ripples of wartime

ANGELA MERTENS

WIFE OF RETURNED NATIONAL SERVICEMAN

Angela Mertens fell in love and married her husband Ted after he returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam as a National Serviceman. Raising a family in Port Pirie in South Australia, Angela learned that Ted and other returned soldiers were profoundly effected by their time in Vietnam and had great difficulty readjusting to civilian life. Now a widow, Angela sees the experience of veterans’ partners and families as being a difficult, private and often lonely journey.

A lot of the wives of veterans, we don’t talk amongst ourselves like the men do. It’s all very personal. It’s a hard journey to walk, and it’s one that we walk by ourselves.

We acknowledge that the land on which we live, and work is the  traditional land of the Kaurna people and pay our respects to their  Elders - past, present and future. Brink supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart and enshrining a Voice to Parliament in the Constitution. 

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