Lifesavers wear many different uniforms

Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Simkin 

Retired veteran Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Simkin might have grown up being familiar with Defence life – her father was a World War I and II veteran and her grandfather served in the Boer War – but her own Defence career was one of happenstance. 

What started as what Leslie describes as a “stop gap” became a 20-year long career as a nurse in the Australian Army, including a pivotal deployment in Vietnam. 

“I thought I’d just give it a try,” the 75-year-old explains. “I was planning to go overseas and had finished my nursing training. I’d often see some Sisters – or Registered Nurses – who were in the reserve in their grey uniforms. It was what we’d all aspire to be.” 

So, while saving to go overseas, the then 21-year-old Leslie was appointed as a nurse in the Army Reserves on full-time duty at 2 Camp Hospital, Ingleburn. After reaching her savings goal she left for Canada, returning a year later with her desire to travel the world firmly ignited.

“I wanted to get back to New York” she says.

“I had come home to save money and I thought I would go back into the Reserves because I’d really enjoyed that time. It was a good way to save money and I truly enjoyed the work I was doing.”

Leslie met with the Matron at Sydney's Victoria Barracks on a Thursday and was asked if she could start the following Monday.

“When I re-joined, the Barracks had become a military hospital and was getting casualties back from Vietnam. It was very busy and rewarding.”

A CALL TO VIETNAM

Leslie with a young patient in Vietnam 

A call into her Matron’s office after a shift changed the course of Leslie’s career. She was told that in two months, she’d be posted to Vietnam. 

“I’d been at the send offs for some of our RNs, some of the first four nurses who left for Vietnam in 1967. I knew that it would be busy when we arrived in Vietnam. I ended up serving 368 days in Vietnam and there were only 13 of us rotating through shifts during that time,” she says. 

“There were 100 hospital beds, and if you can imagine we worked 12-hour shifts, six or seven days a week. I was thankful I had some previous ICU experience having worked at the first ICU at Prince Henry Hospital in Sydney to feel okay working with patients on ventilators and iron lungs.” 

THE REALITIES OF WAR

A medical transport bus at the field hospital where Leslie was stationed

On reflection, Leslie doesn’t think anything could have prepared her for the loneliness she felt while in Vietnam, but her training had prepared her for the volume of patients they treated.

“It was a very hard time,” she explains. “There were a couple of times I could have given up, but I thought of all the Sisters who had gone before me.”

“I thought of all the girls who’d served previously, those that had become POWs and I couldn’t give up because they didn’t give up. That’s what got me through.”

After returning home to Australia, Leslie went on to spend another two decades serving in the Army.

“Those of us who stayed in the service after coming home were able to be there for each other. We had a support network because of our shared experiences, and it still exists today,” she says.  

For Leslie, her career held many firsts, including being one of the first nurses to stay in Defence after marrying and then again after giving birth to her son. 

“There were many highlights during my career, including going on a 3-month stint to Aldershot Military Hospital as part of a Long Look exchange, studying for my Diploma of Applied Science, and being named in the Queen’s Honours List,” she says. 

As to her deployment to Vietnam shaping her as an individual and her career, Leslie says it was an experience that gave her greater awareness.

“It gave me greater knowledge of where the Corp should be and what role nurses should have in conflicts. And I think about how lucky veterans today are to have the support and recognition they have.”

A DAY TO REMEMBER

Leslie during her deployment

The Vietnam War was Australia’s longest military engagement of the 20th Century, with almost 60,000 Australians serving between 1962 and 1972. More than 500 soldiers tragically died in the conflict and 3,000 were wounded. 

Vietnam Veterans’ Day is commemorated on 18 August – the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in 1966 – to remember those who sacrificed their life in the battle and give the respect and thanks deserved to the Australian Defence personnel who served during Australia’s 10 years of involvement in the war. 

Leslie says the day gives her a moment to reflect on all those who served in Vietnam, the soldiers they had as patients and those who didn’t come home. 

“I feel a great sense of pride in our boys as we always used to call them. I think of all the ones who didn’t come back and the ones who came home injured. It either made them or broke them.” 

And while it took her many more years than expected to get back to her beloved New York, Leslie finally did. 

“I’ve been back now many times and have been very lucky to travel all over the world. Spain, France, Italy, the UK, even the North Pole. I’ve loved it all.” 

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