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HQ beat frontline fighters to war awards
Mark Dodd The Australian August 19, 2008
MORE awards were given to headquarters personnel during the Vietnam conflict than frontline Diggers involved in actual combat, a military historian has claimed.
Frontline infantry battalions serving in Vietnam were subject to a strict quota of medals, in contrast to servicemen based behind the lines, said Ross Eastgate, a former army officer, military historian and ex-president of the Gold Coast Returned Services League.
It follows an upgrading of awards last week by the Rudd Government to participants in the Battle of Long Tan.
Mr Eastgate's claim has been strongly backed by a Long Tan veteran, former 11 Platoon sergeant Bob Buick.
"When you look at the Australian honours and awards that came out of Vietnam, unfortunately our commanders at taskforce headquarters in Saigon - when you take in the number of people there and the awards they got - it was the highest decorated unit," Mr Buick told The Australian.
While the Australian military honours system had now been reformed, Mr Buick said in 1969 it failed to reflect the gallantry of the Long Tan Diggers.
He said his section commander was mentioned in dispatches for staving off encirclement and almost certain annihilation by an overwhelming force of North Vietnamese. The same award was given to an army postal clerk working at the Australian logistics base in Vung Tau.
Senior Australian officers in Vietnam, unlike lower ranks, were immune from a ruling that forbade the wearing of foreign medals such as the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, Mr Eastgate told The Australian yesterday.
While the "quality" of medals and commendations awarded to Diggers for gallantry under fire was higher than for support staff, the actual number of awards they earned was fewer, he said.
"The figures that I saw - and I'm talking a long time ago - showed that in terms of the ratio of awards to people who served (in combat operations), headquarters people tended to be seen more often and be recognised," he said.
"They might have been a lower level of award like the MiD (mention in dispatches) but that is where they (awards) were ultimately processed."
The Vietnam conflict saw one of the lowest medal award rates ever given in Australian military history, medals expert John Burridge said yesterday.
Only 1.8 per cent of army veterans who served in Vietnam were awarded medals, compared with 6.8 per cent in World War I, 2.8 per cent in World War II and 2.4 per cent in Korea, Mr Burridge said.
Mark Dodd The Australian August 19, 2008
MORE awards were given to headquarters personnel during the Vietnam conflict than frontline Diggers involved in actual combat, a military historian has claimed.
Frontline infantry battalions serving in Vietnam were subject to a strict quota of medals, in contrast to servicemen based behind the lines, said Ross Eastgate, a former army officer, military historian and ex-president of the Gold Coast Returned Services League.
It follows an upgrading of awards last week by the Rudd Government to participants in the Battle of Long Tan.
Mr Eastgate's claim has been strongly backed by a Long Tan veteran, former 11 Platoon sergeant Bob Buick.
"When you look at the Australian honours and awards that came out of Vietnam, unfortunately our commanders at taskforce headquarters in Saigon - when you take in the number of people there and the awards they got - it was the highest decorated unit," Mr Buick told The Australian.
While the Australian military honours system had now been reformed, Mr Buick said in 1969 it failed to reflect the gallantry of the Long Tan Diggers.
He said his section commander was mentioned in dispatches for staving off encirclement and almost certain annihilation by an overwhelming force of North Vietnamese. The same award was given to an army postal clerk working at the Australian logistics base in Vung Tau.
Senior Australian officers in Vietnam, unlike lower ranks, were immune from a ruling that forbade the wearing of foreign medals such as the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, Mr Eastgate told The Australian yesterday.
While the "quality" of medals and commendations awarded to Diggers for gallantry under fire was higher than for support staff, the actual number of awards they earned was fewer, he said.
"The figures that I saw - and I'm talking a long time ago - showed that in terms of the ratio of awards to people who served (in combat operations), headquarters people tended to be seen more often and be recognised," he said.
"They might have been a lower level of award like the MiD (mention in dispatches) but that is where they (awards) were ultimately processed."
The Vietnam conflict saw one of the lowest medal award rates ever given in Australian military history, medals expert John Burridge said yesterday.
Only 1.8 per cent of army veterans who served in Vietnam were awarded medals, compared with 6.8 per cent in World War I, 2.8 per cent in World War II and 2.4 per cent in Korea, Mr Burridge said.
