Tongala Memorial Oct 31 2011

Tongala memorial dedication 31 Oct 2011

Part of the Presidents address - by Dallas Burrage

The full address can be found at http://sitrep1.tripod.com/Distinguished_guests.pdf

Distinguished guests, fellow veterans, families, Tongala school children, people all, today marks the end of a two year journey undertaken by our Association (3rd Cavalry Regiment (Vietnam) Association, Inc), in building this magnificent war memorial. The journey began on this day, in 2009, after the dedication of a commemorative Unit plaque at the Australian War Memorial, where at a meeting, our members voted that we seek a place to establish such a memorial, and then construct the same.
Why here at Tongala? It is so natural when you think of it. Here, in this lovely small rural town, there already exists an Avenue of Honour, dedicated to those in Armour who died during that campaign. Also, as you see behind you, another magnificent local memorial to the Light Horse, and our forebears in the military evolution. Additionally, this town is also so relevant, a small country town, very similar in all respects to all those other small country towns where our members came from across this great Country of ours. Basic, down to earth, ordinary people, called to arms in the name of their Country, a perfect setting in all respects. For the people of our Regiment weren’t special people, they were, and are, as ordinary as any other citizen who is assembled here today.
The memorial has not been built to glorify war, as some may say. That would be the last thing that anyone should do, glorify war, as it is a dirty callous business that in the end, no one effectively wins without some great loss of their own. Officially, our Regiment suffered 20 young men killed on active service, and a further 115 officially wounded. Many more were injured, both physically and mentally, and to date, a further 185 have been taken to early deaths, their deaths being hastened by that service. For the remainder, the living, there are many among us who daily have to fight their own war each day in their head, to maintain some semblance of decency and natural appearance to the others in society. This battle flows through into their families lives, and disrupts their welfare and quality of life as well. Statistics within the Department of Veterans Affairs, already starkly show that of the 50000 sent to Vietnam to serve, 30,000 of them are on benefits from their department. These are the real costs of war, And you think we should build a memorial to that????
It is built for two reasons. Firstly to honour the Service and Sacrifice that these ordinary Australians carried out under difficult and dangerous conditions. For to serve in Vietnam, you served for 6 months in hot, dusty, dirty conditions, and the other 6 in very wet, muddy, dirty conditions. Red dust. Red mud. Skin rashes. The darkness of jungle and rubber plantation. The separation from loved ones for long periods of time. There was no phone home, no TV, no internet, no emails and all the other trappings of modern society. You wrote a letter, it took a week to get home, another week to get back if they wrote back immediately, and that was all the contact you had. There was no daily shower, there was no nightly relaxation after a hard day’s work, there was no good food to be enjoyed as we do today, and there was no time off for weekends, you worked around the clock, through the day and through the night. Gun picquets for at least two hours of a night. Staring into the darkness, looking all the time for the enemy. A light! Could it be them coming!!?? Or is it fireflys? Thank God, its fireflys! Continually dirty, and tired. Tiredness was your constant companion. These are some of the things that should not be forgotten. It was done in the service to your Country.
The second thing to draw from this memorial is directed especially to the children here today, and to all children who may pass this way and see this memorial. On the badge of the 3rd Cavalry regiment we have the word “Resolute”, it’s on the boomerang held in the claws of the Scorpion. Resolute is a noun in the English language, it literally means determination. To be determined. To do things determinedly. To be Resolute. For we were resolute. We were resolute, we were determined to put our daily fears of survival behind us each day as we rose, again and again, every day, the battle to survive, the battle to stick to it, and not let your mates down, ever. We were determined to achieve the objectives set for us each day, we were determined not to stain the great legacy of ANZAC , that had been set before us by all of Australia’s fighting men and women, we were determined to win, we were determined not to give in. We were determined that we would produce the very best that Australian troops are known for across this world. And by being determined, by being resolute in all our daily activities, by applying that Resolution, that determinedness to everything we did, we won. We achieved. We beat the enemy. Everywhere he chose to fight, we beat him. We achieved our objectives, we got what WE wanted. We dominated our province. We were resolute. This memorial bears the names of the battles that we won and we have been given those honours. They are inscribed there for you to see.
But you don’t have to battle like us. There is no war here. But, if you choose to apply this determination to your daily life, if you become determined that you want to achieve things in your lives, to become those things your heart’s desire, to be a doctor, a nurse, a long distance truck driver, a dairy farmer, a postman, then you can do it, no matter what, if you apply that determination to your life, to your study, to your doggedness to win , then you too, can become resolute in your lives as well. And you can achieve it all, as we did.
And so, as you look at this memorial, you should see these two things. Remember Our Service, and Sacrifice, and a Determination to achieve. And we urge you to absorb that into your life as well.
Be Resolute.