TEL: 4. Jun. 93 9: 02 No. 002 P. 02
PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING, 1NP
AUSTRALIAN VIETNAM FORCES NATIONAL MEMORIAL DEDICATION
CEREMONY I welcome you all to Canberra. I know that many of you
have come hundreds of miles. And many years. Too many
years. Today is a great day in the life of our country.
This memorial will forever honour the Australians who
fought and died in Vietnam. It honours all those who
served.
We honour them for the same reason we honour those
previous generations of Australians who served in wars on
foreign soil.
For their sacrifice. For their faith.
These Australians believed in their country as those
earlier generations did. They believed in democracy and
freedom, and by defending it in Vietnam they believed
they were defending it everywhere.
They believed in duty.
They were brave.
Those whose names are entombed in this memorial paid the
ultimate price for their belief in Australia.
It is true that no war divided Australia like the Vietnam
War. It is true that often we remember those years more
for the protests at home than for the fighting abroad.
The years of Vietnam corresponded with a great social and
political upheaval in Australia. The war was itself one
of the catalysts of change.
There is no doubt that in all the turmoil we lost sight
of the reality of Vietnam. We lost sight of those who
did the fighting, and the waiting. And by doing that we
made their reality worse.
TEL: 4. Jun. 93 9: 02 No. 002 P. 03
2
For all the drama in the streets, and parliaments and
public halls, the real war was, as always, on the
battlefields where young men and women died.
The real tragedy was in their suffering and death and, as
ever, in the loss which lives on in the hearts and minds
of those who loved them.
We cannot make good this hurt any more than we can undo
the war itself.
But, by this memorial, we can make good the memory.
It is the symbolic resting place of the 504 who died. It
means that at last they will join the exalted ranks of
Australians who died in other wars.
It is a memorial to all the men and women who served in
Vietnam. it is a memorial for all those for whom the war has meant
suffering and lose. All those whose experience of
Vietnam still haunts them. All those here today.
We should recognise, therefore, that it is a memorial for
all Australians; because, as a nation, we should all bear
the burden.
It is a great memorial.
I hope it will be taken as a symbol of the,-nation's
gratitude. I hope that it will remind us of our own duty, and that
this and future generations will find in themselves the
Same love of Australia, and the same faith in our future.
And I hope it will remind us always that we live in a
great country dedicated to freedom and peace.
Thank you.
CANBERRA 3 October 1992