Three-thousand ex-National Servicemen (NS), led by Mr Richard Barry OAM, want to be finally awarded the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (RVCM) for their service in the 1960-70s.
“After some 50 years, and two failed appeals, we have now made a new submission to Minister Chester, facilitated by Senator Eric Abetz, who has been a strong supporter of the campaign,” said Mr Barry.
These men, from all over Australia, missed out on the award of this medal solely because they reached the end of their compulsory term of NS (and thus the end of their war in Vietnam) before they had served 181 days there.
Senator Abetz said that these veterans, just like others, suffered from a number of accepted medical conditions as a consequence of their service.
The impacts are reflected by identification with the distinctive RVCM medal and ribbon bar.
These NS men, however, are denied the full set merely because they served less than 181 days.
These then-young men honourably completed their service commitment to the Australian government, but have since faced anguish and mental torment: from their reception on returning to Australia, lack of acceptance in some RSL clubs, as well as the disdain of some of their excomrades and demands for self-justification, just because they do not have the full set of service medals from that campaign.
It has been a heavy burden on them and their families.
Many avoid public ceremonies like those on Anzac Day because of it.
“We have received over 20,000 signatures in a petition for public support, as well as significant encouragement from the ex-South Vietnamese community in Australia, who have contacted the PM on our behalf,” said Mr Barry.
He added that “many politicians, representing the broad spectrum of the Parliament, the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia and Vietnam Veterans, as well as senior Army officers have also taken up our cause with the Minister.”
“We trust that Minister Chester will soon determine that NS men who served in Vietnam for at least 60 days, but less than 181 days due solely to the end of their term of NS, will now also be awarded the RVCM”, Mr Barry said.
That outcome would be comparable to the US arrangements for its personnel at the end of the Vietnam War.
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