General News
21 September, 2022
Vietnam Veteran: Tony Lawrance
“WE all got to Vietnam in different ways,” Vietnam Veteran Tony Lawrance, now in his 70s, said.
“WE all got to Vietnam in different ways,” Vietnam Veteran Tony Lawrance, now in his 70s, said.
Mr Lawrence arrived in Vietnam in late 1966, having barely missed the gruesome Battle of Long Tan in August.
Mr Lawrence was conscripted in September of 1965. At the ripe of age of 20, Mr Lawrence was deployed as a Rifleman Signaller in the Sixth Battalion.
“(When I was conscripted) it didn’t worry me, I thought it would be an adventure,” he said.
“I put my hand up to do signal scores, I went to Sydney and did six weeks of training and thought I would head home, and instead they told me I was going to Vietnam.
“(While on tour) I’ll never forget, we had a visit from the Prime Minister, the honourable Malcom Fraser, he addressed our company and said ‘Now boys, you’re doing a wonderful thing for Australia, I want to thank you all so much, now all you have to do is find and kill the Viet Cong.
“I’ll never forget that. We didn’t even know where or who the Viet Cong were, because it was guerilla warfare.”
A rifleman signaller was a specially trained solider responsible for military communications to field commanders on the battlefield.
“It was crazy because you could be back in your camp and you’d be having not of a bad sort of a life. I remember once these guys came back with a tape recorder and it was The Beatles,” Mr Lawrance said.
“You’d have fun times and there was always plenty of beer, but then all of a sudden you’re going out on an operation that might last 10 days and not everybody would come back. It was bizarre.
“I lost quite a few good mates, it was terrible.”
Mr Lawrance returned from Vietnam ten months later and was shocked- “it was just another world.”
“Things changed. When I was in Sydney training, there was a big town hall with dancers and rock ‘n’ roll music. All the boys lined up, and then you would walk across the hall to ask a girl to dance.
“I was in Vietnam for ten months and on leave in Sydney for four or five days afterwards. I went back to the dance and it had all changed, all the girls were dancing with each other.
“It made the biggest impression. How could this be?”