Hostile reception hurt, says Nam VC
VICTORIA Cross recipient Keith Payne knows all too well the lift a soldier gains from being thanked for serving — and the pain they feel when criticised.
When Payne returned to Brisbane from Vietnam in September 1969 he was feted as a hero.
The details of how he single-handedly saved 40 of his men from overwhelming North Vietnamese forces were published in every newspaper in the country.
He was handed the key to the city, sent on a week-long all-expenses paid holiday with his wife Flo and five sons and presented with his medal by the Queen on the royal yacht Britannia. It was when he began work as an instructor at Duntroon in Canberra a month later that he saw the other side of the coin.
“I came home one day to see someone had painted ‘Baby Killer’ on my fence,” he recalled.
“My boys virtually had to fight their way through school because their father had been in Vietnam.
“What went on when we came back was disgraceful. We had nothing to do with the politics. We just did the job the government gave us but we came home to a hostile public and it hurt.
“We were told that if we wanted to walk down the street we had to wear civvies so that we wouldn’t get attacked. When you can’t wear your country’s uniform on the streets of Australia things are in a pretty bad way.
“It wasn’t until the Welcome Home Parade in Sydney in 1987 that things turned around. For the first time people started coming up and saying they were sorry for what had gone on and thanked us for what we had done. It makes you feel real good, I can tell you.”
Payne, 85, was speaking about the importance of the #ThanksForServing movement, a campaign backed by News Corp Australia, the RSL and Legacy and supported by the Department of Veteran Affairs, that encourages members of the public to acknowledge the contribution of our servicemen and women.
The movement is not aimed at changing legislation or putting pressure on any department or organisation.
Rather, as we approach the end of the World War I centenary and the Invictus Games, it will focus attention on the importance of letting our service men and women know that they are appreciated.
For Keith Payne, who joined the Australian Army aged 18 in 1951 and saw action in Korea the next year before serving in Malaya, PNG and Vietnam, the importance of the words “thank you” cannot be overestimated.
“It is just important. So many soldiers come back from serving overseas suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I did myself when I came back from Vietnam, so I know what they’re going through.
“For me the best thing is to see how many people come along to the Anzac Day marches. Every year it’s getting bigger and it’s the young people who are driving it. That’s just bloody fantastic. It makes me feel so proud to be an Australian.” ment portrait in April. That same month she wore a Camilla and Marc blazer with an Oroton handbag — which sold out online within hours — to a Commonwealth Youth Forum event in London.
Her choice of clothes has already set tongues wagging at Princess Eugenie’s wedding, with many speculating about whether she might be pregnant when she wore an elegant navy Givenchy coat dress, leaving it unbuttoned over her belly.
Royal watchers here will be keen to see for themselves if there is any sign of a baby bump just five months after their glorious wedding in Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel in May.
The pair are likely to be visible throughout the Invictus event, the initiative established by former British Army Captain Harry to celebrate the spirit of ill and injured servicemen and women. Eighteen nations and 500 competitors will take part.
But before the games officially open on Saturday, they have a jam-packed schedule which will focus mainly on Sydney, with trips to Dubbo, Melbourne, Fraser Island, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand.