Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan and thousands of Australians will gather around memorials and shed a tear to honour those who served and died in the Vietnam War.
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The memory of war and the recognition of sacrifice and loss are among our most emotionally ambivalent experiences.
Who cannot feel pride in the valour of our young heroes?
Who cannot lament the horror of war and its devastating consequences?
And nowhere are those ambiguous and contradictory responses more at play than in our feelings towards the Battle of Long Tan.
No one should romanticise war, but what justice do we do to those 100 or so Australian troops who held their ground against some 2000 Viet Cong soldiers if we do not recognise their bravery and character.
Whatever your position on whether Australia should or should not have been involved in Vietnam, we must seek to address the inglorious and demeaning manner in which our troops were often received upon their homecoming.
Many gave their best and were rewarded with our worst.
The Vietnam War coincided with an era of great social and cultural change in Australia, and military involvement to support US foreign policy brought a huge amount of protest and division.
A young generation sought change, and the war became a focal point for that struggle.
Those who went to Vietnam for the best of reasons, because they were called upon by their country to defend its values against a perceived threat, were often forced to confront a hostile and unappreciative Australia upon their return.
They were not offered the welcome and repose they were entitled to.
Their trauma was exacerbated, and the legacy of that experience is well documented.
There is still time to right the balance of that great injustice, to let those who remain and the families of those we have lost know that we see them as among our finest and bravest and that we are forever grateful for their sacrifice.
The health and wellbeing of veterans is the responsibility of all Australians.
Anyone who has a young man or woman in their family who has not known war must know that it is only by the grace of God that they have escaped.