In a quiet cemetery on the NSW north coast, retired Australian Army Major John Thurgar places flowers on a grave, bows, then salutes. 

He is paying tribute to Private Geoffrey O’Shea, one of the 523 Australians who died during the Vietnam War, at Mullumbimby Cemetery.

Private O’Shea, who served with the 1st Special Air Service Squadron, died in South Vietnam at the age of just 20.

Major Thurgar hopes people will pay tribute across the country on Thursday to the Australians who lost their lives during the conflict.

This year marks 50 years since Australia withdrew its troops from Vietnam, and 60 years since Australian troops arrived in the country.

After serving in the Vietnam War, Major Thurgar later worked to recover the bodies of soldiers who had been listed as missing in action.

“The loss and grief that their families experienced, and the not knowing for all those years, is quite profound,” Major Thurgar said.

“And I then started to look around at the families of those who had lost their loved ones in Vietnam all those years ago, and they too suffered and experienced the same loss.

This Thursday is the anniversary of the arrival of the Australian Army Training Team in South Vietnam.

Major Thurgar said it was a fitting day to coordinate a national effort to have someone beside the grave of each soldier killed in action, with most vigils to be held at 11am local time.

While a national commemoration is being held on August 18, Major Thurgar said this event would be about marking “individual loss”.

“So many of our members now, the youngest are in their middle-70s and some are, of course, in their 90s,” he said.

“We’ve experienced so many recent deaths of our comrades, so we thought that this might be a very fitting thing to do.”

‘Not just another statistic’

Reverend Graeme Davis, also a Vietnam veteran, will hold a service for the four men whose remains lie in Goonellabah.

“They’re not just another statistic, they are honoured, and they will be remembered,” he said.

Reverend Davis said the Vietnam veterans had been called together for the welcome home parade in Sydney in 1987, and the unveiling of the national Vietnam memorial in Canberra in 1992.

History students from Melrose High School in Canberra have been learning about some of the soldiers who died.

Teacher Matthew Gannon said it was a chance to “highlight the human story to the war”.

“We’re going to be placing a wreath at the grave of a person who fought in the Vietnam War, and we’re going to be commemorating their input to the war,” Year 10 student Disha Balachandar said.

“There’s lots of people who will have ancestors who fought in wars like the Vietnam War, so even though it’s a long time ago, lots of people still have personal ties to it,” Layla Baker Gabb said.

The cost of conflict

Although the Vietnam War became a controversial issue, Reverend Davis said he hoped people would show their respect this week.

“When we came home from 1967 onwards, most of the professional soldiers were reluctant to admit you were a Vietnam veteran,” he said.

“As we matured in age, it became obvious that the Australian community were not so much against the individual, but against the methodology that the government employed to increase the numbers of defence personnel, i.e. the ballot system.

Major Thurgar said he expected family members and friends would attend Thursday’s vigil, as well as other veterans.

He also hoped other Australians would attend and reflect on the cost of conflict as well.

“For people like myself, every day is an Anzac Day, and this day will be another equally important day.

“But it will be one where we give each person their due, so we’re remembering … a real person who died and lost their life in the service of their country.”

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