Film helps Vietnam veteran heal
Going back to the place of his worst nightmares was a step in healing for Vietnam veteran, Brian Cleaver.
In July 1967 he was conscripted into the Australian Army. And in March of 1968 he was one of many young soldiers sent to fight a war he didn’t fully comprehend.
It was only two months later that Cleaver survived the 1968 Battle of Coral and Balmoral in which 26 Australian and 300 North Vietnamese were killed.
Cleaver was tormented by doubt. “What the hell are we doing here? What are we here for? Why are we killing these people, why are our men being killed?”
Like many war veterans, Cleaver has been living with post-traumatic stress disorder since his return to Australia.
He believes that there is a lack of knowledge and acknowledgement for Australia’s part in the Vietnam War.
“We went and did that job to the best of our ability. Then to be brought home, snuck home in the middle of the night to avoid protesters. No acknowledgement, to this day, I think it’s just woeful.” He said.
It was in returning to Vietnam, decades after the war, that Cleaver found a new purpose.
He was asked to help find the bodies of North Vietnamese soldiers killed in the Balmoral Battle.
“I met the secretary of the local people’s committee ... he had a record, an actual type written record stating that 41 men were missing in action, we buried 42."
There is a belief in Vietnam that the spirits of the deceased will not move on until their bodies have been given a proper burial.
Cleaver approached Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker David Bradbury to tell his story.
The Crater follows Cleaver’s search for bodies and reflects on the horrors that he and others like him faced in Vietnam.
“We did five nights of recreation of the Battle of Balmoral which we shot south of Sydney. We advertised in the army reserve newspaper that we wanted some guys with military experience ideally to play the Australians in Vietnam,” Bradbury said.
He hopes the film portrays the futility of war.
“War is a savage business and it usually messes up the soldiers on both sides that fight it.”
The Film and Television institute is hosting a preview screening of The Crater at the WA State Library, on April 8 followed by a Q&A session with Cleaver and Bradbury.
During the week leading up to ANZAC day, The Crater will be aired on ABC on April 23.
In recent years, Cleaver has found comfort in ANZAC day. It is there he feels the recognition he had missed out on as a young serviceman returning home.
“The crowds are actually getting bigger and bigger. And the accolades from the crowd when the Vietnam veterans go past is getting louder and louder,” he said.
Cleaver’s next hope is for Australia to get involved in organising a memorial to be built at Balmoral.
Large numbers of North Vietnamese were killed at Coral and Balmoral fire support bases. "Coral has a memorial, Balmoral doesn’t,” he said.
