Hundreds of Australian entertainers volunteered to perform in the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) during the war. Despite hazardous conditions and gruelling schedules, the performers boosted morale and provided a vital sense of normality. Their contribution to military personnel proved inestimable.
Many famous and less-well-known Australian entertainers volunteered to perform in the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Their contribution to lifting the morale of men and women who faced a year in a war zone was inestimable.
Motivated by patriotism, or a simple desire for adventure, and willing to brave the obvious dangers one could face in Vietnam, hundreds of Australian performers made the trip, many more than once. Between 1967 and 1971, some 50 troupes left Australia for South Vietnam.
Some entertainers came into close proximity to combat events. Like Little Pattie and Col Joye, who were performing at the Nui Dat base on the day of the Long Tan battle. Mostly, the performances took place on more subdued occasions.
Lorrae Desmond, whose fame endured well beyond the Vietnam War years, travelled there 5 times. She had already performed in war zones for the British Foreign Office, but until Christmas 1967 had never performed for her own country's personnel on active service. More important than the shows, she felt, were the less public moments when she visited men in hospital or simply spent time sharing a meal or chatting with troops.
Australian entertainers could get to South Vietnam in several ways:
- a contract through a commercial agency
- volunteer through the government-sponsored Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment (FACE)
- volunteer through the Australian Forces Overseas Fund.
Entertainers received a daily allowance, transport, accommodation (often rudimentary indeed) and a security guarantee. The security guarantee was a serious concern because the possibility of coming to harm in a country where violent death was commonplace sufficed to deter many performers from visiting South Vietnam.
Sadly, one Australian entertainer was killed. Cathy Wayne died performing at the United States (US) Marine Corps base at Da Nang when she was shot in the chest. The sergeant accused of the killing was convicted, but served just 2 years before being released, leaving the killer's identity and motive a mystery.
Many Australian entertainers also performed for American audiences.
After auditioning in Sydney, Don Morrison's band, Xanadu, was contracted to play a series of shows at US bases. Ironically, the band felt that they had no choice but to go overseas when 2 of their members became eligible for national service. Morrison later described it as 'running away to a war to avoid one'.
Many who played shows in front of US personnel found the racial tensions that bedevilled many American units remained close to the surface. A performer's choice of song could determine the tenor of a concert. Soul music, such as songs by Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross or Otis Redding, pleased African American troops but drew the ire of some whites, while 'white music' annoyed African Americans. Performers who experienced such tensions found playing for the more racially homogenous Australians a far easier experience.
Whoever their audience, most entertainers endured a gruelling schedule of performances in a hot, humid, uncomfortable environment. Three shows of more than one hour each day was a common schedule.
Performers who went to South Vietnam with a commercial agency lacked organised transport and accommodation. They had to travel by whatever means available. Low on the list of priorities, they could be forced to wait long and empty hours for a lift or a flight.
Whatever motivated entertainers to be there, performing a series of shows in South Vietnam lacked the glamour that might have been associated with playing in Australia. But the musicians, dancers, comedians and others who put on shows for military personnel in South Vietnam brought an hour or 2 of normality to men and women whose lives were consumed by war.