Volunteers with a legal impediment: Australian national service and the question of overseas service in Vietnam

Abstract

Historians generally accept that Australia’s Vietnam War has been clouded in myth, whether those myths be about the actions of the anti-war movement, the nature of Australian combat, or the reasons why Australia got involved in the conflict. What has received less attention is myths surrounding national service and the idea of volunteerism. Whereas in popular memory national service is intricately linked to compulsory service in Vietnam, among veterans there is a potent contrasting myth: that all servicemen in Vietnam, including national servicemen, volunteered to deploy there. This article examines the myth of the volunteer national serviceman, focusing in particular on legislation relating to national service, government statements, military records and the memories of Vietnam veterans. A close reading of both the historiography and the primary source documents definitively debunks the myth of the volunteer national serviceman in Vietnam, suggesting that veterans cling to this myth to align their Vietnam War experiences with(in) Australia’s Anzac mythology.