AND so it begins with a haunting tune from the Band of The Royal Miliaty College Duntroon assembled beside the National Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Canberra, a memorial which features the iconic Mike Coleridge’s photo of members of 5 Platoon, B Company, 7RAR waiting to be transferred back to Nui Dat by a famous 'Huey' Iroquois chopper.
It’s a great source of pride for the communities of Leongatha and Wonthaggi that two of their sons, Rob Fennell of Leongatha and Stan Whitford, formerly of Wonthaggi, are among those included in the photo, and displayed prominently on the memorial in Anzac Parade, Canberra.
It’s in front of this impressive monument that thousands of Vietnam Veterans are assembled waiting for the day’s commemorative ceremony to begin, almost 50 years to the day when the last Australian troops left Vietnam, in June 1973.
Among them is the son of Warrant Officer Class 2 Kevin Arthur 'Dasher' Wheatley of Sydney, George Weatley, one of only four Australian men to be awarded the Victoria Cross in Vietnam. George who was only 11 at the time, carries his father’s maroon-ribboned medal above his right pocket.
It’s an important day for him, and for thousands of others, many of whom may be making their last pilgrimage to Canberra, to stand in front of the symbol of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
There’s a hum of conversation, handshakes between old mates, a sense of expectation for this central event of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War for Australians.