Online Vietnam War roll launched for NZ Veterans

Media release

Manatu Taonga/Ministry for Culture and Heritage

19 August 2011

Online Vietnam War roll launched for NZ Veterans’ Remembrance Day

Every veteran a face, every family a memory

A campaign is today being launched to mark NZ Vietnam Veterans’ Remembrance Day, also the anniversary of the 1966 Battle of Long Tan.

http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/memory/long-tan

More than four decades on, Manatū Taonga/Ministry for Culture and Heritage is creating a webpage for each New Zealander who served in or visited Vietnam during the war years.

Registered users can log in and leave comments and memories, upload content or make contact with other subscribers.

The online roll is searchable by name, service number and unit and includes information on NZ visitors and civilians in the country between 1964 and 1972.

It also contains information on honours and awards, and NZ units in Vietnam.

“Now we want to upload a photograph, a memory or memento of every New Zealander on the list. That’s more than 3300 individuals - servicemen, servicewomen and volunteers with stories of travelling into the war zone over nearly a decade. If people have photos please contact us.” says project coordinator Claire Hall.

The expanded and updated Vietnam War nominal roll has been published in full on the website www.vietnamwar.govt.nz, and has been used to create a Facebook-style page for each New Zealander on the list.

For example:

http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/veteran/cpl-h-grey

http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/veteran/miss-a-wilkes

http://www.vietnamwar.govt.nz/veteran/sgt-dg-roberts

Photographs can be uploaded to the site, posted to PO Box 5364 Wellington, or sent to info@vietnamwar.govt.nz.

Extracts from interviews recorded for the Vietnam War Oral History project - some 140 recordings with veterans and their families - are also being added to the website. More than half of these interviews are now available through the National Library.

The Vietnam War digital archive is a valuable resource for students of social and military history, and family history researchers.

“We’ve seen this format work really well with the 28th Māori Battalion site, and hope these changes will encourage our Vietnam War community - veterans, their families and whanau - to stay connected for many years to come,” Claire Hall says.

The Every Veteran campaign will be promoted at Remembrance Day events in Papakura and Manurewa this weekend.

ENDS

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