Vietnam Veterans’ Day is always a day of reflection for former navy man Neville Steele, who enlisted at just 18 years of age in June, 1965.
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Originally from Spring Ridge, he signed up for the Australian Navy, just days before his birth date was drawn out of a barrel which meant he would have served in the army.
After three months training in Victoria, Neville set sail for Vietnam on HMAS Sydney which was about to do its first trip to Vietnam.
Departing from Garden Island, the ship was carrying 240 sailors and 900 army men, along with trucks, ammunition and supplies.
After six weeks at sea, HMAS Sydney arrived at the port of Vung Tau where it anchored to unload with the assistance of the USA army, navy and air force.
“We were more logistics than anything else,” Mr Steele said.
“We used to do six week round trips from Vietnam to Australia, sometimes we went to Brisbane and Western Australia.”
Conditions on the ship and life at sea were “nothing to write home to your mum about,” according to Mr Steele.
The junior sailors had to sleep in a hammock or on the floor, while the senior navy men were lucky to snag a lounge cushion or a spot on a settee.
“You would clean up, mop, do general maintenance during the day and provide logistical support – shuttling all the gear back and forth from Vietnam,” he recalled.
That included Landrovers, damaged equipment that had been hit by a mine, and even truck loads of beer. Soldiers were also brought home.
“If you had seven hours a day off, you’re doing well,’ Mr Steele said.
There was always a threat near the shore from submarines along the Vietnamese coast, although the sailors were never aware of it.
Mr Steele, who is now 68, was in the navy for 11 years during the war, having spent some time in-between on land at a shore base, including a stint with the 723 helicopter squadron where he was based in Queensland and did jungle survival training.
In total, he did eight trips at sea with the navy during the Vietnam War - sometimes docking for just 36 hours where thousands of tonnes of gear was unloaded.
For Australia, the Vietnam War was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent since the conscription referenda of World War 1.
For a long time after the war, large numbers of Vietnam veterans felt that many in Australia blamed them, rather than politicians, for the war and the way it had been conducted.
Graphic images of the war, many still familiar, had an effect on public opinion and public understanding and soldiers met a hostile reception on their return home.
Mr Steele remembers marching down George Street in Sydney in 1967 alongside other sailors, soldiers and airmen at the request of the government to welcome them home.
“That was the one that hurt the most,” he said.
“The protestors took it out on the servicemen during the march. We had tomatoes and eggs thrown at us and people lying down in front of us while we tried to march.”
It was only about 10 years ago that Australian Vietnam veterans were officially remembered for their role in the war, and were allowed to march in commemoration of their service.
“I was over it,” Mr Steele said.
“I just got on with my life.”
After the war ended, Mr Steele spent some time in Nowra before spending four years on patrol boats with the navy in Western Australia, Cairns and Sydney.
He was then stationed with HMAS Kimbla before retiring from the navy in 1984.
Yesterday was a time for reflection for Mr Steele, who remembered his time in the navy and the significance of Vietnam veterans now being recognised.
“It means a lot because there were a few people in the navy that were killed over there. You remember the people you know that died.
“What I liked most was the mateship and the adrenalin pumping,” he said.
Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the deployment of the first Australian battle group to Vietnam.
