Navy veteran shares story of service and sacrifice

That decision led him from the training grounds of HMAS Leeuwin in Western Australia to the high-pressure world of navy clearance diving, a role that would see him submerged in the murky, dangerous waters of Vietnam’s Vung Tau harbour.

At the time, he had been considering a plumbing apprenticeship until a school visit from recruiters and a conversation with his mother changed his path.

His father had served in the army and the air force during World War II, so when Mr Wallace mentioned the possibility of joining the army to his mother, she suggested the navy instead.

Mr Wallace’s journey to the navy began in Western Australia, where he spent 12 months continuing schooling while receiving defence training.

It was there, that he first discovered diving.

“I loved it that much, so I decided, well, that was what I was going to do,” he said.

He was then sent to HMAS Rushcutter in Sydney to complete specialist training in clearance diving.

There, he recalls the midnight exercises in Sydney Harbour, where sailors were dumped from boats in darkness and tasked with finding their way back.

“It was pretty tough,” he said.

Of the 24 sailors who tackled the gruelling course, only three completed it.

Mr Wallace was one of them.

“It was a big achievement,” he said.

After completing his training, he was drafted to HMAS Vendetta, which was later deployed along with HMAS Duchess, in August 1965.

Together, they escorted the fast troop carrier HMAS Sydney to Vietnam, with the first Australian troops, machinery and stores.

“On arrival in Vietnam we spent the next five days working around the clock to unload the troops, tanks, personnel carriers, helicopters, ammunition, weapons and supplies,” Mr Wallace said.

As a diver, Mr Wallace’s role was to search the bottom of ships to ensure saboteurs were not placing explosives on ships hulls.

“In Vung Tau harbour the water was very dirty and had a very fast current that you could not swim against, so a lifeboat would take us up to the bow of the ship, drop us off linked together with a buddy line,” he said.

This buddy line was attached to each diver, helping them to stick together while searching every inch of the hull for any strange objects.

Mr Wallace dove every two hours night and day, for as long as the ship was docked in the harbour, searching in complete darkness, among the hundreds of sea snakes in waters of the harbour.

He would eventually visit Vietnam three times, once on HMAS Vendetta and twice on HMAS Yarra, each time escorting the troops aboard HMAS Sydney.

Between Vietnam trips, Mr Wallace’s service took him to the Far East Strategic Reserve, patrolling the Malacca Strait during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation.

“Our role was to pull over and search any boats that may have been running guns, ammunition, or smuggling other contraband,” he said.

They would patrol for about four to five weeks at a time, before returning to Singapore only to refuel and top up supplies before heading back out.

However, the end of his deployment brought a different kind of challenge.

By 1972, Mr Wallace was drafted to the Melbourne Recruiting Office, where he worked for about two years.

“The Vietnam War wasn’t popular with many back in Australia, and so when the troops returned from Vietnam, there were lots of protests,” he said.

The atmosphere became so volatile that commanding officers instructed recruiters not to travel to work wearing their uniforms because of the “flak” they were getting from the public.

“We had a lot of protestors coming in and causing problems,” he said

Mr Wallace recently returned to Vietnam with his wife and a group of 25 people through a veterans’ association.

It was his first time ever setting foot on land in Vietnam, having only ever been in the water or on a boat when there in the 1960s.

Of all the sights, it was a memorial for fallen Australians that left the greatest impact on Mr Wallace during his trip.

Now, a member of Tongala RSL and the Echuca Moama Vietnam Veterans Association, Mr Wallace values the camaraderie these groups provide and often shares his story to educate others about the service and sacrifices made for Australians.

As another Anzac Day approaches, Mr Wallace’s story is a reminder that service is not only fought on land, but in the dangerous work carried out underwater as well.