Kelvin Vietnam War veteran's medals donated to Gunnedah and District Historical Society

It has been a two-year process to ensure the medals for National Service, Australian Defence Force and Australian Active Service were restored to the Kelvin man who died of his wounds on November 4, 1988.

Related stories:

The three medals, and two others - a Vietnam campaign medal and a Vietnam medal - are now housed in the Gunnedah Water Tower Museum following a presentation at the Vietnam veterans' murals launch on Anzac Day.

Phil's nephew Andrew said it was a "great honour and privilege" to pass on his late uncle's medals to the Gunnedah and District Historical Society in memory of "this beautiful man and what he did in Vietnam and afterwards".

The son of Harry and Ruby Barwick, of Carellan, Kelvin, Phil was called up for national service in 1969 and was sent to Vietnam on the last day of September 1970.

He was medically discharged on July 12, 1971 and returned to Australia with shocking injuries, including the loss of both eyes, from a rocket-propelled grenade impacting the crew commander's .30 machine gun on the army tank.

It was the commitment of fellow veteran Bill Burton, which saw the medals restored after he read an article about Phil's inclusion in the museum's new Vietnam War display in early 2017.

Bill said he was reading the article written by retired NVI journalist Marie Hobson when he noticed there were just two medals in a photo of Phil's display.

"I thought, 'He's only got two medals. That's a travesty. We'll have to do something about it'," Bill said.

He phoned up their former troop leader, Bruce Cameron, and shared what he had discovered. From there, Bill went on to contact the Australian Army's Defence Honours and Awards Directorate and found he did not have the authority to acquire the awards.

Bill contacted the Barwick family about his mission and Warren, one of Phil's brothers, signed over authority so he could see the medals were bestowed on his late friend.

Phil and Bill first met at the cricket practise nets at Puckapunyal in Victoria, and they later served together in different tank troops in the same squadron in 1970-1971.

Bill said he was captain of his unit cricket team at the time and tried to persuade Phil to join the team but Phillip refused, saying he had enough people telling him what to do during the week and didn't want to be under orders on a Saturday.

"He wanted to be a free spirit in as far as you could be a free spirit in Seymour," Bill said.

Much to Bill's disappointment, Phil joined the local Seymour team instead and went on to defeat the army Puckapunyal team in the grand final.

Phil later became a student of Bill's in a tank gunnery course and performed to a very high standard. He also received the Outstanding Soldier Award out of 1900 trainees at the end of his recruit training course.

"He did that with a glint in his eye and a rod up his back," Bill said.

"That was the thought in his mind - if a job's got to be done, it should be done well.

"He was very good at everything he did."

Bill said these qualities "endeared" Phil to those around him and he was "held in great esteem" on and off the sports field. Bill counted him as a "personal friend".

On Anzac Day, Bill pinned Phil's now completed ribbon bar on his uniform, which is on display at the museum.

Despite his success in acquiring the rest of Phil's medals, Bill says more still needs to be done.

Due to the long period between when Phil was wounded and when he died, his name was not included on the Australian National Roll of Honour.

"As it stands, the Australian government declared the Vietnam War as having ended on April 25, 1975, so that those who died of their wounds after that date, are thought of as never having served their country and paid the supreme sacrifice," Bill said.

"We'll be looking on their behalf to have them reinstated."

The late Phillip Gregory Barwick was a conscript who became one of the many long-term casualties of the Vietnam War.

Phil was allocated to the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, and was eventually posted to the First Armoured Regiment, the senior fighting regiment in the Army. He often jokingly remarked that he'd 'rather ride than walk'.

Phil was sent to Vietnam on the last day of September 1970. On June 25, 1971, Phil's tank troop was called on to help the infantry attack a heavily defended Viet Cong bunker system in the north west of Phouc Tuy Province. Knowing that the enemy had already been alerted, the tanks advanced in a line, breaking down the jungle, with Phil's tank on the left flank. Slowed by a huge clump of bamboo, his tank commander, Corporal Anderson, took the initiative to break it down forcing the enemy to reveal their position.

At 4.15pm on that fateful day, two rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) were fired at the leading tanks by the enemy - one flew high but the other hit the commander's machine gun, causing deadly shrapnel to inflict massive wounds to the upper bodies of the two men, who were in the turret.

As the other tanks rushed past to engage the enemy, one tank came beside to protect the wounded men and three New Zealand soldiers braved enemy fire to rescue them from the turret. Both men were taken to the rear by armoured personnel carrier, to a landing zone, where a waiting helicopter medevacuated them to life-saving medical care at the 24th US Field Hospital, at Long Binh, in Bien Hoa province.

Phil was transferred back to Australia with shocking injuries, including the loss of both eyes. His devastated parents saw him through 18 months of pain and rehabilitation at Concord Hospital before he recovered enough to be trained in the use of a switchboard.

Once a talented sportsman, he returned to his former place of employment, at Peel Valley County Council, Tamworth, with his guide dog Donna. He also learned Braille and was soon in demand as a speaker for the Guide Dogs Association.

In 1983, Phil received a life-saving kidney transplant from his sister Helen, but the long-term effects of his war injuries took a toll on his body and he died from kidney failure on November 4, 1988, leaving a wife Kath and a son Rohan.

The Barwick family erected a memorial on the hill above their home at "Carellan" where the once carefree child roamed as a boy.

When the new Kelvin community hall opened in May 2005, third-generation Kelvin resident and eldest brother, John Barwick, presented a plaque on behalf of the Barwick family in memory of Private Phillip Gregory Barwick, a casualty of the "not-talked-about war".

Keep up-to-date with all your local news by subscribing here.