hits you right in the face.
“The smell was damp, and there was a definite smell of faecal matter in there too.
“One day you’re sitting in an office in Sydney, and the next minute you’re in a war zone within about eight hours so it’s a bit of a shock to the system.”
Rieny was sent to Nui Dat, the main headquarters for the First Australian Task Force, to assist the 131 Divisional Locating Battery, and spent January to August 1970 in Vietnam.
“I was with the artillery, and as we got there, we had to take on duties,” he said.
“It was a bit of a shock to arrive there, and then, within a day, we were sitting on top of Nui Dat Hill doing the work we were asked to do.
“It was completely outside anyone’s experience because nearly all the people in my battery were national servicemen, except for the officers and some higher ranked non-commissioned officers.”
Rieny said Vietnam Veteran’s Day on August 18 was a “significant commemoration” for everyone who served in the war and for the Geelong region.
“Vietnam Veteran’s Day is very significant because it’s an opportunity to remember the 523 young Australians who were killed,” he said.
“There were many young men who came from Geelong and the Geelong district who served in the war in Vietnam.
“Geelong is one of the few places where we have an Avenue of Honour dedicated to the Vietnam War which is the space between North Geelong’s Swinburne Street and Princess Highway.”
The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia’s Geelong and District Sub-Branch will march from Swinburne Street on Friday from 10.30am to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial followed by a service at 11am.
