Vietnam Veteran speaks of ‘haunting’ memories

Vietnam Veteran Bob Tyler celebrated his 21st birthday in Saigonm. At 78, he is still haunted by memories of the friends he lost.

Vietnam Veteran Major Bob Tyler and Clive Badelow ahead of the Torquay's Vietnam Veterans' Commemoration Service which will be held this Sunday at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Plaque. Picture: Brad Fleet

Every year on Vietnam Veterans Day, Major Bob Tyler takes time to remember what on other days, he wishes he could forget.

Major Tyler signed up at 16 years old in 1964, just before conscription was introduced.

The Torquay man celebrated his 21st birthday in Saigon, Vietnam.

“I came home and served another 20 years in the army, then 13 in the army reserves,” he said.

War, he said, was difficult to explain to those who hadn’t been there.

“In some ways, (in Saigon) people lived their normal lives,” he said.

“It was a strange place.”

He lost friends to bullets in combat, and many others since — some who died of cancer after exposure to agent orange.

Major Tyler said many veterans who did any patrolling left with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

His own most haunting memory, Major Tyler said, happened during the Tet Offensive in 1968, one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War and a major escalation.

“There was village, or a suburb, in Saigon called Cholon,” he said.

“There were about 10,000 people living in that little area.”

He said he had visited the area and seen busy Vietnamese hustle and bustle, but then heard there had been a “skirmish”.

“I went back a week later and there was nothing there,” he said.

“No houses, nothing.

“Where did the people go? I don’t know.”

“That’s a haunting thing that lives in your head.

Vietnam Veteran Bob Tyler and Torquay RSL Co-ordinator, Colonel Clive Badelow. Brad Fleet

He doesn’t like thinking about it, Major Tyler said, for fear of flashbacks of the flattened suburb.

But on August 18, Major Tyler remembers the war, alongside those who understand.

This Sunday he will meet with other servicemen for the Torquay’s Vietnam Veterans’ Commemoration Service.

“It’s a day to get together, talk about the funny things that happened while you were there, and take a quiet time to remember mates you’ve lost,” he said.

Torquay RSL co-ordinator, Colonel Clive Badelow, said while it had been more than 50 years since Vietnam War, it was important to acknowledge the sacrifice of the generations who had gone before, including the more than 60,000 Australian men and women served in the Vietnam War, and the 523 who died.

“And the hundreds more who have passed on since our men and women returned home physically broken and mentally scarred as a result of their involvement,” he said.

The service will be held at the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Plaque at the rear of the Surf Coast Shire offices at 11am on Sunday.

Originally published as Vietnam Veteran speaks of ‘haunting’ memories