An Event Lived Is Finished, Bound Within Experience
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An Uneasy Legacy Vietnam Veterans and Australian Society Thesis submitted by Janine Frances Hiddlestone BA(Hons) James Cook in October 2004 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Humanities James Cook University STATEMENT OF ACCESS I, the undersigned, author of this work, understand that James Cook University will make this thesis available for use within the University Library and, via the Australian Digital Theses network, for use elsewhere. I understand that, as an unpublished work, a thesis has significant protection under the Copyright Act and; I do not wish to place any further restriction on access to this work. ___________________ _______________ Signature Date STATEMENT OF SOURCES DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. ________________ ____________ Signature Date Acknowledgments This thesis would have remained no more than a private obsession had it not been for the support of the School of Humanities at James Cook University. I would like to thank the school and the Faculty of Arts, Education and Social Sciences for providing financial support through an APA Scholarship and research and conference trips. The assistance of the staff and other postgraduates was invaluable and constant, and special mentions would involve including you all. I would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by the Australian War Memorial Research Centre (particularly Elizabeth Stewart), James Cook University Library, the National Library of Australia and the Australian Defence Force Academy. This research would not have been viable without the assistance of a group of Vietnam veterans who not only offered support, unlimited access and invaluable information, but also willingly shared both happy and the worst possible memories with me. Several went further in continuing assistance that sometimes caused difficulties – and certainly inconvenience - for themselves, but provided wider sources of information in areas that I hadn’t even known existed. They are some of the most decent, resilient and courageous people I have ever had the privilege to meet. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the VVCS in Townsville, particularly Wayne Scott, representatives of the DVA, VSASA, VVAA, VVF, VVMC and RSL, the Federal Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, and the inspiration and support of Jill Williamson from the Department of Health. I would like to thank Dr Dawn May - brilliant scholar and talented educator – for taking a chance on me and showing so much of faith. I would also like to note my appreciation for her comments and editorial suggestions on this work. Many thanks go to my family and friends for not disowning me during the years of work. Words are inadequate to express the appreciation of the support given by my husband, James, parents, Jean and Wally, as well as Audrey and my extended family in the Kewarra Writers’ Group. I cannot conclude these acknowledgements without expressing my thanks to Dr Doug Hunt, who went over and above the call of duty as a supervisor. He was my coach, mentor, editor, critic, fellow coffee connoisseur, counsellor and indefatigable supporter. He gave willingly of his time, and showed great diplomacy by not expressing surprise when I completed the thesis. It was a privilege to receive guidance from such a talented academic, inspirational lecturer and pretty good bloke. i Abstract The Vietnam War is remembered more for the controversy than the war itself. This has contributed to the stereotyping of the war and those who fought in it. War is always political in nature, but the politics of the Vietnam War provided a series of distinctive complications that heralded a divergence from Australia’s traditional approaches to war and remembrance. This thesis examines the origins, veracity and consequences of the veteran stereotypes. It uses a range of sources, including documents, film, and interviews to explore the experience of veterans since the war ended – and ultimately their struggle to find a suitable place in Australian history. There is a methodological focus on oral history, based on a group of veterans in the North Queensland region. The study finds that there is neither a simple nor a single explanation, but rather a series of events, decisions and outcomes accumulating over a period of time. Veteran-related issues emerged initially in the United States of America, but this does not indicate that they were purely American problems and responses. Rather, the issues were addressed there first. The relative size of the different veteran populations played an important role, with the Australian contingent smaller and more widely spread, geographically. However, some of the more extreme images emanating from the US were applied to the emerging representations in Australia. The impact of those stereotypes is complex: while they were most often a burden to veterans, they could also offer some advantages, being concurrently helpful and hurtful. This made finding a suitable identity problematic, as few veterans wanted to identify with the stereotypes, but nonetheless sometimes found themselves trapped by them. Rather than discovering the popularly perceived group of disturbed malcontents, however, the broad scope of the sources (particularly the interviews) revealed a group of men searching for an historical context into which to place their experiences both during the war and in the following years. The evidence revealed a group of average Australians who, for a period thirty years ago, were asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. The interviews offered the opportunity to provide context to a difficult history, contributing not only to the study of the conflict, but to a wider Australian public memory in a country whose war stories have had so much impact. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Abbreviations iiv Introduction 1 1 Voices from the Battlefield: Methodology and Literature Review 10 2 A Large Price to Pay: Australia’s Intervention in Vietnam 41 3 “My Grandpa was a great old soldier”: The Veterans 61 4 “Long forgotten dockside guarantees”: Origins of the Myths and Stereotypes 90 5 “Do we get to win this time?”: Popular Culture and Stereotypes 124 6 “A Bunch of Loose Cannons”?: Consequences of the Stereotypes 157 7 Any jobs for an old digger? Employment Issues of Vietnam veterans 189 8 “We fought ourselves”: The Battle Continues: After the ‘Welcome Home’ 216 9 A Place of Their Own: “Project Pandanus” – Local Case Study 249 10 A Place in the Legend?: The Reformation of the Vietnam Veteran? 272 Conclusion 317 Bibliography 327 iii Abbreviations AATTV Australian Army Training Team Vietnam ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ADF Australian Defence Force ANZUS Australia, New Zealand and the United States Treaty AO Officer of the Order of Australia ATF Australian Task Force AWM Australian War Memorial DVA Department of Veterans’ Affairs NAA National Archives of Australia PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder RAR Royal Australian Regiment RSL Returned and Services League of Australia TPI Totally and permanently incapacitated TTI Temporarily totally incapacitated VA Veterans’ Administration (USA) VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars (USA) VSASA Veterans’ Support and Advocacy Service VVA Vietnam Veterans of America VVAA Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia VVCS Vietnam Veterans’ Counselling Service VVF Vietnam Veterans’ Federation VVMC Vietnam Veterans’ Motorcycle Club VVRS Veterans’ Vocational Rehabilitation Scheme iv Introduction Introduction On 18 August 2004, throughout Australia dozens of groups of varying sizes gathered at cenotaphs, memorials and other less conventional reminders of the dead. Some laid wreaths, some listened to speeches or a chaplain’s prayer, but at all, the haunting echoes of The Last Post were heard, even if only in their heads. They gathered at sites in cities, in suburbia, in small towns, in isolated parts of the country, and some in another country entirely, in front of a recently rededicated cross. It rained in North Queensland, and at that lonely cross, as it usually did, as it had on that day. The rain did not bother those who gathered, as it did the general public, most of whom were not aware of the occasion. They met because they needed to honour, needed to remember, nearly as much as they wanted to forget. Thirty-eight years before Australians had faced their first real test in a war they could not win; in a rubber plantation which eighteen of their comrades and hundreds of their enemy would never leave. It was Long Tan Day, or more recently named by the government as Vietnam Veterans Day, and they had come not just to remember the eighteen from that date, but nearly five hundred others from that decade, and numerous others who had since passed. But they also came for themselves, and each other, some to remember, others searching for answers, and a few trying to find the people they used to be long ago. When they had done what they needed to do, fulfilled their obligation as survivors, they went home, back to their lives, vowing to return again next year. War is singular in its ability to be evocative and emotive. No one in any society is untouched by its effects; no matter how subtle, or obvious, these effects might be. Vietnam is singular among the non-global conflicts of the twentieth century in its ability to be evocative. To many, particularly those who were there, Vietnam is not a country, perhaps not merely a war, but rather a state of mind. Certainly Vietnam is not the first war to conjure up this image. Gallipoli, for example, evokes images and ideas that have little to do with the Turkish coast.