Ordnance Field Park

As in all previous wars, and Vietnam was no exception, various items have been kept as mementoes or souvenirs of the soldier’s experiences.
Cartoons reflected the mood or opinions of the population to major events happening at the time.  A small selection of cartoons from the Vietnam War period are included to give a brief glimpse of what was happening to the Diggers at the time.  The Unions were not popular with the troops and this is reflected in several cartoons.

The National Service scheme was introduced by the Menzies Government in November 1964 and operated until 1972, when the newly elected Whitlam Labour Government suspended it.  The scheme was based on a birthday ballot of twenty-year-old men who had registered their names with the Department of Labour and National Service (DLNS).  If balloted in, these men were called up to perform two years’ continuous full-time service in the Regular Army Supplement, followed by three years’ part-time service in the Regular Army Reserve.  Between 1964 and 1972, 804,286 twenty-year-olds registered for National Service and 63,735 were actually called up for National Service and served in the Army.  Of the 63,735 who served in the Army, approximately 19,450 saw service in Vietnam and of this number, 98 served with the OFP.  In the following pages you will see a series of letters which follows the call up to discharge of a National Serviceman.