Albany’s bicentenary has thrust into focus its role as a place from which the military went to war, with the National Anzac Centre providing a reminder that even the most global of conflicts has a local, human heart.
Thousands of soldiers departed for World War I from Albany, but the city also remembers annually those veterans who fought in a later campaign, the Vietnam War, with a service that takes place on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
The battle, which was fought 60 years ago on August 18, 1966, had about 128 Australian and New Zealand soldiers hold off more than 2000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops.
One of those Australians was Albany’s Harley Webb.
Mr Webb, whose father owned a fruit and veg shop in the CBD, had been conscripted aged 20, sent to Vietnam and thrust into what would be one of Australia’s most iconic battles.
A member of Delta Company 6RAR, his unit was ambushed in a rubber plantation. In 2011, when it was finally awarded a gallantry citation, he told the Advertiser what it had been like.
“There was a bloody lot of them, they were everywhere. Everywhere. It seemed like 10,000,” Mr Webb said.
“Up until then they’d always just been in little splinter groups that would assault and retreat and bugger off and you wouldn’t see them again.
“I don’t think any of us ever thought we’d get out of it alive.
“Fear takes over, and you just do what you’re told to do.”
He did not escape unscathed, as a bullet ripped through his right shoulder, broke his collarbone, shattered his ribs and stopped just short of his heart.
He was carried to safety by Warrant Officer Jack Kirby and kept the bullet when it was eventually removed.
“It wasn’t easy to breathe when you’re hanging upside down with your lungs punctured, but it was better than staying out there,” he said.
“I’d lost a lot of blood and I was in and out of consciousness, but I can basically remember bits and pieces that were happening around me, like a medic saying ‘this bloke’s not going to make it’ and I’m thinking ‘yes I am’.”
He made it out but as his wife Jean recalled, the experience stayed with him.
Speaking after his death in 2021, Mrs Webb said her husband suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the war.
“He always was most anxious around Anzac Day and Vietnam Veterans’ Day,” she said.
“Harley sought treatment.
“He attended the welcome home parade in Sydney, meeting up with fellow Vietnam veterans, which led to more reunions, which helped immensely with the healing process.”
He died on July 7, 2021, aged 76, and was remembered as someone with an infectious love of life, a sharp dress sense and a razor wit.
He married Jean in 1970 and bought the family farm in Narrikup, where they had two children.
Mrs Webb said he had dreamed of being a farmer and had a lifelong love of horses.
“Harley always wanted to be a farmer, and he always said he had the best job,” she said.
“As a child he helped his dad deliver orders from their Albany grocery store, where he was known to charm all the ladies.
“Later when we became engaged, those same ladies told me how lucky I was to be marrying Harley.
“All his life he enjoyed talking to people and, most importantly, listening and remembering what was important to them.”
Mrs Webb laid a tribute at the Vietnam Veterans’ memorial service on Sunday, joining Peter Aspinall, another Albany Long Tan hero who was one of the soldiers dispatched to help his under-fire colleagues.
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