Frank Clarke is a Wergaia and Gunditjmara man. He grew up on the Aboriginal reserve at Bordertown in South Australia and came to Adelaide to join the army in 1964.  He went to Vietnam in as a member of 5RAR in May 1966, departing Australia only two days after being married. Deployed as a rifleman, Frank’s most memorable operation was as in support of 6RAR in the Battle of Long Tan. Discharged from the army in 1970, Frank later worked in the railways and then as public servant.

We were on alert 24 hours a day so the adrenalin was just on the edge of bursting – as soon as anything happened it’d just go sky high, and that was it.