Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, said Vietnam Veterans’ Day on Monday gave Australians an opportunity to remember the service and sacrifice of those who were part of Australia’s longest ever single military involvement.
“Australia’s military involvement in Vietnam continued for 10 years with around 60,000 service personnel deployed, many of them national servicemen,” Mr Griffin said.
“Those who fought in the Vietnam war showed all the qualities that Australian troops first displayed to the world at Gallipoli and during the battles of the Western Front in the First World War – courage, determination and ingenuity.
“On Vietnam Veterans’ Day, I encourage Australians to remember all those who served their country in Vietnam, and their family members, many of whom shared the burden of war,” Mr Griffin said.
In the lead-up to Vietnam Veterans’ Day on 18 August Mr Griffin also urged veterans to strongly support an $11.5 million research project that will help future veterans and their families.
The Vietnam Veterans’ Family Study will help identify the impact a parent’s war service may have on families as well as protective factors and characteristics that help build resilience in the families of veterans.
“The study is inviting randomly selected Vietnam-era Army personnel and their families to participate—not just Vietnam veterans, but their Army mates who weren’t deployed to Vietnam as well,” Mr Griffin said. “For the study to be effective we need those invited, and their families, to participate.
“My message to Vietnam veterans is to talk to their mates. If they know someone who served in the Army during Vietnam, whether they went or not, talk to them about the Family Study and if they have been invited, encourage them to get their family involved.”
Information and registration for the Vietnam Veterans’ Family Study is available online at www.dva.gov.au/vvfs, via e-mail at healthstudy@dva.gov.au or through the health study telephone line, 1800 502 302.
NOTE: The VVCS – Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service - can be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 1800 011 046.