By Arthur Fry

After joining the Royal Australian Air Force in August 1960, as a Trainee Radio Mechanic, I changed from a trade skilled career to a linguist following my successful completion of a 12-month Vietnamese language course in 1965.

I served in Vietnam twice as a Vietnamese language Interpreter.  Firstly, in 1967, I was at Phan Rang Air Base in central Vietnam; the second time, in 1971, I was posted to Vung Tau Army Airfield, in the south.     

Leaving Vung Tau thirty-five years ago, I ceased using my Vietnamese language, allowing my proficiency in the language to slide into the back blocks of my memory cells, hidden, by now, deep inside my cranium.

This situation remained constant until this year, when my wife announced that it would be good for me to return to Vietnam.  I remember remarking that I was one of the lucky ones who came home from Vietnam relatively unscathed!  I will never forget her reply!  “Don’t you kid yourself, Buddy!”

So almost reluctantly, but certainly submissively, I agreed to join our two friends, Elizabeth and Neil, on a tour of Vietnam, this past September / October.

Prior to our tour, I never opened a Vietnamese book to refresh, but started to teach my wife, Annette, and our friends, Elizabeth and Neil, simple basic Vietnamese sentences.  By the time we were ready to leave, they had mastered enough of the language to get them by.

Once in Vietnam, I took the chance to speak to locals wherever and whenever I could. Taxi drivers, tri-shaw peddlers, shopkeepers, restaurant staff, all came in for my 35-year stale fluency of my second language that I had mastered as a younger man.

Day by day, my fluency, and recollection of required words, amazingly flowed back to me.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and was pleased to see my fellow travellers having an understanding of what was being said. 

Almost to a person, the Vietnamese people told me they were pleased that I, as a former foreign troop who had served in Vietnam during the War, had returned to see how much progress they had achieved in their country over the past thirty-odd years.  It was almost like it was a nation-wide message they were told to proclaim to all returning foreign veterans!

I met no hostility at all in welcoming Veterans back to Vietnam.  I met former V.C. (although they prefer to call themselves ‘Liberation Forces’ troops) and enjoyed their hospitality, but was no match in their consumption of Rice Wine.  One night, after several nips, my host poured some rice wine into a saucer, and lit it!  The resultant flame was akin to burning methylated spirits!  So much for the lining of my stomach!

We saw so much of their country in the fifteen days, and were most impressed about their progress and move towards an industrial economy from an agricultural economy.  We visited Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, (a must-see for any tourist), Hue, Da Nang, Lang Co, ‘China Beach’, Hoi An, Cam Ranh Bay, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, My Tho, as per the scheduled Viet Value Tours itinerary.

However, we asked to see Nui Dat, and Vung Tau, which had not previously been in this company’s itinerary.  They obliged us, and I must say, to see Ba Ria, Nui Dat (including the ‘Pearly Gates’, which are still standing,) the Horse Shoe, Kangaroo Pad, SAS Hill, Luscombe Field, the Long Tan Memorial, the Long Phuoc tunnels, Vung Tau, including Front Beach, (hey, I finally was allowed to go there!) and Back Beach was an experience we will never forget. 

The local Vietnamese guide obtained the original plaque from the first Long Tan cross and hung it on the concrete replica, and led us in a simple ceremony, approved by the local people’s committee. She gave me a piece of paper, and directed me to read! It was the Ode. With deep emotion, I read the Ode, like never before. She also gave us a joss stick, and a long stem rose to lay during the ceremony. In all, it was a highly emotional, memorable, yet peaceful experience.  

I will be forever pleased that I had the chance to re-visit Nui Dat, Vung Tau, and for me, the first occasion to visit the Long Tan Memorial in the middle of that Vietnamese rubber plantation, a sacred site for Australian Veterans that we have come to know so well for the sacrifices made there forty years ago.

Humour always seems to follow me, and I had two unforgettable, linguistically humorous anecdotes from our tour.    The first was at Hanoi Railway Station as we waited to board our night train to Hue.   A Vietnamese lady came up to me, and patted my Buddha-like stomach, and said in Vietnamese, “How many children are you going to give birth to?”  I quickly replied, in Vietnamese, “Two, and I will be the first 64-year old man in the world to give birth to twins!” Her reaction was priceless, and with our cameras packed away, I can only forever remember that sweet lady’s startled facial expression.  I wonder how she would have related her experience to her friends and family that night!

The second humorous linguistic anecdote occurred in the Ben Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh City. Elizabeth and Neil had just made a purchase in the market and concluded with a reasonable burst of thanks in Vietnamese.  To their surprise, the salesgirl retorted, “You speak Vietnamese very well!”   Overhearing this from a stall or two away, I returned to that salesgirl once our friends moved on, and in Vietnamese, thanked her for complementing ‘my students’.  I brought joy to that young girl like I never thought I could bring joy to any sweet young girl again! 

However there are a few places which I would suggest not being suitable for all Veterans and could be eliminated from further outings, such as the Cu Chi Tunnels in ‘The Iron Triangle’.  As Annette recalled later, it even made me, as a virtual non-combatant Interpreter who ran the Locally Engaged Labour Office on both of my tours, quite agitated.   

But from beginning to end, a great time was had by all.  I am very pleased I returned to Vietnam for my “third tour”.     

You ask if I saw a lot of change?  “Sure did!  And I was very pleased to see the changes were for the betterment of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people!”

Our guide arranged for us to meet the Vietnamese Managing Director of Viet Value Travel while in Hanoi. We were privileged not only to meet with him, but also to enjoy his hospitality, as we shared a drink with him.     I would confidently recommend the tour to all Vietnam Veterans, and their families, and can truly attest to the truth of their name, Viet Value Travel