VIETNAM veterans come across as the regular bloke sharing a beer at the local pub or shopping at Mount Isa Village, and to the civilian eye their internal hurt from the long ago battles would be invisible.
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Invisible is not the same as non-existent – their memories of war remain.
Former Warrant Officer Peter Smith told about 60 attendees at the Mount Isa Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony on Tuesday how difficult it would be for the community to understand how badly these former soldiers suffered.
“They do not look different, their pain is deep inside, inside their mind, deep inside their heart, deep inside their memory,” he said, standing in front of the cenotaph.
“Many of us including those here present today wish those memories would just go away.”
He acknowledged the change of attitude from Australians since veterans first returned from Vietnam.
Conscriptions and the political climate of the day meant many Australians were not supportive of the veterans who returned from Vietnam.
Some Mount Isa veterans previously recalled having eggs thrown at them by university students when they marched on their home shores for the first time.
Unfortunately the positive change in support would not be enough for some veterans, Warrant Officer Smith said.
“Pray that they and us – we here present – may live out our lives in a sense of peace, peace of heart, mind and spirit,” he said.
“We owe it to our comrades who died.”
