Flag of a lost country

By Lia Bichel
The photo depicts the wife of a South Vietnamese officer sewing the flag of freedom and is signed by the wife of an ex-South Vietnamese President.
The exhibition, Working Together: South Vietnamese and Australian soldiers in the Vietnam War, was opened on 13 August.
The Shrine developed the exhibition in partnership with veterans of the Vietnam War in an attempt to provide a new perspective on the war through the stories of South Vietnamese Australians and their Australian Army counterparts.
Dandenong RSL’s President of the Vietnam War Memorial, John Filmer, said he was pleased the RSL could contribute the photo.
“In commemoration of the war it’s important to remember what went on and the sacrifices our boys made,” he said.
Dandenong RSL member Peter Nguyen, who was a first lieutenant in the airborne from Saigon City, said the exhibition brought back many memories of the war.
In February 1971, Mr Nguyen was captured and put in a communist re-education camp until released in 1977.
“The conditions were horrible, I was always hungry,” he said.
“We had no contact with anyone. My mother thought I was dead. It was very emotional.”
He eventually fled to a refugee camp in Indonesia for six months, before moving to Australia in 1983.
Mr Nguyen and Mr Filmer encouraged residents to visit the exhibition, which will be held at the Shrine of Remembrance Western Visitor Centre Birdwood Avenue, South Melbourne until 14 November.