Service honours 'ordinary people called on to do an extraordinary thing'

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Rodney Hill still carries his battle scars decades after the Vietnam War.

The national serviceman was called up in the ballot at age 20 and was part of the last group to return home to Australian soil.

Mr Hill can vividly remember being wounded by a sand-filled drum with bamboo spikes attached to the bottom.

He went to pick up his rifle when the brutal item fell from above, stabbing through his forearm and leaving a lasting scar still evident to this day.

In the decades after his service Mr Hill has frequented Anzac Day dawn services.

Adelaide veteran Rodney Hill at the Warrnambool Anzac Day dawn service. Picture by Eddie Guerrero.

The Adelaide man attended his first Warrnambool commemoration on April 25, 2024, after his son John moved to the city about five years ago.

He was among a number of veterans, including Mark Quinn, colloquially known as "Mad Irish", who moved to Australia from Ireland when he was a boy and joined the Australian Army seven years later, aged 17.

"I didn't go into Vietnam until '67, came back in '68 and stayed in the army for another five years," he said.

Alongside his war medals, Mr Quinn donned a hand-made vest with a tiger etched on the back and the words: "When I die I'll go to heaven because I've served my time in hell. Vietnam."

Warrnambool veteran Mark Quinn, colloquially known as "Mad Irish". Picture by Eddie Guerrero.

Warrnambool RSL's Colin Davies said those who served in Vietnam were "just ordinary people called on to do an extraordinary thing back in the 70s".

"They went out beyond the wire, they went into villages, secured an area, denied a very resourceful enemy," he said.

He said veterans sitting in the audience on Thursday went into those villages with a "policy of winning the hearts and minds to create a peaceful situation".

"And they did that with excellence and with professionalism," he said.

Warrnambool RSL's Colin Davies. Picture by Eddie Guerrero.

Addressing a crowd of about 1000 people, Mr Davies said peacekeeping was central to this year's Anzac Day ceremony.

"It's not so much about the horrors of war, while we can not forget those," he said.

"It is enshrined in our memories, in our psyches as Australians... but for this year, we are talking about peacekeeping.

"Peace really comes at a cost, never to be taken lightly as you would all know.

"And from the way the world is working now, we must pray even harder and work ever harder to maintain the peace."

jessica.howard@warrnamboolstandard.com.au

jessica.howard@warrnamboolstandard.com.au