LEST WE FORGET
This year marks the 52nd Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan (occurred on 18 August 1966 where 18 Australian soldiers were killed and 25 wounded). On this Vietnam Veterans’ Day today, we’d like to pay tribute to the Australian soldiers and Army personnel who had protected the freedom of South Vietnam.
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My father along with thousands of army officers from the South were naively believed the communist when they called in for a meeting instead they were taken to concentration camp to do hard labor and were brainwashed day and night with little foods, many died in concentration camp, many tried to escape and were killed. What happened to us should have never been happened again , millions were forced to escape the regime, never in the history of Vietnam, even during the great famine and during the French and Japan occupied, no one had escaped the country and yet when the communist invaded the South in 1975, millions of Vietnamese refugees made a dangerous journey to the sea and by walking to the nearest border to escape the brutal regime. They did not have a choice, to stay and be oppressed or persecuted by the regime.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Tet offensive in 1968, where thousands of civilians were killed or buried alive by the Viet Cong during the agreed cease fire period.
Fourty three years on since 1975, Vietnam today is still very much governed by a dictatorial and oppressive regime. Freedom and Democracy are non-existent. Over the past few months, Vietnam has intensified its crackdown with the arrest of several dissidents accused of trying to overthrow the regime. Vietnam cyber security law recently passed through its Parliament allowing the Communist regime of tightens control of the internet use and will not allow anyone to “distort history” or “negate the nation's revolutionary achievements”.
All of this justifies that the Australian Defence Force presence in Vietnam during the Vietnam War was just and right. For as long as we live and regardless whether the Australian Army and personnel were conscripted or enlisted to go to VN on their free will, we have a responsibility and duty to remember their sacrifices along with the soldiers and personnel from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who served and died in defending our sovereignty, freedom and democracy, they are forever our heroes and with gratitude, we will always remember them for many generations to come. Their sacrifice will forever be in our hearts.
Lest we forget.
Mrs. Teresa Thuy Tran, President-Vietnamese Community in Wollongong
A NOVEL IDEA
I was heartened to hear that the Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery utilise a Lord Mayoral minute at the council meeting to discuss how much money has been spent flood proofing the Illawarra, after the horrific floods of 1998.
This is in the same week that I am attending a meeting to oppose a 30 unit development in Angel St Corrimal to be built in a flood zone that was involved in the 1998 floods and that Wollongong City Council has given conditional approval. Here's a novel idea Lord Mayor, save the ratepayers some money and don't approve building in flood zones.
Michelle Morton, Tarrawanna