Vietnam era enriched

By AB Simone Spano

Boxing bouts between members of the Navy and Army were designed to keep minds sharp and crowds entertained. Here HMAS Sydney II PTI Brad Stead delivers a punch that may have been on the low side.

The author of a new book on Navy’s involvement in Vietnam said he “wanted people to smell the Orient, to look at the uniforms and go back in time.”

“I wanted to capture the spirit of some of the best years of those peoples’ lives,” Stephen Lewis said.

And so began the personal mission of an ex-army clerk turned self-publisher to set out on his own voyage to document the RAN’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

Voyages to Vietnam is a full-colour, hard covered book with over 200 pages of more than 600 beautifully presented photographs taken by Australian naval and military veterans of the Vietnam conflict.

Voyages to Vietnam is the companion volume to Stephen Lewis’s first best selling book My Vietnam.

Inspired by his “brief and uncomplicated tour of duty” in South Vietnam as a clerk in an artillery regiment of the RAA, Stephen Lewis’s first collection has been critically acclaimed.

However, if, in his own words “sheer madness” wasn’t enough to inspire a second book, then the repeated comment from RAN members that “yeah, it’s a nice book but there’s not much Navy stuff in it,” certainly was.

One of the most appealing qualities of Voyages to Vietnam is its power of collective positive imagery.

It is a pleasure to turn the page of a historical documentation of naval activity and be confronted with the laughter and spirit, the smiles and the personality of its serving members.

Indeed, the book highlights the very human element of the Vietnam conflict.

It comes as no surprise then, that the book is widely available in school and community libraries and military museums and bookstores.

It is also used by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in post-conflict counselling.

With his first book now in its second printing and Voyages to Vietnam very likely to demand the same, Stephen Lewis can confidently declare: mission accomplished.

To get a copy of My Vietnam or Voyages to Vietnam log-on to www.myvietnam.com.au.

The recommended retail price is $69.95.

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