Korumburra honours those who served in Vietnam

AT THE going down of the sun and in the morning... On Thursday, August 18, the community commemorates Vietnam Veterans' Day on the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in 1966.

It’s a time to remember the sacrifices of the 521 Australians who died, 3000 who were officially wounded and many others who were impacted in the “unpopular war” as it was often called after the event.

But most of those Australian ex-service personnel who went were pressed into representing their country overseas in the Vietnam conflict and came back severely impacted by what they saw and became involved in, between 1962 and 1972.

One of them was a medic, Frank Morris of Chelsea, whose wife Jan moved to the Korumburra area a few years ago.

And according to Jan, it wasn’t just the injuries to the soldiers that he was called upon to deal with.

"But that's war isn't it,” Mrs Morris said.

“He definitely struggled with it when he came home, PTSD and ultimately cancer. He paid a high price.

"It's still hard to accept how they were treated when they came home, spat on in Sydney when they marched in, and criticised by the politicians of the day. They were forced to go!" she said.

Jan Morris and wife of Korumburra RSL President David Jackson, Maryanne Jackson, laid wreaths at the Korumburra Cenotaph on Thursday, August 18, at a service for Vietnam Veterans Day, acknowledging the 60,000 Australians who served and the 3000 who were wounded, remembering particularly the sacrifice of the 521 Australians who were killed.