Song playing----'Brother'

Please click on the links relating to the Australian Vets
at the bottom of this page.
What an Honour it is to have had them with us.

Through the Eyes of a Soldier

When I was a young bloke, I thought I'd been around,
I might have been a country boy, but I'd been to Brisbane town.
I sold spare parts and petrol, couldn't see much future there,
So I thought I'd join the Army, and see how I would fare.

They sent me to Kapooka to learn the soldiers' ways,
And then I spent the next three months up in Shoalwater Bay.
I met a Colonel while up there – he smiled and shook my hand,
And asked me what I thought about the war in Viet Nam.

I told him that the Communist must never reach our shore,
And if I could help to stop him, I'd be proud to go to war.
I was young and full of eagerness, keen to prove I was a man,
After all, we had as heroes, D Company at Long Tan.

When the posting order finally came, I told my Dad and Mum,
That I was going off to war, and make them proud I was their son.
I spent a year in Viet Nam, living on the fault line.
Why should I feel guilt for what I did, in a war that wasn’t mine.

It was a Government that sent us, then left us high and dry,
They didn't seem to worry that in wars some people die.
When we came home our world had changed, it wasn't like before,
And the diggers are still paying the price for someone else's war.

THE NIGHT SHE SAID GOODBYE

"I think the Army's changed you,"
She said to me that night.
"And now you're going to Viet Nam,
And I don't think that's right."

"I know that we've been happy,
And we both hoped for more,
But I feel that I can't love you,
If you're going off to war."

The words she said destroyed me.
I hadn't thought she could.
But I had to do my duty,
As any soldier would.

I haven't seen her since that night,
I wouldn't know her any more.
And I don't think I'd want to,
She was right – it was not my war.

I remember as I left the plane, the boiling heat and steam,
And in the Wet each afternoon, the monsoon rains would teem.
But we believed that when we did as our Government decreed,
We'd be all right, as after all, we were there to meet a need.

Excitement turned to boredom as the days went slowly by,
And frustration replaced fervor, as the fire died inside.
We really tried to do our best, as we'd been taught to do,
But the people in Australia had a different point of view.

They stopped our mail, delayed our stores, they helped the Viet Cong,
And when we finally came back home, they told us we'd done wrong.
They called us baby killers, said we should not have gone,
But when you wear the Jungle Green, to the Government you belong.

For years and years we lived with this, and tried to carry on,
As if it didn't matter that what they said was wrong.
We didn't get a Victory March, all we seemed to get was hate.
And when we got our Welcome Home, for some it was too late.

HE DIED IN VIET NAM

I looked at the body lying there,
The suntanned face, the short blonde hair.
Ten minutes ago, he was feeling fine.
Nine minutes ago, he stood on a mine.

He was a fine example of an Australian man,
So what was he doing in Viet Nam?
He was doing his duty, he'd signed on the line,
And just happened to be there on this day in time.

He'll go home now to his friends and kin,
And they'll join us in mourning for him.
But there'll be no hero's welcome for this young man,
Because he died in Viet Nam.

How much must we pay for doing our job?
Why did we come home and face a mob?
There'll be no hero's welcome for you young man,
Because you served in Viet Nam.