Geelong & District Vietnam Veterans Association Inc.

 

In 1974 a group of young men who had served in Vietnam assembled at the Geelong RSL, with the intention of forming a Vietnam Association to keep alive the camaraderie they had experienced during the war. However, they met considerable resistance from the RSL on a range of issues. One contentious issue was the use of the word ‘veteran’ because the RSL argued that the word was too ‘Americanised.’ After considering various names, the ex-servicemen settled on ‘The Geelong Vietnam Association’ and on ANZAC Day 1975, eleven members of the newly formed Association marched under their own banner. It is believed that the Geelong Vietnam Association – the GVA - was the first association of Vietnam veterans in Australia.

 

In 1980 the Vietnam Veterans Action Association (VVAA) had a branch in Geelong and numerous branches throughout Australia, and in 1989 the GVA and the local branch of the VVAA amalgamated to form the Geelong and District Sub-Branch of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia – the G&DVVAA.From its outset, the GVA was primarily a social group but the G&DVVAA expanded its role and purpose. Over the past fifty years Geelong’s Vietnam veterans have devoted thousands of hours of voluntary service to:

 

• The provision of welfare and advocacy services to veterans, their families, and their carers

• Lobbying for government enquiries, one of which eventually led to a Royal Commission into the effect of herbicides on veterans and their descendants, the other to investigate the rate of suicide by service personnel

• Hosting State and National Conferences and serving on the State Council

• Establishing Geelong’s Vietnam Memorial Park and Avenue of Honour, and a Vietnam War Museum

• Fundraising, badge sales and ‘tin rattling’ for local causes

• Promoting social activities, sporting groups, and self-help Activities Groups.

• Memorialising ANZAC Day and Vietnam Veterans Day, and organised graveside vigils, marches and wreath laying ceremonies throughout Geelong and district.