August 18

There are some days more than others
Where many great memories occur
And this day for our veteran brothers
Is a day of such memories for sure
On this day was the battle of Long Tan
Where many were wounded and lost
We recall too our troops leaving Vietnam
And decades they’ve counted the cost

523 you men

Were lost through this terrible time
And the way that their mates were maltreated
On return was a terrible crime
And many a trouble young fellow
Took his life in the depths of despair
The horror of war reinforced
By Australians who just didn’t care

These days many wrongs have been righted
Vietnam veterans can hold their heads high
And old soldiers take shots at each other
Over the football and cricket divide
Yet amid all this good humoured banter
Let us never forget the great cost
Of the theatres of war of our history
And those young vital lives that were lost

Padre Jim Cosgrove