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The Forum > Article Comments > A 'kick in the guts'? > Comments

A 'kick in the guts'? : Comments

By Willy Bach, published 25/8/2016

'What would we think if thousands of Japanese wanted to descend on Darwin to celebrate the [19 February 1942] bombing of Darwin?'

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If they were coming to commemorate their people who died during the Darwin attacks, I wouldn't have any problem with them visiting Darwin.
Posted by Bernie Masters, Monday, 29 August 2016 11:57:02 AM
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As a Vietnam veteran I do feel for those who went to Vietnam with the intent to honor the memory of fallen comrades, and in particular I have empathy with those veterans who intended to treat the occasion seriously.

I have no time at all for those who in years past behaved like drunken fools – bringing dishonor upon themselves and upon the rest of us.

Likewise in the present context it is regrettable that, and probably in spite of the veterans' best intentions, the whole turnout looked like becoming an exercise in triumphalism; and yet, from what I can see, the veterans themselves quite probably meant no disrespect to their opposite numbers.

There was the exception of course like the veteran in situ who was reported as saying: "Bugger them, I should have brought my gun".

The Vietnamese are a kindly (and pragmatic) people; how else to explain the decision to allow the Memorial Cross to remain in place?

Is there a moral to this story? Yes, there is:

If ex-service persons (and family, etc.,) decide to go to Vietnam in future to pay their respects to fallen comrades, they will be visitors in a foreign country and different rules apply.
Posted by Pilgrim, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 4:49:42 PM
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If Vietnam won't hand over the Chinese oil-fields and the Chinese rivers of Hanoi then the memorial may be removed by China's army.
Posted by nicknamenick, Tuesday, 30 August 2016 5:04:08 PM
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