Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University, Nathalie Huynh Chau Nguyen, will launch her book titled ‘South Vietnamese Soldiers: Memories of the Vietnam War and After’ next Monday.

The book brings to life the involvement and memories of the men and women who served in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces and draws on a key oral history collection at the National Library of Australia.

It captures the services of the South Vietnamese soldiers from three regions – southern, central and northern Vietnam – as well as the services of soldiers in different branches including the army, the air force, the marines and the Women’s Armed Forces Corps.

The book also examines the experiences of two generations of soldiers and provides insights on their military service as well as their post-war lives.

In an interview with TiVi Tuan-san, Natalie said the book sheds light on unexplored aspects of the war.

“South Vietnamese soldiers have been forgotten in the wider historiography of the Vietnam War and they have been erased from history in post-war Vietnam,” she said.

“It’s a part of history that Vietnam has not acknowledged.”

Nathalie started researching her book ‘South Vietnamese Soldiers: Memories of the Vietnam War and After’ in 2010, and explained how she struggled with the topic at first.

“It was very hard to write for a number of different reasons. Partly because there’s been a vast amount written on the Vietnam War, I mean it’s a huge topic in terms of the historiography of the war.

“But within that vast amount of material, there’s been so little written about the South Vietnamese army. Either they’re not referred to at all or they are only referred to in a negative way.

“It’s very hurtful to read that in the historiography and I’m sure it’s been something that’s been incredibly hurtful for the Vietnamese diaspora, especially for the veterans who actually served in the war.

“When I was working on this, I felt very strongly that I was presenting a very different viewpoint that existed in the historiography of the war

“The historiography of the war has been dominated by America – by American historians and by American perceptions of the war and then there’s been a fair bit of research done on North Vietnam and on other allies in the war.

“But I mean, the war was fought on South Vietnam soil and the South Vietnamese were central participants in the war so it is really strange that there’s this gap in the history of the Vietnam war and this gap is the absence of material on South Vietnam, on the South Vietnamese army and all the South Vietnamese who served the country during the war – whether they were soldiers or whether they were diplomats like my father or ordinary citizens.”

Natalie arrived in Australia as a child refugee with her family. Her father had been South Vietnam’s last Ambassador to Japan before the fall of Saigon and also a negotiator at the Paris peace talks.

She has held two major Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships: an ARC Australian Research Fellowship (2005-10) and an ARC Future Fellowship (2011-15) allowing her to focus her works on the Vietnamese diaspora and Vietnamese veterans in Australia.

Her other fellowships include a 2007 Harold White Fellowship at the National Library of Australia, and a 2011 Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford.

Nathalie has previously written three books, two of which has been translated into other languages.

Her latest book is dedicated to the memory of her father who passed away in 2013 as well as the men and women who served in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces.

“I hope there will be a lot of support. I’m really glad that the book is completed, that it was published by a major American publisher in the United States,” Natalie said.

“It is about shedding light on the history and on lives that had been forgotten by history so far.”

‘South Vietnamese Soldiers: Memories of the Vietnam War and After’ will be launched at the Multicultural Hub, Drill Hall in Melbourne on May 9, 2016.