Involvement In The Vietnam War

As a result from all the protesting, lifestyles, families and friends were disturbed. The war split NZ into two sides - people who felt strongly that the war was a terrible mistake on behalf of NZ, and people who it didn't effect very strongly. This caused some families to fall apart, because of their beliefs.
For the people who weren't effected as significantly, they just carried on with their normal day to day lives. The events didn't effect them or bother them as much as it did to others.
Some of the students who participated in the protests were arrested by the police. This posed a few worries, as they now had a criminal conviction. This would be significant because it would limit the activity of those who were convicted and stop them
from being able to travel to certain countries with strict rules and regulations.

Even 60 years after the war, the significance of our involvement in the Vietnam war is huge.
Many websites, such as stuff.co.nz and The New Zealand Herald are still reporting on matters to do with the war. This picture is from an article reporting on “Vietnam veterans honoured at Linton 50 years after 'first gun ready' signal”. This is significant because people are still reading, learning, and watching documentaries on it. This article was 1 out of 1740 new articles reporting on the significance of the
war.
In November 2004, Te Papa Museum in Wellington did an exhibition on life in the 70’s including a section covering the anti-war protests in NZ, and in August 2012, There was an exhibition in Gisborne, called the “Vietnam Remembered” exhibit. This shows that people are still interested in the Vietnam War story and NZ is still able to show there side to the story.
In 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Vietnam veterans and their families, was signed by the NZ Government and The Crown. It stated that “a trust to support veterans’ children, a national reunion, and official ‘welcome home’ parade named Tribute 08, and a formal Crown apology.” It also included an “oral history project” and a formation of a “digital archive” for the families and the soldiers. But for some veterans, this apology from the government wasn't enough - some had serious health conditions from exposure to the harmful ‘Agent Orange’ - or sadly, it was just too late. Some families wanted compensation for their family and generations that were to come in the future.
In May 2008, service men to the war were awarded with the New Zealand General Service Medal and Vietnam clasp in honour of fighting in the war. Later on, the NZDF (New Zealand Defence Force) said that “more than 3000 New Zealand Vietnam veterans were eligible for this medal.” These veterans are now recognised involved in the annual ANZAC day ceremony and celebrated for their brave heroism.
"What's been so painful for those soldiers is that they did their duty for the country and they've really been treated extremely badly by successive Governments in terms of the sickness that they picked up while serving there.”
On 23rd July 2014, Claire Hall published a book called “No Front Line: Inside stories of New Zealand's Vietnam War” (published by penguin books) is about the personal perspectives of NZ in the Vietnam war.
This is significant because it shows that people are still interested in reading about the topic and our involvement is still very much alive today.
The Vietnam war was very significant to NZ because of the harm it caused to our troops. Many New Zealanders believed it would be a bad idea to send troops into combat, which lead to thousands of people taking to the street in protest. To this day, the terrifying events of the war are still studied, taught, read about and documented, showing that this fight is one we will remember. Finally, in April 1975, North Vietnam won the war and Ho Chi Minh took over the running of
Vietnam.