General News
1 May, 2023
Hijack refugee finds Aussie mateship
ANZAC Day brought mixed emotions in celebration of mateship, former Australian Army soldier Phuc Tran told Tarnagulla’s Dawn service. Mr Tran had arrived in Australia as a 13-year-old, separated from his family in Vietnam where his father...
ANZAC Day brought mixed emotions in celebration of mateship, former Australian Army soldier Phuc Tran told Tarnagulla’s Dawn service.
Mr Tran had arrived in Australia as a 13-year-old, separated from his family in Vietnam where his father, a former senior South Vietnam officer, had been sent to a concentration camp by the Viet Cong following the fall of Saigon in 1975.
The youngster had been living on a boat that was hijacked by refugees wanting to flee Vietnam that was sailed to Australia.
“War is terrible - it destroys lives, separates families, scars memories,” he said. After a long career in the Australian Army, Mr Tran now works with mapmakers Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation with Tarnagulla’s Brett Treneman. Mr Treneman told more than 100 people at the service that ANZAC Day was a time to reinvigorate national pride.
The ties forged by Australia and New Zealand at Gallipoli set the two countries apart from others, he said.
Holly and Ella Gleisner recited the Ode during the service that was followed by a gunfire breakfast.