Taken From The New Zealand Herald Wed 28 May 2008
The New Zealand Government will publicly apologise to Vietnam War veterans and their families, recognising the servicemen were not treated fairly when they returned from war.
The apology, which will be made in Parliament on Wednesday, was agreed to in a memorandum of understanding between the Government, the Ex-Vietnam Services Association and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association in 2006.
The memorandum, a $30 million package that resulted from a report on the veterans' concerns, also includes an ex-gratis payment of $40,000 for those with prescribed medical conditions and a $25,000 payment to the spouses of veterans who have died.
"The apology will recognise that Vietnam veterans were not treated fairly on their return to New Zealand after the war," Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
"Those who served in Vietnam, like other New Zealand soldiers before and after them, undertook their duties bravely, loyally and professionally. The apology, and the memorandum of understanding more generally, are about recognising the service and sacrifices of Vietnam veterans and their families."
RSA president Air Vice Marshal Robin Klitscher, who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, said the apology meant the Government was taking responsibility for the way veterans were treated.
"It's a pity that [an apology] was ever due ... There's no doubt that New Zealand's involvement in the war was controversial. New Zealand allowed the soldiers to come back and take the blame. That's not fair. They were doing what the Government sent them to do.
They landed at Whenuapai in the middle of the night and were told to put on civilian clothes, go home and not tell anyone where they'd been."
Meantime Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has cautioned that today's apology to veterans of the Vietnam War must not glorify war and she says that the people of Vietnam are owed an apology as well.
"Do we have the moral fibre to apologise to them too?"
Mrs Turia said there were good grounds for a heartfelt apology to New Zealand's Vietnam veterans and that the Maori Party supported an official apology.
But she said there should be a distinction between acknowledging the sacrifices made by the veterans and their families "and the Government insisting there was honour and glory involved in the Vietnam War".
Ex-Vietnam Services Association spokesman Chris Mullane said veterans had high expectations of the apology. "[They hope] it will be a sincere and genuine apology that will address the various concerns raised.
"There were 35 or more years of denial that any of the health problems and so on had anything to do with being sprayed by Agent Orange. There's a number of layers of grievance, things that need to be remedied in this apology.
"It's significant not only for the veterans and their families, it's also significant for the nation as a whole in that this 40 years of neglect and mistreatment has become a national issue.
The apology will be made on behalf of the Crown, which elevates it in importance over an apology given as head of the Government.
Such apologies, which are also made to iwi in Treaty of Waitangi settlements, are usually the culmination of a more consultative process with other parties.
