 Book Reviews
with Robin Osborne
Well Done, Those Men
By Barry Heard
Scribe $29.95
 Thirty years ago this Sunday, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) fell to the North Vietnamese forces that had gnawed away at the divided country for years. Like Heard, I was a candidate for the National Service lottery that could take you into the Army and soon to the Vietnam frontlines.
Unlike him, my birthdate was not drawn from the barrel and although I later had some harrowing times in Vietnam as a freelance reporter, my experiences were nothing compared to those of the conscripts. Heard's account will be deeply disturbing for all who missed out on the ballot and perhaps more so for those chosen to serve.
'There were many things that jolted a young soldier and added years to his age while being in Vietnam. The killing was never clinical, planned or covered by the training that we had received in Australia.
'Nothing but war can prepare one for war... what training covers searching a bullet-ridden body, with its intestines exposed or its head blasted off? Somehow it had to be done. Over time, it got easier.'
Of the elusive enemy, he writes: 'If I had to give an analogy as to how I saw the VC in our province, I would say they seemed like rabbits at home on the farm. No amount of bombing, jets, artillery, or harassment from us appeared to deter them. They simply reappeared.'
Although civilians were caught in the conflict, 'I didn't question why we should be wrecking the homes of people we were trying to support. It appeared that one small find or indication of enemy sympathy led to the village being destroyed.'
Back in Australia, the Vietnam vets found themselves ignored by government and pilloried by critics of the war: 'Few of us would have imagined that an Australian public could be so scathing. Most seemed oblivious to the terrible conflict we had faced in Vietnam or to the fact that we had been sent there with little or no choice.'
Many fell into alcohol, drugs or ill health. In Heard's case, the nightmares closed in, along with physical ailments resulting from the post-traumatic stress that for years he'd sought to suppress with a heavy load of work and study.
When psychiatric problems stopped him functioning socially, he sought professional help, ably supported by his wife Lyn, a nurse from WA, and managed to get his life back on track, penning this worthwhile book.
- Books reviewed are available at Book Warehouse, Keen Street, Lismore.
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