MEL FRYKBERG
ON July 17 the South West commemorated Vietnam Veteran's day in Greenbushes.
Among those attending the service were Collie-Cardiff RSL members, including Vietnam veterans.
For one Collie Vietnam veteran the service brought back memories although the war was now a world and a life time away.
Robert Wells, who was born and brought up in Collie, left Australia a naive young man whose knowledge of the raging Asian conflict was gleaned from following the news.
"The only way I could have escaped would have been to leave Australia," Mr Wells said.
When he returned to Australia he was a man of the world who had gone through experiences and witnessed things that don't make the headline news and which caused him to suffer nightmares for over 20 years after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
In 1968, 22 year-old Mr Wells was sent to Vietnam where he served nine months with 104 Signals Squadron.
He had no choice in the matter even though the compulsory draft meant interrupting his five-year panel beater apprenticeship.
"The only way I could have escaped would have been to leave Australia," Mr Wells said.
"I was apprehensive about being drafted but I also believed I had to go as there was a job to be done.
"My basic priority was trying to survive.
"You go into the military not knowing exactly what you will experience but basic training gives you some idea of what is ahead."
Mr Wells travelled form Sydney to Saigon and then on to the Australian Task Force at Nui-Dat.
"My first impressions of the area was that it was hot and smelly but I resigned myself to the fact that I would be there for one year or maybe less," Mr Wells said.
"Once I got used to the weather I actually didn't mind being there, however, at certain times it was traumatic during military operations.
"My basic priority was trying to survive.
"The Americans came in to rescue us by chopper and we were taken back to base where we underwent medicals," Mr Wells said.
Mr Wells was injured during the military operation Battle of Coral when a rocket fired into a tree blew it up, turning bits of timber into lethal flying shards which split his mouth open, left a gash above his eye and pockmarked his back with wounds.
During the Battle of Coral, which lasted 30 days, Mr Wells' unit was ambushed by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, killing one person from his unit, while approximately 26 Australians were killed in the whole operation and 200 wounded.
"The Americans came in to rescue us by chopper and we were taken back to base where we underwent medicals," Mr Wells said.
Mr Wells tour of duty eventually ended and he was sent to artillery school in Sydney Heads and debriefed.
"The best advice they gave me was to grow my hair long and not to tell anybody about fighting in Vietnam," Mr Wells said.
Such was the public backlash against the Vietnam conflict that the men who were forced to fight there, and who endured life scarring experiences, found little respite upon their return home.
"I grew my hair long, spent five months on a beach sabbatical and was diagnosed with PTSD," Mr Wells said.
"I never spoke to anybody about my experiences there apart from other Vietnam veterans but I have no regrets."
He returned to work as a panel beater eventually and slowly integrated back into a normal life, marrying and having two children.
"The nightmares are now less frequent and I am determined to enjoy the rest of my life to the best of my ability."
