Vietnam War 50th anniversary: RSL NSW to apologise for veteran treatment

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the RSL is seizing the moment to reflect on the way Australian troops were treated when they came home.

Andrew Forsdike - A veteran of the Vietnam War who will be taking part in the 50th anniversary commemorations on Friday 18th August 2023.

As Vietnam veterans mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, the RSL is seizing the moment to reflect on the way troops were treated when they came home.

Andrew Forsdike, who achieved the rank of bombardier during his time in Vietnam, is vice-president of the NSW branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia. “I was no good at school, so the day I turned 17 ... I enlisted,” he said.

As a 19-year-old, he left Australia on May 6, 1968, travelling to Vietnam with another young recruit, Chris Sawtell. “Four days later he was killed,” Mr Forsdike said.

“I was on the machine gun, the heavy M60, and they sent us out on the Ho Chi Minh Trail; we got overrun three times. My No. 2 on the M60, Mel Hundt, was shot six times but he survived.”

Mr Forsdike returned from service in 1972 and began a 15-year career with NSW police.

“I suffered pretty bad PTSD and I had a couple of shrapnel wounds,” he said.

He recalled being accused of fabricating evidence for the award tribunal and was suffering chronic pain at the time. “I couldn’t go through the whole thing,” he said. “I’ve been trying for the last two years to finish the tribunal hearing.”

On Friday, his image will be hanging in the Hyde Park War Memorial’s Vietnam War exhibition.