Australian War Memorial researchers identify 285 Indigenous servicemen who fought in the Vietnam war

Researchers at the Australian War Memorial say they have identified 285 Indigenous servicemen who fought in the Vietnam war and seven involved in the battle of Long Tan.

Veterans on Friday mark the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam war, which will be commemorated in a national ceremony in Canberra.

The service of First Nations soldiers, who enlisted for Australia despite enduring widespread racism, exclusion and discrimination, has long been hidden from official histories.

But Michael Bell, a Ngunnawal and Gomeroi man and the memorial’s Indigenous liaison officer, is leading a project to identify and recognise Indigenous servicemen and women across all conflicts, including the Vietnam war.

Australian War Memorial researchers have identified 285 Indigenous servicemen who fought in the Vietnam war and seven in the battle of Long Tan. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

“It’s the recognition and understanding that our men and women were willing to put their hands up and defend the country that had taken so much from them in such a short term after the effects of colonisation,” Bell said. “But also the willingness and loyalty shown to the country to be seen and reflect that, and use service as a pathway for recognition and citizenship.”

Indigenous Australians were exempted from conscription during the Vietnam war but volunteered regardless.

Bell said his team of volunteers had so far identified 285 Indigenous servicemen and women who served in Vietnam. Bell and his team of volunteers have added dozens of names to the list since their first attempt at compiling it, as more families and veterans come forward.

“That was a mix of ‘we just didn’t know you were looking for Aboriginal servicemen in Vietnam’ and ‘yes, there is some hidden heritage’,” Bell said.

The newly identified Indigenous veterans include additional servicemen who fought in the battle of Long Tan, bringing the total to seven.

“We already had four men in the frontline; now we have three additional ones in the artillery units – they were providing the fire support,” he said.

He says he believes there is still a large cohort of Indigenous veterans who fought in the Vietnam war who have not been identified.

“We are just hoping that one day the families or the veterans will be comfortable coming forward and saying, ‘yes, I’d like to have my name on that list’. Then we go through the process of confirming their Aboriginality and their service and then add them on. Hopefully we will get to know a bit more about the background to what happened and the treatment that was experienced by those families.”

He said the poor treatment of Vietnam war veterans upon their return from the conflict was particularly acute for Indigenous veterans.

“[They] just disappeared back into the community and were coming back into a desperately unequal society, as with our first world war soldiers – they’d experienced equality in the service and then come back to the same unfair society that they had left.”

The Vietnam war national service will take place from 10am and will be broadcast nationally.