The men from “Tent 28” met as a group for the first time in over 40 years as they visited the Vietnam Memorial in Canberra on Friday.

The veterans included former Bega resident Brian Pender, who was thought to have died during the conflict until his tent-mate Ross Benton discovered otherwise and wrote to the Bega District News to try to track him down (BDN, 23/4).

Both were members of Headquarters 1st Australian Task Force based in Nui Dat and had to be evacuated from South Vietnam in July 1970 after contracting a severe case of the mosquito-borne meningoencephalitis. 

The brain inflammation disease had laid them low in Vung Tau military hospital before they were repatriated to Australia.

The BDN is proud to have been able to help Mr Pender get back in contact with his fellow veterans, the result of which was an emotional reunion in Canberra over the weekend.

Joining Mr Pender and Mr Benton at the Vietnam Memorial were their former tent-mates Neil Daw and Chris Bean as well as fellow veterans Ian Palfrey and Ken Graham, who was also “missing in action” for the past 43 years.

Several of the men’s wives also joined them in support.

* MEET THE MEN OF TENT 28, click here

* REUNION PROVIDES CLOSURE, click here for story

“It was very humbling to realise that my former tent mates had put so much effort into finding me,” Mr Pender said. 

“Bearing in mind that I never realised I was lost, and by some accounts deceased.

“It is very difficult to put into words my initial feeling when I saw Ross, Neil, Ken and Chris for the first time in over 40 years,” Mr Pender said.

“Our last time together was so different and a lifetime away from the reality of today’s world.

“However, apart from the obvious ravages of time, the memories came back - gradually at first, but then in floods as we recounted our experiences back then.

“Later at the Vietnam Memorial the familiar faces, voices and long forgotten unique gestures made it seem as though we had been caught up in some time warp, only to be brought back together some 40 years later with little regard for the passage of time, in many ways it was surreal.”

Mr Pender said the memorial itself was very emotional and overwhelming, the recorded sounds of chopper blades, gunfire and voiceovers proving too much.

However, his troubled recollections also brought home the fact he had not taken the journey alone.

“One of the wives followed me out and, after I was able to compose myself, I realised that my comrades and me had not taken this journey alone,” Mr Pender said.

“Our wives had also taken a silent burden of our experiences, they were the ones who listened when no-one else cared and stood by us through our continuing rehabilitation and finally to where we are today.

“Some long-suffering veteran's wife once wrote, ‘His fight was in Vietnam, my fight is the Vietnam in him.’

“Having said that that I owe so much to my wife Carolyn. 

“We may have got the medals, but they certainly shared the pain - and continue to do so.

“I have a beautiful wife, two lovely children and five adorable granddaughters, so out of adversity has come some wonderful rewards.”

Much of the barrier preventing Mr Pender’s reunion with his former colleagues until now was an illness-induced memory loss.

Both he and Mr Benton contracted encephalitis during the Vietnam conflict and were shipped home to convalesce.

It was as a result of Mr Benton’s returning recollections he wrote to the BDN in his quest to track down his former friends.

“I have now come a long way towards filling in the gaps that I had moved to the back of my mind,” Mr Pender said. 

“On many occasions over the years I questioned myself, as to how I remembered those times.

“Had I remembered them correctly, made them up, or overheard other people’s accounts of their experiences?

“But now I'm at ease, my recollections were correct after all, these things really did happen to me, and I was perhaps part of something that for some small period of time changed the world.”

The men of Tent 28 plan to remain in touch and are also intending to meet up again, in Tasmania in November 2014.