John Schumann of Redgum:
"We've just put out a single called "I Was Only 19" or "A Walk in the Light Green" and, ah, it's a song about two mates of mine who went to Vietnam and came back Agent Orange victims. It's, ah, the title "A Walk in the Light Green" stems from the fact that, when the Australian soldiers in Vietnam were given their missions they looked at the areas that they'd be working in on the map, and if ah, it was sort of dark green on the map, there was cause for some consolation, 'cause dark green meant thick jungle, lots of cover and there were no mines. If they were working in areas that were light green on the map, that meant light jungle, not much cover and heaps of mines."
Puckapunyal is an army training base in Victoria, Canungra and Shoalwater are bases that provide specialist training in jungle warfare.
Vung Tau and Nui Dat are cities in Vietnam.
Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the original name given to the forces that landed on Gallipoli Beach in World War One.
Agent Orange was a herbicide used to kill the jungle to reduce the cover.
This song reduced me to tears the first time I heard it. My Dad played it for me, and we both sobbed. Though he didn't go to Vietnam, he's old enough to have friends who did, and who have had their lives destroyed by that war.
John Schumann of Redgum: "We've just put out a single called "I Was Only 19" or "A Walk in the Light Green" and, ah, it's a song about two mates of mine who went to Vietnam and came back Agent Orange victims. It's, ah, the title "A Walk in the Light Green" stems from the fact that, when the Australian soldiers in Vietnam were given their missions they looked at the areas that they'd be working in on the map, and if ah, it was sort of dark green on the map, there was cause for some consolation, 'cause dark green meant thick jungle, lots of cover and there were no mines. If they were working in areas that were light green on the map, that meant light jungle, not much cover and heaps of mines."
Puckapunyal is an army training base in Victoria, Canungra and Shoalwater are bases that provide specialist training in jungle warfare. Vung Tau and Nui Dat are cities in Vietnam. Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the original name given to the forces that landed on Gallipoli Beach in World War One. Agent Orange was a herbicide used to kill the jungle to reduce the cover.
This song reduced me to tears the first time I heard it. My Dad played it for me, and we both sobbed. Though he didn't go to Vietnam, he's old enough to have friends who did, and who have had their lives destroyed by that war.