For my lost comrades

Vietnam battle recognition after 50 years

THE long struggle for recognition has ended for Brian McKenzie and fellow Vietnam veterans on the 50th anniversary of their fiercest battles.

At Government House in Hobart yesterday, Unit Citation insignias were presented to Tasmanians who fought in the 1968 Battle for Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral.

The series of four battles lasting 24 days was Australia’s bloodiest action in the war, resulting in the deaths of 26 of our soldiers and the wounding of 109 others. Many others had died in the intervening years.

Yesterday’s awards were the result of a campaign by veterans to the Defence Honour and Awards Appeals Tribunal in Canberra for official recognition of the combat.

Mr McKenzie said the appeal had been made on behalf of those no longer here.

“I’m proud to accept [this] on behalf of the memory of our lost comrades,” Mr McKenzie said. “My mind’s back to my friends that were lost during the battle. I think you’ll find that most of us are thinking of the guys that died and ones that have died early,” he said.

Mr McKenzie was a soldier in the gun pits for the battles, when his quick thinking helped to secure victory against the enemy.

“I was on sentry duty when they attacked us at Balmoral on May 28, 1968. I just remember hearing all the explosions and flares going up,” he said.

“I took a compass bearing on where their mortars were being fired from and got on the radio … so they could perform some counter-battery fire … Unfortunately we did lose some people from the mortar.”

This Saturday is Vietnam Veterans Day, with services at the Hobart Cenotaph and around the state. Also awarded citations yesterday were Robert Joel, the late Vernon Cazaly, Kerry Wise, James Austin, Ian Hill, Gregory Webb, the late Peter Fyfe, Anthony Donaghy, Peter Leonard, Anthony McGee, Dave Hogarth, Michael Grey, Norman Cairns, the late Rodney Jordan, Kerry Petrie, Kerry McCormick and Brian Harper.