Poem -

The Nomad.

Some medal ribbons from Vietnam,
A four-wheel drive and a caravan.
His roaming travels never cease,
For all he seeks is quiet and peace.
His hair is long and mainly grey,
He takes prescriptions every day;
If you try to have a chat with him
He sits there with a face that's grim,
He listens now to what you say,
But you know his mind is far away.
He wasn't always down like that,
He used to smile and laugh and chat;
He used to grin and be upbeat -
Till he got booed in Flinders Street
When, marching with his cobbers there,
He saw his own folk didn't care.

He did what he was told to do,
No carry on or bally-hoo.
He didn't ask to be sent there,
He simply went to do his share.
But sometimes he can still see scenes
Of bombs, and flares, and jungle greens-
He lost five hundred mates up there
His hair now grey that once was fair,
His brow more creased, his face more lined,
He tries to think of happy times,
But, happy times have passed him by,
And now he only sits and cries.
His wife has tried to comfort him,
She gets his pills and other things,
Then, while he's lying there asleep,
She sneaks outside, to have a weep.

Instead of honour he deserved
From this great Country that he served,
All he got then were snarls and curses;
The thing that made it really worse is,
The Government that sent him there
Could be so thoughtless, so unfair -
To dump him in his hour of need -
As change in politics decreed!
So, if you see that caravan
With medal ribbons from Vietnam,
Then show that man some deep respect -
Not ignorance or cruel neglect,
For he deserves your admiration,
And grateful thanks, from this -his nation!

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Comments

author
Paul Bownas

This poem is about Australian soldiers, many of them conscripts, who were sent to Vietnam, to fight alongside the US and New Zealand. They were fighting an almost invisible enemy, and saw horrific sights. Upon their return to Australia, they were booed in the street, had pig's blood thrown at them, and were abused and even assaulted by the civilian population.   It was so bad that the Government began to fly them back to Air Force bases, give them some civilian clothes, and discharge them there and then.   There was no debriefing, no compassion, and many Veterans never got over it, with the suicide rate for Veterans about 25 times higher than for the civilian population.
I am an ex Navy veteran who also served in Vietnamese waters, but who did not suffer the taunting, ridicule, and suffering that the soldiers did! 

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