Redgum's 1983 song "I Was Only Nineteen" has become one of Australia's most enduring musical tributes to Vietnam veterans, capturing how young so many of those sent to fight really were. That youth is reflected strongly in Boorowa's own contribution to the war.

Able Seaman John Bernard Donnelly enlisted at just seventeen. Ordinary Seaman Roger Leslie Halls and Corporal Rodney Perceval were barely out of their teens, aged nineteen and twenty respectively when deployed, and several others on this roll were not much older.

Boys from a small country town, many still teenagers, found themselves a world away from Boorowa, facing a war few could have imagined. Decades on, their youth at the time of service remains a striking reminder of what was asked of that generation.

Vietnam Veterans' Day, also known as Long Tan Day, was marked on Tuesday 18 August, the anniversary of the 1966 Battle of Long Tan. More than 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam, and Boorowa's war memorial carries the names of thirteen local men.

Midshipman Ian Robert Berry — Royal Australian Navy.

Gunner Hilary Kelvin Boulding — Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Mervyn Bede Cranston — Royal Australian Corps of Signals, awarded the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Bronze Star.

Private Ian Stanley Crisp — Royal Australian Infantry Corps.

Corporal David William Rose Dick — Australian Army Catering Corps.

Able Seaman John Bernard Donnelly — Royal Australian Navy, underwater control.

Ordinary Seaman Roger Leslie Halls — Royal Australian Navy, marine engineering.

Private Norman Harold Hatch — Royal Australian Army Service Corps.

Lance-Bombardier Robert Terence Lawler — Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.

Lance-Corporal Geoffrey Murray — Royal Australian Engineers.

Able Seaman Trevor Wesley Neal — Royal Australian Navy, physical trainer.

Sergeant Thomas Elliott Page — Royal Australian Army Service Corps.

Corporal Rodney Perceval — Royal Australian Service Corps.

Two Vietnam veterans who spent their later years in Boorowa have died recently. Sapper Robert John Short served with the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, as a combat engineer, one of the unit's Tunnel Rats, clearing enemy tunnels and bunkers in Phuoc Tuy province. He died on 28 July 2026.

Warrant Officer - Aircrewman Arthur William Hoswell served with the Royal Australian Navy aboard several vessels, including HMAS Melbourne. He died on 26 May 2026.

Lest we forget.