CONSCRIPTION IN THE
VIETNAM WAR
Conscription Facts
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In November 1964 before Australia became involved in the Vietnam War, the Menzies government had announced introduction of conscription and plans to increase the size of the Australian arm to 37,500 within three years.
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The conscripting of young men was called ' national service' and all young men had to register for military service when they reached the age of twenty.
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A ballot, based on birth dates, was used to select some 6,900 young men each year who would then be required to serve for two years in the armed forces.
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There were 496 killed and 2,398 wounded.
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In March 1966, when the government increased the number of troops in Vietnam, national servicemen, or 'nashos' as they are called, were sent to fight.
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40% of Australian soldier who fought in Vietnam were conscripts.
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By the time the war ended in 1972 17,400 national servicemen had served in the conflict, with 202 killed and 1279 wounded.
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National service was abolished my the Whitlam labour government when it was elected in 1972.
>>>>>>this is a anti-war propaganda poster.
These pictures depict the protests of the australian people
against conscription.
NUI DAT, VIETNAM. 1966. STREET SIGN IN NOACK AVENUE, NAMED AFTER 4717546 PRIVATE E. W.NOACK, FROM B COMPANY, 5TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (5RAR), WHICH HAD THE FIRST INTAKE OF NATIONAL SERVICE RECRUITS. NOACK WAS THE FIRST NATIONAL SERVICE SOLDIER KILLED IN SOUTH VIETNAM. (DONOR J. BENTLEY) (From War Memorial Website.)
OPPOSITION AGAINST CONSCRIPTION:
Many Australians were opposed to involvement in the Vietnam War and even more objected to the use of conscripts there. The first conscript to die in Vietnam, Errol Noack, was a South Australian. Groups such as the Campaign for Peace in Vietnam campaigned vigorously against conscription, and thousands joined protest marches in Adelaide.
Many young men refused to register and were supported by citizens opposed to conscription. Two conscientious objectors arrested for refusing to register were John Zarb and Robert Martin and both were jailed. Robert Martin talks of his experiences in an oral history recording held in the Library's archival collections.
References
K.J Mason, 2007, Experience of Nationhood, 5th Edition, Mcrgraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Originally by Nick Connell and
Amelia Morris
Editors Tom Fowell And Alex Pickford
Comments (11)
Anonymous said
at 8:56 am on May 31, 2007
you better leave soon....5 minutes!
Anonymous said
at 8:19 am on Jun 13, 2007
I noticed today that the flaming text doesn't work!
Anonymous said
at 9:04 am on Jun 13, 2007
i think this page is quite good. hey connell. would you like me and picky to contiue it, you guys do entertaining the troops thats ours
Anonymous said
at 1:54 pm on Jun 13, 2007
with this piece of work the format was very simple and easy but was effective to get around. The information was to the point but the problem was it was quite breif. You guys had a lot cold fact figures about conspriction and the affects of it. This is good to just found the impacts but it would have been good to have personal accounts of consription. This would be like having quotes from men who where consripted or thier mothers ect. There really wasnt alot of guts to the page information wise. To have more information wouldn't have hurted. I would personally have also have, had a photo of people protesting against consription. Another section that i would have entered is what happened after consription happen what changed and who changed(like mark) . otherwise a very solid effort, i really really really enjoyed reading it.
by
Anonymous said
at 2:42 pm on Jun 15, 2007
Dear Connell and amelia overall nice work. good factual information and good use of pictures however the text can be cramped so in this case we must do major reconstruction(jks) Overall a good job, thumbs up.
From Pickford and Fowell
Anonymous said
at 2:50 pm on Jun 15, 2007
saurey and mark i mean amelia, nice work it is great rating is about 99.974 out of 100. thie is pretty good
Anonymous said
at 9:08 am on Jun 19, 2007
Australian soldiers weren't conscripted, rather they were forced to go out against their will by order of the government.
Anonymous said
at 9:18 am on Jun 19, 2007
CONGRATULATIONS. YOU ARE THE FIRST WIKI PAGE AT BARKER TO HAVE EVER MADE YOUR NAME MORE OBVIOUS THAN ANYTHING ELSE ON THE WHOLE PAGE. However besides that I give you 1/1.
Anonymous said
at 9:19 am on Jun 19, 2007
Yes I am aware that my comment is more obvious than the other ones, I felt like being hypocritcal.
Anonymous said
at 10:19 am on Jun 19, 2007
fix the titles please. they gave me a headache
Anonymous said
at 10:22 am on Jun 19, 2007
more links would be excellent. please fix the formatting, it's a little confusing
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