For Warrnambool's Ray Maloney, the thing that sticks out in his mind the most about his time in Vietnam during the war was the plane ride home.
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"That was the best part," Mr Maloney said.
He was among more than 150 people who attended a service at Warrnambool's RSL on Friday night to mark 50 years since the end of Australia's involvement in the war.
Mr Maloney was conscripted to serve in Vietnam, leaving Australia on April 20, 1967 and returning home mid-January 1968.
"It was a big adventure as a young bloke going in and all your mates going," he said.
"The adventure sort of wore off about five minutes after you got there."
Mr Maloney said he had never really spoken publicly about his time in Vietnam before, except to his wife and kids.
"You were always on alert once you drove out of that wire. I was carting rations and ammunition," he said.
"Once you drove out of that wire of your basic camp you were in no man's land, anything can happen."
He recalls smoking near a pile of ammunition one day and being told off. "You could do what you like if you could get away with it," he said.
Mr Maloney said he had made life-long friends while in Vietnam and after returning the bond remained strong, even attending his friends' children's weddings and 21 birthdays.
"If only for the army, that wouldn't have happened," he said.
As well as the mates he made over there, there are new friends from Warrnambool's Vietnam veteran community that have embraced Mr Maloney - many lining up to shake his hand straight after Friday's service.
The warm welcome he received was in stark contrast to how he and many others like him were treated when they returned home from the war.
Mr Maloney said they were treated "pretty poorly".
Being at Friday's service was important for Mr Maloney who was diagnosed with a stomach tumour last September.
"I've got a bit of a battle there. The battle is still in front of me," he said.
Watching the Canberra service on television earlier on Friday had stirred up memories, Mr Maloney said.
"We were there for the opening of the War Memorial in Canberra back in 1992," he said.
"We'd seen all that and it sort of brought back a few heart strings and things."
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Katrina Lovell
Katrina Lovell is a senior journalist at The Standard who covers council news and human interest stories.
Katrina Lovell is a senior journalist at The Standard who covers council news and human interest stories.
