C OMPLETENESS OF THE N OMINAL R OLL

The NRVV was the first consolidated nominal roll produced of Australian

veterans of the Vietnam War and included both military and civilian personnel. A number of discrete rolls existed prior to 1996 and military historians are still mining archival material in order to produce and publish unit and ship histories for the Vietnam War period. These histories often contain rolls of personnel who served in those units or ships.

3.1.1 Original data sources

The mortality study published in 1997 reports that the data for the NRVV was originally sourced from the DoD. The rolls of Navy and Army personnel were developed from lists supplied by Navy Office and Army Office respectively. For Air Force, a computer file containing 3,728 Air Force personnel who met the eligibility criteria for the study formed the original source document. As it contained fewer names than the official figure, missing names were identified by cross-checking the computer file against other published lists and each potential addition was checked and confirmed as having served in Vietnam by referring to his personal file from Air Force archive. Other names were added from lists provided by the Royal Australian Air Force Historical Section.¹

3.1.2 Work undertaken since 1996

The NRVV was first published in 1996. Individual veterans, historians and ex-Service organisations reviewed the publication and forwarded notifications of errors and omissions. Further work to improve the Nominal Roll was undertaken by DVA, although it does not yet contain all the information required to be published as a commemorative nominal roll. A summary of additions and deletions is provided in Table 3-1 at the end of this section.

Notifications from individuals and ex-Service organisations

In the 1996 version of the NRVV, DVA requested all readers who identified errors or omissions in the roll to contact the relevant branch of the DoD. That Department verified the request and forwarded the required information to DVA for incorporation into the roll. The roll could only be amended with the written authority of the DoD.

When the intention to conduct the Third Vietnam Veterans Mortality Study and Cancer Incidence Study of Vietnam Veterans was announced in 2002, there was an increase in the number of inquiries from the veteran community directed to DVA. The DoD was approached for assistance if the enquiry identified a possible error or omission.

Since 1996, veterans, historians and ex-Service organisations have identified over 800 errors or omissions that resulted in amendments to existing entries or the addition of new entries to the NRVV.

Research conducted by DVA

DVA adopted two strategies for improving the completeness of the NRVV in preparation for this study.

Firstly, a number of ex-Service organisations were approached for their advice on areas of the Nominal Roll requiring additional work. While all notifications were acted upon, of specific relevance to this study was the work undertaken by the various state-based Vietnam Veterans Logistic Support associations. Their work confirmed a gap in the Navy data identified in the 1997 mortality report. Records for some personnel who served in logistic support ships such as HMAS Sydney and the ships that performed escort duty, had not been collated into the roll. Navy Office believed that these men had left the Service before the computer system was implemented in the late 1960s and their records were therefore not entered into it.¹

To improve the Navy component of the Roll, archival materials, in the form of Next of Kin Lists, were identified and a selection cross-checked with the Nominal Roll. Possible additions to the Nominal Roll were confirmed against personnel cards held at the National Archives of Australia (NAA).

This exercise resulted in the addition of 1,046 veterans to the NRVV and

consequently to the Study Roll. In addition, 2,358 additional voyages to Vietnam for veterans already listed were added to both rolls.

The second strategy adopted by DVA to improve completeness of the roll was to conduct a data review of the Nominal Roll to identify incomplete details and duplicate names that could not be successfully incorporated into the data matching stage of the study. This review identified records of 42 people with only initials for forenames, 130 who had no date of birth, and 386 who had incomplete service details. The DoD was approached to provide the missing information. Of these,

one incomplete forename and 65 with incomplete service details remain unresolved.

The data review also highlighted 34 records that appeared to be duplicates, both within a Service branch and across Service branches. AIHW further identified 13 possible duplications. The incorrect listings were removed from both the Nominal Roll and the Study Roll. Thirteen people were identified as having served in more than one branch of the armed forces in Vietnam. These 13 served in Vietnam initially in one branch, discharged and subsequently enlisted in another branch of the armed forces and returned to Vietnam. These names were retained in each of their respective Service branches in both the Nominal Roll and the Study Roll.

Other names were removed from the Nominal Roll as a consequence of research undertaken to improve the roll. Identified RN and RNZN entries were removed and Army and Navy personnel who were identified as either not departing

Australia as planned or departing Australia but not crossing into the Vietnam War operational area. As this made them ineligible for inclusion on the NRVV, and consequently the study, their names were removed.

Table 3-1: Summary of additions and deletions for male military personnel

Army Navy Air

Force

Total 2^nd Mortality Study & 1996 Nominal Roll 41,388 12,376 4,438 58,202

Additions between 1996 & 1997 29 127 130 286

1997 Nominal Roll 41,417 12,503 4,568 58,488

Additions to Nominal Roll 176 1,089 21 1,286

Deletions from Nominal Roll 1 4 0 5

Nominal Roll available for Study Roll 41,592 13,588 4,589 59,769

Removal of Roll of Honour 495 8 17 520

Deletions from both Nominal & Study Rolls 13 42 2 57

Final Study Roll 41,084 13,538 4,570 59,192

3.2 Creation and development of the Study Roll