Excuse the novel, but I take the opportunity to tell a few hard facts.....
.
A sapper, (tunnel rat) we will call Warren, was assigned with the yanks in Vietnam, being sent in the tunnels with a dagger and a handgun to clear the areas. Warren got a second dose of agent orange, and was hospitalised and told he would be going home.... Warren and another 10 soldiers were flown to Darwin first, then were heading for Sydney. The RAAF plane landed at Edinburgh in SA, and left there without any explanation, and after an hour or so, a couple of blokes went with Warren to the office block asking why they were left there and not going to Sydney on their way eventually to Perth. They were each given $20 and transported to Adelaide railway station where they were allocated the rear carriage on a train.... on going to the carriage, they found it to be a cattle car, full of cattle shit and pigeon shit.... They scraped the floor and settled in for the trip to Kalgoorlie. Being from Esperance, Warren and two others left the train and started hitch hiking to Esperance, getting a ride to Widgemooltha firstly, and went to the pub.... the publican told them they could have one beer and then piss off, as he didn't want their kind in his pub. Warren and his mates phoned relatives in Esperance, who drove up to pick them up.
Warren and his mates got out of uniform as quick as possible, owing to the sniggers and rubbish afforded to them in the 5000 population of Esperance, and even in civvies, couldn't escape scrutiny.
Warren and his mates were on a 14 day leave pass and were to report to Perth, which they did after another 10 days, only to be told that no decision had been forwarded as to their dismissal from service.... they were sent to the gardens to weed the plots and cut the grass for three days until being told the paperwork was there.... "here is your discharge papers, now piss off"
Warren was diagnosed with PTSD and contracted cancer from Agent Orange and now has areas of chest, back and arms removed.
.
Warren is still awaiting recognition
.
This is just one of the thousands of stories the Australian Government needs to address.
Expand
