AUSTRALIAN MILITAR Vietnam –

More than sixty-three thousand young Australians were drafted into national service during the Vietnam War. The ‘nashos’ were chosen by chance, when their birthdates were drawn from a lottery barrel. Not all of them ended up in Vietnam, but their random fate came to symbolise the war, and divide a nation. Drawing on interviews with more than one hundred and fifty former nashos, and their wartime diaries and letters, award-winning author and journalist Mark Dapin tells the full story of national service in Australia for the first time. The Nashos’ War sorts fact from myth and describes our most controversial military commitment in the words of these average, remarkable Australians.

• 470 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 20 cm. #290826

• Notes:

  • First published by Penguin Group, 2014.
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 441-446) and index.

  Subject:

  • National service — Personal narratives, Australian
  • National service — Australia
  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975 — Personal narratives, Australian
  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975 — Participation, Australian
  • Australia — Armed Forces — Recruiting, enlistment, etc
  • Australia — Armed Forces — Military life — History