Veteran reunited with his medals after 50 years
In 1971, Alan Garrett returned from a tour of Vietnam and was posted to Lavarack Barracks in Townsville prior to being honourably discharged. Having been presented with his Vietnam Medal and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal he decided to get them framed. So he had the medals passed to a sergeant who was in a position to arrange this. But soon afterwards, the sergeant was posted to Vietnam and that was the last Alan saw of his medals.
Until this year. That’s because Alan opened the December 2022 edition of Vetaffairs and as usual scanned the notices, reunions and medals pages at the back. It was there that he spotted a notice placed by another Vietnam veteran called Garry Heskett. Garry was looking for Alan because he had his medals.
The notice jumped out of the page at him. ‘It seemed ten times bigger than it actually was,’ says Alan.
He got on the phone and before long Garry, who lives in Coffs Harbour on the NSW coast, sent the medals to Alan, who still lives in Townsville. Alan had the medals replaced in 1979 but there’s nothing like the real thing.
‘I was so appreciative,’ says Alan. ‘I was just stunned when I opened the package. I hadn’t seen them in 50 years. And they were still in their original condition.’
Garry and Alan had no knowledge of each other. However, they decided to meet when Garry came up to Townsville for the 2nd / 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2/4 RAR) reunion in mid-August 2023. Alan made a point of buying Garry a well-deserved beer.
Garry isn’t exactly sure how Alan’s medals came into his possession. He thinks someone must have handed them to him when many years ago he was doing voluntary work for Vietnam veterans’ organisations. One of these was Nambus, which was a converted state transit bus that volunteers drove around NSW educating schoolkids and others about Vietnam and the plight of veterans. It was also a means of raising money for the Australian Vietnam Forces National Memorial in Canberra.
‘It was not unusual for some members of the public [to] come on board with some form of memorabilia and donate them,’ Garry says. ‘I can only surmise that someone came into possession of Mr Garrett’s medals, handed them to me in an effort to find the owner and return them. I obviously put them aside and forgot about them until I found them while rummaging through some boxes last year.’
The Nambus even interacted with DVA many years ago.
‘We came to Canberra and parked in the department’s basement,’ said Garry. ‘There we were able to demonstrate the impact of carrying the kind of backpacks we had in Vietnam, and the insect repellent we used. It gave staff some understanding of the back and skin problems those things caused.’
The Nambus succumbed to wear and tear in 1994 but was replaced by the Gosford City Sub-branch of the Vietnam Veterans Federation more recently. Sadly, in December 2022, that too was retired.
Garry served in Vietnam with 4 RAR / NZ (ANZAC) Battalion for nearly a year from May 1971 to March 1972. It was part of the six years he spent in the Regular Army. When he transitioned out, he became a paramedic then joined the NSW Police where he became a homicide detective. He understands perfectly well why Alan was so thrilled to see his medals again.
‘Medals are very important,’ he says. ‘They are the visual acknowledgement that a person has served. It’s recognition that you a returned serviceman and that you have served our country.’
Garry is a third-generation serviceman. His grandfather fought in the First World War, and his father served in New Guinea during the Second World War. His son and daughter-in-law are both Army officers. Garry is now heavily involved with the RSL.
Alan meanwhile was called up to serve in Vietnam as a National Serviceman. However, before returning to Australia he chose to extend his service by several months.
‘It seemed like the right thing to do at the time,’ he says.
He left the Army as a Lance Corporal.
Since the war, he got involved with the Vietnam Veterans Association and helped ensure that a plaque commemorating those who were killed in Vietnam was placed on the cenotaph in Darwin.
Over the years, he’s rarely marched on Anzac Day but he reckons that now he’s got his medals back, that might change.
‘Fifty-two years,’ he says. ‘It shows you that miracles do happen.’
Above: Allan Garrett (Photo courtesy of the Townsville Bullettin)
Below: Garry Heskett and Alan Garrett finally meeting in Townsville, August 2023
