What happens when the generation that has carried the responsibility for remembering needs to ask the next generation to carry it forward?
We are approaching a point where the generation of Vietnam Veterans, who have carried the responsibility for their commemoration for decades, needs the next generation to step up. Not to replace them but to carry the responsibility of commemoration and remembering forward.
So the Vietnam Veteran stories do not get lost.
Today, I stood beside Victorian Vietnam veterans at the Melbourne Shrine to remember. It was the 60th anniversary of the Battle at Long Tan. When I told my 13 year old my plans for the day, he asked me “why do you need to do that?”. Many responses ran around my head, and I’m sure the actual words I spoke back to him did not hold the gravity of the feelings that I wanted to express.
The story of Delta Company and the Battle of Long Tan is an important chapter in the book of Australian Veterans. Against incredible odds, Australians and New Zealanders held ground in terrible conditions, at great cost. 18 lives lost. A war fought by boys who had no choice, drowning in mud, surrounded by the jungle and the enemy. Today we remembered those who served in Vietnam. We remember because their story is important. It is part of the broader Australian story, and it is a story of humanity. We remember so that no soldier comes home to an angry crowd after serving their country. We remember not for politics, but for our people.
The forecourt at the Shrine was overwhelmed with memories, camaraderie and a sense of shared community. People showed up for the Vietnam Veterans, holding space and remembering with them. Politicians, leaders and senior officers filled the VIP tent. Veterans, their families and the community held the forecourt. There were hugs, tears and plans made to meet again. I was invited to join them for a frothy at the St Kilda RSL.
What stayed with me today is the announcement that the Victorian branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association Australia wanted this to be the last year for this commemoration at the Shrine.
I do not criticise this decision. I acknowledge the enormous responsibility on the Association, which they’ve carried for decades. They have organised, planned, coordinated and ensured that the service and sacrifices of their mates are remembered.
My reaction as a younger veteran is to wonder if perhaps this is the time for us to step up.
Without taking over, perhaps younger veterans (alongside the wider community) can find a way to support the Vietnam Veterans Association in organising this commemoration. So the Vietnam vets can simply come along, stand together, remember their mates - without the additional burden of planning and executing the event.
What happens when the generation that has carried the responsibility for remembering needs to ask the next generation to carry it forward?
At some point, the next generation must be willing to move from participant to custodian. We will inherit the stories from previous generations and it will be our role to define how remembrance is practiced into the future.
The Battle of Long Tan, and the history of our Vietnam Veterans, is not only Australia’s history but part of our wider veteran history. If we expect our own service, experiences and stories to be understood and remembered into the future, we must also be willing to protect and preserve the stories that came before us.
I plan to ask the Vietnam Veterans Association what it is that I can do to preserve and support this important commemoration service.
To my fellow younger veterans I ask: Will you step forward?
Stepping forward, not replacing and not taking away from the Vietnam Veterans. Instead supporting them to show up, remember and know that the next generation has got this.
Because Vietnam Veterans : you don’t have to carry this responsibility alone. Let us help to carry it with you.
The stories within one generation of veterans don’t disappear when another generation begins to tell them. They become part of the collective story we carry forward.
