Almost everything we think we know about national service and Australia's part in the Vietnam War is untrue.
Research indicates that the Left, the Right, and the Army all have different versions of what happened between November 1964 and Gough Whitlam's abolition of national service in December 1972, and none seem accurate.
Many believe Vietnam veterans were not given a welcome home parade until 1987. In fact, there were at least 16 welcome home parades between 1966-1971. The Fifth Battalion's triumphant march through Sydney in March 1970, for example, was cheered by tens of thousands. The minister for the army, Andrew Peacock, took the salute; then, the entire event disappeared from memory. Those who do remember the welcomes often recall them for fighting between demonstrators and soldiers. In fact, it seems protestors met the marches only twice: in the Sydney incident in 1966, when a woman doused in red paint and kerosene smeared the commanding officer of the First Battalion, and a lesser-known clash in Adelaide in 1969, when demonstrators were attacked by a crowd. [1] Welcome home parades greeted men who returned by ship. Thousands of veterans, including most national servicemen, returned by air and were at home, in hospital or elsewhere when their unit's march was staged. The flights arrived at night, leading some to believe they were timed to avoid demonstrators. But there are no reports of demonstrations at airports and flight times were determined by the need for QANTAS aircraft to be cleaned for commercial use the next day. [2] There's another myth that servicemen were told not to wear uniforms in the street to avoid hostility from protesters. In fact, the order was given for the comfort of officers who might have to attend social engagements after work. [1] What all these misconceptions have in common is the idea of a huge anti-war movement, demonstrating all the time, everywhere, and with the muscle to influence government policy. In fact, the anti-war movement had almost no effect. The timetable for withdrawal was dictated by the US. The Left didn't even win the argument over conscription. [5] In April 1972, after almost all Australian troops had been pulled out of South Vietnam, nea...
