Barry Martin and Grace Poole to walk in Thuringowa Anzac Day parade together
Grace Poole has marched with her grandfather Barry Martin every year since she was two years old – and this year is no different. Here’s what Anzac Day means to them.
Townsville
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The trauma Vietnam Veteran Barry Smith carries of how he and his comrades were treated on their return home runs deep.
But it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the pride and love his granddaughter Grace has felt marching alongside him in the Thuringowa Anzac Day parade for the past 19 years.
He served with 9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (9 RAR) in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968 where is battalion suffered the highest casualty rate of any Australian battalion with 35 killed.
Where now he is proud to march, when he first marched in Adelaide with his unit after returning home from Vietnam they were met with a hostile reception.
“The Australian people treated us terrible, really, when we come back. Called us baby killers, and Christ knows what, and it’s all false, mate,” Mr Martin said.
“Why’d they take it out on the soldiers, rather than the government who sent us there? We made bloody sure, the Vietnam veterans, to not let it happen again, because soldiers go away, because the government sends them away, and they come back, broken men, a lot of them.
“I was in a bad way when I first come back. I couldn’t sleep in the bed. I just I’d get out and lay beside the bed as if I was in a firing position.
“I went out in the bush. I worked with Telstra. We’re building all those big masts all over the country, and that’s what got me away from all the conflicts in town here. I couldn’t go into a shop. I couldn’t do any of that,” he said.
Apart from marching once in Weipa on Anzac Day, it wasn’t until 25 years ago that Mr Martin would march again regularly on the national day of remembrance – thanks to his grandchildren.
“When I had grandchildren, I started up with Gracie’s brother Jack, I started up with Sam, the other nephew, who all grown men now themselves, and Grace. She’s been marching with me now since she was two year old.
“I enjoy going there and having my grandkids beside me, and they’ve all marched, and there’d be probably another little girl (grandchild) on my lap tomorrow,” Mr Martin said.
He is proud to march every year and the day has special meaning for him.
“I am very proud of my service in Vietnam and the (Anzac Day) tradition has grown stronger. It really, really has. You go to The Dawn Service and see how many people are up there and how many people are at the marches. It’s incredible.”
During the minute of silence he will be thinking of his mates killed in Vietnam.
For his granddaughter Grace, marching with her granddad has become a family tradition.
“It’s just a tradition that we’ve always done. It’s just never been different,” she said
On the day she will be reflecting on what her granddad went through in Vietnam and afterwards.
“I will be thinking about him (her grandfather Barry Martin), to be honest, about what he went through, and how we can just be there for him and other veterans like him and support them later in life.”
“Just having someone that’s been there and knows what it means to fight for your country and for your family, and coming back, he didn’t have that support, and now I think it’s really important that he does, especially for marches,” she said.
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Originally published as Barry Martin and Grace Poole to walk in Thuringowa Anzac Day parade together
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