Vietnam vets battled a war on two fronts

Former Royal Australian Navy gunman Alan Hill was 16 years old when he joined the service in 1962.

In addition to operating the ship's guns, he was often tasked with being a ship diver to support the clearance divers in searching the bottom of the vessels and the Mekong Delta for mines or traps beneath the murky waters.

Mr Hill recalled being shocked by the poor clarity of the water, having trained in Sydney Harbour.

"It was like soup - I couldn't see my hand in front of my face and it was all touch and feel," he said.

He remembered there were a few scary times while under the ships, including one occasion when grenades exploded in the water around him, but he did not know what the threat was or where it was coming from.

Mr Hill later learnt the sailors onboard saw bubbles coming towards him and believed they were the enemy.

He said the fear did not stop when he returned home because he was afraid to tell people he was a sailor in the navy and fought in the then vilified Vietnam conflict.

Mr Hill said many service personnel were left with debilitating medical and mental issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, which he experienced, and at the time received no support.

"I couldn't come to terms with it and didn't know why, so I bottled it up," he said.

"I'm proud to have served my country, but it was so unpopular - I didn't think I was worthy of marching at Anzac Day until the welcome home parade in 1987."

Fellow Vietnam Army Air Dispatch squadron veteran John Nelson agreed the treatment from the public and Returned and Services League at national and State levels was poor, with the consensus that he did not go to a "real" war.

Mr Nelson was stationed at Da Nang and Nha Trang and was responsible for finding appropriate locations in the jungle for helipads and then manning them, bringing in company after company of troops, with up to 400 men at a time.

"We lived in tents with snakes and rats among the rubber plantation in Nui Dat and took medication for malaria," he said.

In a similar role, RSL warden Bob Gilmour was a petty officer in the RAN in 1969 but a year later was trained as a soldier and posted to Dong Tam with the US army, for the Experimental Military Unit.

He was stationed at the platoon headquarters, guarding the southern Vietnam headquarters for 12 months and tasked with planning the day and night flights.

"We had a lot of mortars coming in, though not directly in our area, but it was our job to plan where pilots and door gunners had to go," Mr Gilmour said. "It has left its scars. I've got PTSD - it's something you don't forget."

Mr Gilmour said the biggest heroes of the war were the women left to care for families, such as his wife, who was a mother of three and pregnant while he was at war.

Rockingham RSL and members of the public are encouraged to reflect on the Australian involvement in the Vietnam War on Vietnam Veterans' Day on Tuesday.