Barry Earle – Vietnam Veteran
3 August 2016:
This year we remember the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan and Vietnam Veterans Day on 18 August. Some of the veterans of Vietnam live in our Independent Living Villages and we were privileged to hear about their experiences and the effects the war had on their lives.
In the article below, Barry relates his story to Bob Evans.
Barry Earle was a
national serviceman, conscripted in the call up of 1967. He was sent to Vietnam in December 1968 as a cook with Australian Army Catering Corps’s 3rd Cavalry Regiment.
Barry had applied to be a driver, thinking that would be better and safer than being an infantry “grunt”, but he found himself serving as a baker.
Barry served 273 days in Vietnam stationed at Nui Dat, near the ‘dust off’ pad, where the helicopters landed with the wounded and the dead.
During his tour, he visited all the fire support bases. “I haven’t forgotten a thing. I lost a lot of mates. It’s all in here,” Barry says, tapping the side of his head.
Barry hasn’t been back to Vietnam since his tour of duty ended in September 1969. “I was desperate to get out,” he says. “Everyone was leaving and the army was just as desperate for replacements. They promised me a promotion to Warrant Officer from Lance Corporal in six months if I signed on with the regulars. But it was when we got out that we hit the wall.”
Only now, after bouncing off the wall many years later, is he thinking about a return visit to Vietnam “to go over old ground”. For Barry it is a familiar story: rebuffed by the RSL, ignored by civilians and demonised by the mounting opposition to conscription and the war, Barry says he lost mates to suicide and needed counselling for ‘untoward behaviour’.
Barry baking bread for the troops in Vietnam. Supplies were bought from the US army.
“I’ve had four marriages, that’s got to tell you something,” he says, adding that he is now on good terms with his former wives and his five children.
The one place Barry does visit in South East Asia is the Philippines. He volunteers to go there every year with other ex-servicemen to provide support and medical treatment for children in need, living in and around Angeles City, an hour northwest of Manila and minutes away from America’s former Clark Air Base, now redeveloped as Clark Freeport.
When he visits the Philippines, he always goes with a couple of cartons packed full of clothes and shoes, toys and useful items for the children and their families. The voluntary service, which also involves Australian doctors and nurses, is coordinated by an off-shore Sub-Branch of the RSL. Barry compares the medical treatments they provide to the work done by the Fred Hollows Foundation. He recites the dialogue from the TV ad for the Hollow’s Foundation and describes Hollows as “real legend”.
A young Barry, not long before he was called up.
Barry is getting ready for another visit to Angeles City. In his tidy studio unit at Vasey RSL Care’s South Frankston Independent Living Units at RSL Park, he pulls out an empty carton to show the sort of packing he’ll do for the disadvantaged children of the Philippines. He already has one carton packed.
“I’ve learned a lot from my visits to the Philippines,” Barry says, “patience, respect and understanding. They’re the qualities that’ll see you through. And I’m sorry to say that some Australians over there show the people no respect.”
Our conversation switches back to the aftermath of Vietnam. In his opinion anger management is the biggest issue faced by the veterans. At the age of 69, he says, you’ve got to mellow out sooner or later.
“I never hit rock bottom but I had some mongrel jobs,” says Barry. “I’ve been a contract cleaner, a lawn mower, I worked for Carlton United, and I had a BP service station, but then company wanted to take it over and paid out the lease. I retired too young. I had nothing coming in and nothing going on. And I had problems with PTSD.”
Barry is one of the many to have received help through Ward 17 at Heidelberg Repat. “I consider myself lucky and I still catch up with my psych once a month. I’m so grateful to be living here. It has turned my life around. Before I moved in to RSL Park, I was living on a reverse mortgage in a house in Langwarren. I’m much better off here. And you know one of the best things about it, I can stand under the shower for as long as I like and not have to worry about the water bill. I’ve got a few friends among the neighbours and we share a sense of camaraderie. We all know we are rowing in the same boat.”
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With our grateful thanks to Barry Earle for sharing his wartime experiences.
Vietnam War Commemoration
Around 60,000 Australians served in the Vietnam War between 1962 and 1972. There were 3,000 casualties and over 500 died. A ceremony is held at the Shrine each year on Vietnam Veterans’ Day on 18 August to remember those who served and those who lost their lives.
This year it is the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan which will be commemorated with a service at 10.45am on 18 August at the Shrine. Service details