More than 150 people attended the Greenbank RSL to commemorate Vietnam Veteran’s Day on Sunday, August 14.
Vietnam Veteran’s Day is commemorated nationally on August 18, with 2016 being the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
Warrant Officer 1 Peter Simeon, 25th/49th Battalion RQR, gave the address at the moving service held by the Greenbank RSL sub-branch.
“Not everyone who lost his life in Vietnam died there, not everyone who came home from Vietnam ever left there,” he said.
Greenbank RSL sub-branch honorary secretary Howard Buckley was involved in the Vietnam conflict during 1969 and said the mindsets have evolved around the conflict.
“War is a thing for that very moment,” he said.
“Those who served fought for this country and fifty years on by and large they are recognised for having done their duty.
“There were laughs and tears but fifty years on, we, ourselves, really haven’t changed a bit.”
Mr Buckley said all the veterans in the sub-branch were getting older and further spread out, so the four services per year and ANZAC day was a chance to catch up.
“The luncheon after our service isn’t to reflect on what could have been done, it is a catch up of friends and remembering those who passed during and in the years after the conflict,” he said,
To end the service on a light note the crowd listened to a classic from the era, Born To Be Wild.