The end of an ANZAC tradition but not the deception (196)
After the Vietnam war, many veterans including conscripts, claimed that they had volunteered to serve in that theatre of war. The truth and reality of these veterans requires the historian to journey from listening to the individual’s chronicle and expanding their research into the deep past of the Australian Defence Force. The narratives of individuals were influenced by the actions of our founding fathers, the government, military elites and the intersection of Imperial military culture and the Defence Act 1903 which affected the service of military men in the 1960s.
This research commenced with individual soldiers telling their narrative of Army life and resulted in examining Australian military practice and the culture new recruits were taught on enlistment. It explored how the Defence Act had direct effects on the individual soldier. It also highlighted the views of the elites and how they influenced the historical record.
This research moved from the narrators’ oral histories to examining how the elites viewed volunteerism and their weaving myth into soldiers’ memory. These memories had observations about volunteer service which became part of the Vietnam military legend. It raises questions how our military history is written.
