His name graces a highway bridge in Hazelbrook, but Private Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Field died in combat in South Vietnam more than half a century ago, and until recently lay buried in a war cemetery at Terendak in Malaysia.
Now Private Field and another Lawson soldier, Corporal Bob Bowtell, who died in a Viet Cong tunnel, are finally coming home – with 23 other Australian soldiers who died and were buried at the closest military base cemeteries in neighbouring countries Malaysia and also in Singapore in the 1960s.
Following a campaign called Operation Bring Them Home by the Vietnam Veterans’ Association, their bodies will be exhumed from the Terendak Military Cemetery as part of one of Australia’s largest repatriations, and returned home during a military ceremony at Richmond RAAF Base on Thursday, June 2.
Their families will be there to meet them, including Ronald Field’s widow, Dianne Field, who now lives in Culburra on the NSW South Coast.
“It gives you some closure,” she told the Blue Mountains Gazette.
“When Ron died I was only 18 and it’s hard to say ‘He’s gone’ but there’s nothing.”
Due to a shortlived change in policy during the 1960s, the soldiers remains were left overseas. Some 40,000 plus people signed a petition at change.org which led the government to bring the soldiers back.
“I don’t know why they didn’t bring them back. They should have brought them straight back,” Mrs Field said.
Private Field served for two years in Malaya, before being sent to Vietnam where he was shot in the throat by a sniper in the Ben Cat area at Phuoc Tuy on October 9, 1965. He was 22.
Corporal Bowtell, 25, an engineer, died from carbon monoxide poisoning while exploring a Viet Cong tunnel, also at Ben Cat, three months later.
President of the First Battalion Association, Michael Waldron, who was the last person who saw Ron Field alive, will be there on the tarmac at Richmond, to say goodbye to Ron and three other soldiers from his company.
“I’m pleased that they are coming home. I know that this event will bring some of the families together again,” he said.
Mrs Field is getting prepared for an “emotional day” at Richmond RAAF base.
“We can finally say ‘C’mon mate, you’re home now'.”
Vietnam Veterans’ Association’s vice president Bob Shewring, who led the Bring Them Home campaign, said it had been “a long road”.
Ronald Field and the men from his troop will be buried the day after the ceremony at Rookwood cemetery.
“He’s been with these fellows for 51 years and they should stay together,” Mrs Field said.