By Kath Gannaway
BOB RICHARDSON’S welcome home after Vietnam was an empty airport in the middle of the night.
After the eight-hour flight from Saigon the chartered 707 landed at Mascot airport.
“We picked up our baggage and walked straight through customs. They got us assembled at the front door, slammed the doors, shut off the lights and that was it,” he recalls.
“There were a hundred and something of us stranded at the airport.
“We found out later they had pulled everybody out of the place because of the public reaction to us being over there.
“A lot of fellows are still pretty bitter and probably won’t get over it; most of us have – we’ve learned to tolerate politicians.”
When Mr Richardson, now president of Lilydale RSL, gets together with fellow veterans on Yarra Valley Vietnam Veterans Day the homecoming may be one of the things they talk about. Or it might not.
“The biggest thing about having this day is all getting together and knowing you’re all there for the same reason. That’s what it’s about,” he said.
“We’re able to talk about our differences, let off a bit of steam and have a good time.”
Organised by the Yarra Valley Vietnam Veterans’ Day Committee, comprising representatives of Healesville, Upper Yarra, Lilydale and Warburton RSL Sub-branches, the local ceremony is held each year on the Sunday nearest to the official National Vietnam Veterans Day. This year it is on Sunday, 19 August.
Warburton RSL secretary Dennis Reeves believes the day provides an opportunity for the public to pay tribute to a generation of young men and women who went to war.
“It’s a point of recognition that they didn’t have in the past which is now slowly coming out. A lot of them are still suffering the consequences not only of the war but of the public reaction,” he said.
Vietnam veterans will meet at 10.15am at the old fire station in the main street of Lilydale and march to the cenotaph at 10.30am for the commemorative service.
The march will be led by the Ringwood RSL Pipe Band and involve airforce cadets, former national servicemen and a helicopter flyover.
Members of the public are invited to join the Vietnam veterans and other RSL members at Lilydale RSL after the ceremony for a $5 light lunch. For further information contact Bob Richardson on 9777 1558 or Dennis Reeves on 5967 4543.
