Veterans ready for belated welcome

Forty years after he served as a Whiskey 2 Company medic in Vietnam, Major Peter Jacobs has all his medals polished and ready for a chance to parade through Wellington and catch up with old mates.

Major Jacobs, one of the few of his generation still in the army, will be among the large contingent of Vietnam War veterans and their families who will parade from Civic Square to Parliament on Saturday as party of Tribute 08.

An estimated 2500 veterans and their families will march to the beat of four military bands.

"I think this means a lot to a lot of the vets. To a lot of guys, Vietnam was the biggest thing in their lives," Major Jacobs said.

Tribute 08 chairman Chris Mullane said there had been a late rush of registrations for the weekend of commemorations. A lot of units had gone out of their way to find old mates and encourage veterans to come to Wellington.

About 20 per cent of the 3500 veterans who served in Vietnam between 1964 and 1972 have died, some prematurely of cancer and other conditions related to their service. Some have died by their own hands and others are still suffering the trauma of war.

Tribute 08, funded and backed by the Government as part of a settlement of long-standing grievances among Vietnam veterans, officially begins tomorrow with a formal apology in Parliament by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The apology will recognise that Vietnam veterans were not treated fairly on their return to New Zealand after the war. It would be the first formal crown apology to be given in Parliament, Mr Mullane said.

The event was significant to many of those who served in Vietnam as it was their first officially supported welcome home.

WAGING WAR AMONG TOXIC HERBICIDES

A total of 3890 New Zealand soldiers served in South Vietnam. Thirty-seven were killed in action and 187 were wounded.

- New Zealand's longest-serving combat unit in the war was 161 Battery, Royal NZ Artillery, which served from June 1965 to May 1971.

- From 1961 to 1971, US and South Vietnamese armies sprayed millions of litres of toxic herbicides to destroy forest cover and food for communist forces.

- Herbicides used in the Operation Ranch Hand defoliation were identified by coloured stripes on containers: agent orange was the most widely used.

- Veterans overseas have since blamed the spray for health problems such as diabetes and prostate cancer in former soldiers, and birth defects in their children.

- After years of successive governments denying New Zealand soldiers were affected by agent orange, a parliamentary health select committee inquiry concluded in October 2004 that it was "beyond doubt" that New Zealand defence personnel were exposed to agent orange and other herbicides.

- The inquiry followed the publication of the John Masters map which revealed heavy American spraying of agent orange and other defoliants in Phuoc Tuy province, where most New Zealand soldiers spent much of their time in Vietnam.

TIMETABLE OF EVENTS

May 28 - Parliament: Prime Minister Helen Clark to read Crown apology to veterans in Parliament.

Tribute08

May 30

4pm Civic welcome in Civic Square.

May 31

10am Honour march from Civic Square to Parliament.

11am Whakanoa, or tapu-lifting ceremony, to be held outside Parliament.

1.30pm Ex-Vietnam Services Association Annual General Meeting.

8pm Tribute Concert, TSB Arena, Queen's Wharf.

June 1

9.30am Memorial Service, to be held at National War Memorial, Buckle Street.

10.30am The Commemoration, Basin Reserve.

Footage of events will be screened on TVNZ 7 (on freeview) over the weekend, live streamed on www.tribute08.com and highlights will be screened on TV One at 12.30pm on June 2.

May 21-June 1 Theatre season of Ka Mate, at Capital E Theatre, Civic Square.

May 29-June 8 The Vietnam Exhibition, at the Academy of Fine Arts, Queen's Wharf.

- © Fairfax NZ News