The Northern Territory news Thu 21 Apr 2011
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2011-04-21
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
Copyright. Made available by the publisher under licence.
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/232267
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/664628
28 NT NEWS. Thursday, April 21, 2011. www.ntnews.com.au P U B : N T N E W S D A T E : 2 1 -A P R -2 0 1 1 P A G E : 7 2 8 C O L O R : C M Y K Des Fisher DES Fisher was on the first transport of Australian troops to Vietnam. His widow Rita, who lives in Palmerston, was seven months pregnant. The first thing she knew that Des who was a regular soldier in a 1RAR transport company was on his way to Vietnam was when she turned on the television and saw a troop-packed HMAS Sydney heading out to sea. It was kept very secret, she said. The year was 1965. Des was hit by shrapnel within three months of arriving in Vietnam and was brought home. He never really recovered from his experience in the war, Ms Fisher said. There was no help, no counselling, for Vietnam vets for 30 years. They just suffered alone; they were the forgotten ones. Ms Fisher remembers meeting one of her husbands old comrades in Batchelor a few years ago. He died a year after we met and I thought Id do the right thing and go to his funeral in Darwin. His coffin was draped in the Australian flag and there was his slouch hat. But there were only two of us at the funeral me and his niece from Canberra. How sad. Above: Des Fisher (far left, second row) with B Company Transport, 1RAR in Vietnam