Samuel George Anderson
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Lance Corporal
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
Royal Australian Infantry Corps
Australian Army
National Service 1967-69
Vietnam Veteran
Medals and Awards
Australian Active Service Medal with clasp Vietnam
Vietnam Medal
Australian Defence Medal
Anniversary of National Service 1951-72 Medal
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Unit Citation for Gallantry – Battle of Coral-Balmoral
Infantry Combat Badge
I was born in Nambour in the Bli Bli area on the 27th of August 1946. We moved to Brisbane when I was 10 years old. I started work at 13 and a half years old at IBC and stayed there for 10 years. I was called up for National Service in April 1967 and assigned to the infantry. In December 1967, I was deployed to Vietnam with 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and between May and June 1968, I took part in the Battle of Coral and Balmoral, we fought North Vietnamese regulars and VC for 26 days. We weren’t issued a Unit Citation for Gallantry for our part in this battle until 2018 – it took them 50 years to recognise us.
When we’d left for Vietnam, there was no one there to wave goodbye to us, and when we came back to Australia from Vietnam in December 1968, the only people who were there to meet us were the protesters. When we marched through Adelaide, like a lot of Vietnam vets, we were pelted with eggs and rotten tomatoes. They called us women and child killers.
I was discharged from the Army a few months later on the 19th of April 1969 with the rank of Lance corporal. After getting out of the army, I tried to put Vietnam and everything out of my head, even the army. I lost contact with all of my Army buddies, but they found me and welcomed me after 38 years. I wear my medals with pride now.
I wasn’t the first in my family to serve; my Uncle Ray Bowda served in Korea, and my grandfather, Samson Bowda, was among the earliest Indigenous volunteers for service in WW2 despite the discrimination, enlisting on the 1st May 1940. He was one of the famous Rats of Tobruk in North Africa and was killed in action there in May 1941. His grave is unknown, but his service and sacrifice are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial in Egypt, the Nambour Maroochy Shire War Memorial, and on the Rolls of Honour of the 2/12 Battalion and the Australian War Memorial.
I love my family, my three children, and my seven grandchildren. My wish for them is that they just all grow up without ever having to fight anyone else.
“Our parents are the glue that keeps the family together
They are the place to celebrate milestones
They are the places that create memories
They are the place of new beginnings and forever endings
THEY ARE HOME
THEY ARE THE GLUE
THEY ARE OUR FAMILY.”
This poem is about Dee Dee and Samuel Anderson and was written by their family.
