Operation ‘Bring Our Vietnam Heroes Home’
There are 25 fallen Aussies soldiers still buried near the battlefields of Asia. Now the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia are working on a campaign to bring them home.
- The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia launched a campaign
- They are trying to get 25 soldiers killed in action buried on home soil
- Currently 24 are in Malaysia, while on is buried in Singapore
- None of the men have been laid to rest in traditional war graves
The Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia has launched a campaign to bring 25 of their fellow soldiers killed in action home to Australian soil.
With the majority of them buried in Malaysia, and just one soldier laid to rest in Singapore, Vietnam veterans say their mates deserve a proper war grave in the country they died for.
Among those buried is Reginald Hillier, and his nephew Neil Bond said his family have been trying to get his uncle home for almost 50 years.
'My mother she pushed tirelessly... She never gave up and she never stopped grieving,' Mr Bond told Daily Mail Australia.
'Reg' as his family call him, was Neil's mother's younger brother, who she was extremely close to. Never having him at home meant she never had closure, and could not grieve properly.
'It's tragic enough that he was killed … but the real wrong is that they only bought him partway home,' Mr Bond added.
Bob Shewring, a Vietnam veteran himself, also knew Reg, and got involved in the 'battle' as he calls it, to get these men home many years ago.
'For a lot of the people, and I'm a Vietnam veteran, a lot of the people I talk to didn't even know they weren't bought home', Mr Shewring told Daily Mail Australia, speaking of the 25 men who were left behind.
'For me personally, because I'm very passionate about bringing them home, it would just bring closure to that sorry saga of a thing called the Veitnam war,' he added.
'(It would) give those next of kins, relatives, descendants and the whole Vietnam veteran community closure.'
The reason many of the men were not brought back to Australia was simply because their parents couldn't afford it. It would have cost them £500, which was half of the average yearly wage in 1965.
Recently, Mr Bond and Mr Shewring went to Malaysia to visit the Terendak General Christian Cemetery on Terendak Military Base where 24 of the Australians are buried.
'You have to apply to the high commission of Australia to get permission to visit it,' Mr Shewring explained.
'Then from the high commission of Malaysia and they have to apply to the army.'
He said the whole process was long and drawn out, and took more than eight weeks to complete. Even then they were only allowed to visit for two hours, instead of the four hours they had requested.
'It was more powerful than I expected it to be,' Mr Bond said of the experience.
Mr Shewring also said the visit to the cemetery was a highly emotional one, but helped to motivate him further.
'It really gets up my nose when other people say they're with their mates,' Mr Shewring said.
'When you talk about being buried with your mates, the graves are separated by religious denomination.
'Having been there and viewed these graves I can tell you they're not with their mates,' he continued.
After campaigning tirelessly for many years, the men, along with the the families of many of the other soldiers, hope they can bring the fallen home before the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war next year.
With the help people signing their petition, and donating towards the $1 million it will cost to have the soldiers repatriated this could become a reality soon.
When told about the plight of these soldiers 'left behind', the Federal Minister for Veteran Affairs Senator Michael Ronaldson said: 'I am very, very sympathetic to this'.
'If we can make it work we should be able to facilitate the return for those who believe it's now appropriate to do so', he told A Current Affair.
Mr Bond said the return of his uncle Reg would mean the end to a difficult chapter in his family's history.
The tragedy tore his mother apart, and was so important to her that Mr Bond's niece promised to carry on the campaign after her Nanna passed away.
'It's a huge part of our lives', he said.
Mr Shewring said the fallen soldiers deserved to be laid to rest in a war grave, out of respect for their service to the nation.
'We have to rember that these people are not in a war, grave they're in a Chrsitian cemetary that happens to be in a military base,' he said.
'For me personally, because I'm very passionate about bringing them home, it would just bring closure to that sorry saga of a thing called the Vietnam War.
'I would like to work closely with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Government on Operation 'Bring Them Home', in bringing this to fruition in a timely manner.
'It is the right an honourable thing to do, they shouldn't be left in a foreign cemetery,' Mr Shewring added.
When asked what it would mean for him if his uncle could finally be laid to rest on home soil, Mr Bond said it would mean the world.
'It's going to be hard to believe, for us it has been a 50 year battle.'
'Hopefully it will happen, if nothing else it just airs this wrong. People need to know.
'It should have been put to bed and grieved for 50 years ago.'
If you would like to help bring these soldiers home, you can sign the petition on Change.org, donate on their mycause page, and for more information visit bringthemhome.org.
A Current Affair Story: Bring our heroes home
Click on the video below to watch the moving A Current Affair story.
To support, see the campaign.