WE DID NOT LOSE THE VIETNAM WAR

An address by Dave Sabben in Frankston Victoria August 2005 commemorating the Battle of Long Tan 18 August 1966

On the weekend Saturday 30 April and Sunday 1 May 2005, newspaper, radio and television media around Australia perpetuated a lie to the Australian public. They did this by linking the end of the so-called American War, better known in Australia and the USA as the Vietnam War, with the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to an invading North Vietnamese Army (NVA).
In doing so, journalists, newsreaders, editors and producers failed their duty of responsible reporting. The public was given a pair of disconnected facts and from the implied connection Australian, American, Vietnamese and Allied Vets were once again told they failed to win the Vietnam War.
Let us review the relevant dates:
Midnight 27 January 1973 - the Paris Peace Accords went into effect. They required:
(1) a halt to all hostilities, if not a victory, then at least a truce that was politically imposed;
(2) the return of all POWs;
(3) the withdrawal of American military forces;
(4) Hanoi to honour the border between North Viet Nam (NVN) and South Viet Nam (SVN).
The so-called American War was over. NVN was flat on its back, its infrastructure bombed to a standstill. Its forces were decimated, ineffective and virtually all outside of SVN. Complying with the Accord, the last 2500 US military forces left SVN on 29 March 1973. The last Australian troops, the Embassy Guard, left on 1 July 1973.
1 March 1975 (25 months later) NVN breached the Accord, invaded SVN and thereby started the Third Indo-China War - a new war.
29 April 1975 US Marines were choppered in from ships offshore to secure a landing area for evacuation. Nearly 7000 US embassy staff and senior SVN figures were taken from under the noses of the advancing NVA.
30 April 1975 a soviet tank in a staged photo event smashed through the SVN Presidential Palace gates and the yellow star flew over Saigon.
Analysis:
It had taken two years of massive military assistance from USSR and China to rebuild the NVN Army. During this time the SVN military downsized in accordance to the Peace Accord. The North Vietnamese Army in March 1975 invaded the south in a new and separate war. It was this invasion that crushed the ARVN and there was no intervention by American. Sadly the People of South Vietnam were betrayed by the North with the UN and world doing nothing, that is the greatest crime against humanity not the war.
These are the facts so where has the radical notion that America and The Free World Forces, their allies, lost the war come from?
What does the Australian Government say?
Website: http://www.defence.gov.au/army/ahu/HISTORY/vietnam_war.htm
the Governor-General the Right Honourable Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck, KG, GCMG, GCVO proclaimed the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam by Australian Forces on 11 January 1973. However, the last troops (the Australian Embassy Guard Platoon drawn from the Australian Army Assistance Group Vietnam) were not withdrawn until 1 July 1973.
So the Australian government says our war ended in 1973.
What of Australia's diplomatic relations with NVN?
In February 1973, ONE MONTH after the Paris Peace Accord coming into effect, Australia established diplomatic relations with North Viet Nam. We opened an embassy in Hanoi within months - TWO YEARS before the fall of Saigon. When the NVA invaded SVN, Australia was at peace with North Viet Nam and had an operating embassy in Hanoi. WE WERE NOT AT WAR!
What does the Australian War Memorial (AWM) say?
Website: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/vietnam.htm
the last battalion left Nui Dat on 7 November (1971), while a handful of advisers belonging to the Team remained in Vietnam for the following year (1972). In December 1972 they became the last Australian troops to come home, Australia's participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973. The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam was a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon. This was withdrawn in June 1973.
So the AWM says our war ended in 1973.
What do our medals say?
Website: http://www.aattv.iinet.net.au/vietmedals.htm
Australian Active Service Medal 1945-1975 (Vietnam clasp) Service dates 24 December 1962 to 27 January 1973.
Vietnam Medal Service in Vietnam from 29 May 1964 to 27 January 1973:
Vietnamese Campaign Medal Service 181 days or KIA/WIA between 31 July 1962 and 27 January 1973
What about service after 27 January 1973?
Website: http://www.vvaa.org.au/service.htm
Heading: Australian Active Service Medal (AASM) 1975 - (Vietnam clasp)
VIETNAM 1975 Seven days service by members of the Royal Australian Air Force with the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in Vietnam between 29 March 1975 and 28 April 1975. This award replaces the Australian Service Medal with clasp Vietnam 1975 which has been revoked Commonwealth of Australia Gazette S408 dated 18 August 1998.
So only RAAF crew on UNICEF flights qualify for the Vietnam clasp on the AASM 1975 - medal.
But it was still the same war, wasn't it?
Well, let's review: - the cessation of hostilities was Jan 1973; NVN invaded SVN March 1975; Saigon fell April 1975. That's 27 months. Not a long time, you think? Do you remember the space shuttle Columbia breaking up on re-entry over Texas and killing 7 astronauts? That was in February 2003 - 27 months ago from when this was written (May 2005). Does that event seem 'recent' to you? If not, then can the 27 month gap between the Paris Peace Accords and the fall of Saigon STILL be considered just a continuation of the same war?
Further, we will ask that:
1) The AWM should NOT support journalist enquiries which seek to connect the end of the Vietnam War in 1973 with the fall of Saigon in 1975.
2) The government, AWM and media should NOT support the celebration of anniversaries of the 1975 fall of Saigon but should rather support the celebration of the Paris Peace Accords of 27 January 1973 as the date our Vietnam War ended.
3) We should use our influence with government, RSL, VVAA and similar organisations in validating the span of the Vietnam War as 1962-1973 rather than 1962-1975.
4) Ex-Service Organisations, War memorial committees, Shrines of Remembrance and similar should ensure that plaques and signs reflect the dates 1962-1973 rather than 1962-1975.
5) Commencing 27 January 2006, Australia should celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and ignore Vietnamese-inspired propaganda attempting to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
6) If and when the clasp to the Vietnamese Campaign Medal, now reads 1960- is changed to reflect the duration of the war or campaign, pressure should be applied where needed to ensure it reads 1960-1973 and not 1960-1975.
7) Make any further suggestions in the COMMENTS area of your email.
We think it is time that we Viet Vets and our supporters made plain to the media and public our pride in our conduct and achievements in the Vietnam War.
Thank you for your interest and support.

PLEASE REMEMBER US WITH TRUTH, HONESTY, ACCURACY
Please don’t believe the lies, the half-truths, the deliberate slurs or the ignorant
accusations. We weren’t superheroes. But nor were we scoundrels. (Well, most of us
weren’t, anyway!) We were just men who did our job.
And please don’t believe that we didn’t do our job!
We did not go to Viet Nam to invade the North. We didn’t go to topple their
government.
We didn’t go to remove Ho Chi Minh from power. We went to stop the fighting in the
South.
We achieved this in January 1973. The Allies forced the North to sign the Paris Peace
Accord.
The Accord agreed to a halt to all hostilities, the withdrawal of all non-Vietnamese
forces, the exchange of POWs and, importantly, that the North would honour their
border with the South.