On Vietnam Veterans' Day we pay tribute to the Australian soldiers and Army personnel who had protected South Vietnam's freedom.

My father along with thousands of army officers from the South naively believed the communists when they called them in for a meeting. Instead, they were taken to concentration camps for several years to do hard labour and were brainwashed day and night with little food. Many died in these camps, many tried to escape and were killed.

What happened to us should never happen 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 occupations, did anyone need to escape the country.

Yet when the communists 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, either that or stay and be oppressed or persecuted by the regime.

Fourty-seven years on since 1975, Vietnam today is still very much governed by a dictatorial and oppressive regime. Freedom and democracy are non-existent. Several dissidents were accused of trying to overthrow the regime and were imprisoned without proper trials. Vietnam's cyber security law passed through its parliament allowing the communist regime to tighten control of the internet 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 Vietnam of 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.

Teresa Thuy Tran, President, Vietnamese Community in Wollongong