Paying tribute to National Servicemen
Today is National Servicemen’s Day, honouring the hundreds of thousands of young Australian men who served our nation through compulsory military service after the Second World War.
Australia has a proud history of national service, with four training schemes undertaken since 1910. Many will know of the last National Service scheme, in operation during 1964-72 at a time of heightened regional tension, with Australia’s ongoing involvement in the Vietnam War.
Most 20-year-old Australian men were required to register and were then subject to the infamous ‘birthday ballot’ in which they were randomly selected for National Service by their date of birth. National Service was not brought in specifically for the Vietnam War, although this is popularly believed to have been the case.
More than 804,000 men registered for national service between 1964 and 1972, with more than 63,000 called up to serve. Of these, nearly 19,500 served in Borneo and Vietnam and the remainder in support units in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. More than 15,000 served in the Vietnam War, where some 200 died and over 1,200 were wounded.
The service of ‘Nashos’ will be remembered during the Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial today. A representative from the National Servicemen's Association of Australia will lay a wreath.
To learn more about Australia’s National Service schemes, see this feature article in VetAffairs.