Vietnam Trip by an Australian student 1999

Dear John, I came across this site as I was looking up Vietnamese Cultural History and I usually ignore these types of sites. I was 4 when the conscription "lotto" started in Australia and I vaguely remember there was a lot of ill feeling about the whole thing. However I was present at the belated 'welcome home parade' you mentioned that was held in Sydney and to tell you honestly, back then I didnt understand why you needed the recognition.

Recently I went to Vietnam as an archaeological student to do work on the ancient Cham sites around Da Nang. Being a 'Heritage related' worker I also had access to the photo archives at Da Nang Museum for the soon to open 'War Museum'. Luckily for me I did not learn my Vietnam War history from American macho movies manufactured by Hollywood. Instead, like most Australians, I was raised by my parents to have a silent respect for our returned soldiers and that a form of shame was felt about the whole war. I never really understood much about the war until I viewed some disturbing archival photos at Da Nang Museum. Two days after viewing these photos I was passing through a remote village south of Da Nang. An elderly women yelled at me and threw dirt in my face. Only then, I think I realised what it was like for all of you Nam soldiers to return home to the same type of abuse and why you needed the recognition by your countrymen. All I could think at the time the dirt hit my face was how sorry I was for what our country put our troops through. I also realised that the women throwing dirt probably saw things in person like I saw in the photos at Da Nang. I came to the conclusion in Vietnam that all war is bad and all war brings the worst out in any person from any culture. It did not turn you into men as someone on this website wrote because many of you returned home with broken spirits. I would just like to say John, that you and many others survived something that even in photographs, questioned my sense of what humanity is. For you and our soldiers, every bit of evidence I came across from the Vietnam War, Australian or American, I felt sorry that you had to go through such a botched up war. As mentioned before, my reasons for being in Vietnam were academic and I was more concerned with Ancient history rather than recent history. However, I could not ignore the many misconceptions about our troops that found there way into local Universites so I felt compelled to tell my fellow Vietnamese students about the anti Vietnam riots that happened during conscriptions and about the cold reception the troops got when they returned home and the effects the war had and still has on our Vietnam soldiers. I do not have any idolisation for the Vietnam war nor do I fully believe what Hollywood or the Vietnamese locals dish out as propoganda - only you guys really know how it happened however I would like to say to all the Vietnam Veterans that there is a generation out there that is truly sorry for what you went through.