AROUND 60 people from the Mount Isa community gathered at the cenotaph to pay tribute to Vietnam veterans on Friday.
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Key speaker was Vietnam veteran Peter Smith, a warrant officer who went on solo missions to gauge the Viet Cong’s influence in villages.
“Unlike other wars, there was no front line,” Mr Smith said during the service.
“The enemy lived among us, in the villages, family men and women, the enemy openly working in the rice paddies by day and tending their children.
“Active enemy forces by night, fighting and dying for what they believed to be right.”
Mr Smith reminded the community that there are still many veterans suffering from the war. Some of these veterans would not be at commemoration services. They were trying to forget the abuse they received from civilians when returning to Australia.
Among Vietnam Veterans Day attendees was World War II veteran Frank Koitka, who visits from Adelaide with his daughter Jackie. He moved to SA last year.