I Was Only Nineteen

Actually I was only 20 when this song started to get a lot of air play over the radio station in Melbourne and Australia. So this entry is not about me.

No it didn't fit me at all.

This is a song about the Vietnam War. In WWII, the average age of the soldiers was 23. In Vietnam, it was 19, and hence the title of the song.

I can't imagine - and I am sure many would not be able to comprehend either, that someone at that age would be going to war, and obviously not knowing whether or not one would return home.

In one piece.

Or in a coffin!

The lyric was graphic. It could not be as blunt as I was only Nineteen.

A four week operation, when each step can mean your last one on two legs

It was a war within yourself

But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they had you dusted off

So you closed your eyes and thought about something else

This person could be as young as Arif, practically a kid. Sorry Arif. While Arif is now flying a twin engine plane, the soldiers might be flying a Chinook from Vung Tau to Nui Dat.

Then there was war.

Then someone yelled out 'Contact' and the bloke behind me swore

We hooked in there for hours, then a God Almighty roar

Then again if you are lucky enough to survive the many battle fields, and you started to think that you would be returning home soon,

Frankie kicked a mine the day that Mankind kicked the moon

God help me, he was going home in June

Vietnam War - obviously we were worried during those years about possibly that the whole of South East Asia might fall to the communist.

I can only imagine what goes into the mind of the soldiers during those years fighting the communists; ours included.

God help me, I was only 19.

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the Passing out Parade at Puckapunal
(it was a long march from Cadets)
The 6th Battalion was the next to tour, and it was me who drew the card
We did Canungra - Shoalwater before we left

And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched down to the Quay
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean
And there's me in me slouch hat with me S.L.R. and Greens
God help me, I was only 19

From Vung tau riding Chinooks, to the dust at Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months
But we made our tents a home, V.B. and pin ups on the lockers
And an Asian orange sunset through the scrub
And can you tell me Doctor why I still can't get to sleep?
And the night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only 19

A four week operation, when each step can mean your last one on two legs
It was a war within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and thought about something else

Then someone yelled out 'Contact' and the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours, then a God Almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that Mankind kicked the moon
God help me, he was going home in June

I can still see Frankie drinking tinnies, in the Grand Hotel
On a 36 hour Rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
'Til the morphine came and killed the bloody row

And the A.N.Z.A.C. legend didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my Father told me, never seemed quiet real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
God help me, I was only 19

And can you tell me Doctor why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel 7 chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only 19.

EPILOGUE


A best friend Neil Horvath tried to get me to go to watch Redgum at the Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash in 1983. I was tight with my time, and since I only knew one song of Redgum - a great one at that, I tried to excuse myself by saying just that.


"Here, here is a cassette, go and listen to them. The other songs are just as great,' Neil said.


Well, I didn't go. May be I should have.

No one would be able to predict the outcome, I guess.