Interview with Geoffrey Barnes [sound recording] Interviewer: Dr Susan Mann, part 1 of 2

Interview with Geoff Barnes who was a National Serviceman in the Vietnam War. Geoff talks about his parents who were teachers; his doting grandmother and paternal grandfather who was a great mentor; being conscripted in the 'lottery' system; degree and teacher training; going to Puckapunyal for basic training; reason for joining the Medical Corps; lack of good training; initial posting at Puckapunyal; going through the medical and the doctor's questions; mistaken decisions; 8 Field Ambulance in Vietnam; Watson's Bay in Sydney; flight to Saigon; Vung Tau camp of around 1,000 people; tropical weather; being a medical orderly then working in the laboratory; working relationships; laboratory work, testing for malaria; restricted nature of the experience; not contacting people for years after his return from Vietnam; Vung Tau township; 'Cheap Charlie' song; reading to pass the time; casualties; how the helicopters came in determined the seriousness of the casulaties; scrounging goods from the Americans; the impact of the experience in the Army; teaching English to the Vietnamese; anxiety; 12 months in Vietnam; return to Keswick barracks; nobody asked him about the war; teaching in Darwin; stress led to his resignation; labouring on an oil rig; travelling overseas for 2 years; meeting Helena and returning to Australia overland by motor bike; returning to his grandmother's house to look after her and Helena's father; blacksmithing; health problems of returned servicemen; cancer on his leg; RSL help with getting a pension; assessment by a pyschiatrist; upgrading the pension; War ruined many people's lives as nothing was ever the same again; and having a more flexible life by not being a teacher.

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