Gerald Hinton recently spoke on behalf of the Australian Network of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to a Probus Club Meeting. At question time an ex Digger shared this story from a Vietnam Veteran Motor Cycle Club Member, who did not want to be named, which in far more meaningful words than mine gave the audience another perspective of what it is like to be a landmine victim:
A soldier was finally coming home after the completion of his "tour of duty" in South Vietnam. He phoned his parents from Sydney: "Mum and Dad, I'm coming home but I have a favour to ask, I have a mate I'd like to bring home with me."
"Of course," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."
"There's something you should know" the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly during the jungle patrol. He stepped on a mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere to go and I want him to come and live with us?"
"Sorry to hear that son," said the father, "maybe we can help him to find somewhere to live."
"No, Mum and Dad I want him to come and live with us!" the son pleaded.
"Son, you don't know what you are asking, someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let someone like this, disrupt our normal routine. I think you should just come home and forget about this bloke. He'll find a way to live on his own."
At that point the son hung up the phone.
The parents heard nothing more from him. A few weeks later however, they received a call from the police in Sydney. Their son had died after falling from the roof of a building. The police suspected suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to Sydney to identify the body of their son. They recognised him but to their horror they also discovered something they did not know. Their son only had one arm and one leg!
Just one of the many appalling results of landmine use.
source unknown
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