FEBRUARY 1971 was hot and standing out with their new uniforms and shiny boots is the one of the first recollections that Swan Hill man Greg Whitla has of landing in Vietnam.

After 14 hours on board a Hercules C-130 cargo plane, Mr Whitla and 10 others landed at Tan Son Nhat as reinforcements.

“We were an advance party so there was no one there to say goodbye,” Mr Whitla recalls of his exper...