Vietnam vets to be honoured in Rockingham

The courage displayed by Vietnam veterans will be honoured on Monday at the Rockingham RSL's Vietnam Veterans' Day service.

RSL vice-president Major Lyndon Jackson said about 60,000 Australian armed forces were deployed to the Vietnam War, where more than 3000 were wounded and 521 were killed in action.

He said the most renowned conflict was the battle of Long Tan, where 108 Australian and New Zealand troops repelled more than 2000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong combatants in horrendous conditions.

Navy veteran Peter Hilton served in Vietnam twice, first in 1963 and again in 1965.

His role was to track and interfere with missiles and nuclear weapons fired at the soldiers in the jungle, and to escort the troop-packed HMAS Sydney safely through the Gulf of Tonkin.

Fellow Navy veteran Allan Hill was a cuff diver whose role was to work closely with clearance divers looking for explosives in the Mekong Delta River.

"It was all done by feel because it was murky and you couldn't see anything," he said. The men said Vietnam Veterans' Day was an important way to formally recognise and pay respect to the efforts of the armed forces, which were initially disrespected upon return from war. "People didn't want to know us; I remember marching and ahead of me people were throwing red cordial at us in protest," Mr Hill said.

Maj. Jackson said Rockingham's Vietnam Veterans' Day would start at 11am with a march around Rockingham Green, followed by a commemorative service and laying of wreaths.