Race to save cherry blossom avenue dedicated to Vietnam vets

Cherry blossoms planted 30 years ago to honour Vietnam vets are dying As veterans and their families commemorate 60 years since the deadliest day of the Vietnam War for Australian troops, one community is fighting to preserve a unique avenue of Japanese trees planted to honour the fallen. A memorial walk in Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands, believed to feature the country's only avenue of Japanese Tai-Haku "great white" cherry trees, is being rebuilt tree by tree, as veterans mark 60 years since the Battle of Long Tan. The 307 trees are spread over a 5-kilometre walkway, creating an avenue of soldier-like trees in standard formation leading to the Bowral Vietnam War Memorial, and their boughs cascade with white flowers when in bloom. However, many have developed phytophthora, or root rot, a fungal disease that prevents the trees' roots from absorbing water and nutrients, and they are slowly dying. Veteran Tony Blake fondly recalls his involvement in the construction of the memorial 30 years ago. Posted to the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Mr Blake moved to Bowral when he returned and was welcomed by Wingecarribee Shire Council, which recognised his contribution to the war effort and elected him to the memorial committee. "The quality [of the memorial] is stunning. I don't believe there are any in Australia like this, not to this quality anyway," he said. Step by step The idea of a memorial belonged to the late Effie Kerr OAM, a former member of the Highlands Garden Society Bowral. "In 1996 they formed the Bowral Trust with Vietnam veterans and established the Vietnam War Memorial Trust with Effie and a couple of others, and I was on the committee," Mr Blake said. Thought to be extinct in Japan by the 1920s, the flowering cherry (Prunus serrulata or Tai-Haku) was spotted by a British plant collector in England, who identified the Japanese tree from a painting of a white cherry. Ms Kerr, who died in 2014, saw a parallel between the nearly lost tree and the Vietnam War veterans she believed Australia had forgotten, Mr Blake said. Choosing the tree was also a symbolic connection to the part of the world in which they served. "She wanted something different to honour the fallen, and that was the Eastern link," Mr Blake said. Battle of Long Tan 60 years on The Vietnam War (1962–72) was Australia's longest military commitment until Afghanistan, with the Battle of Long Tan becoming one of its most significant encounters. "The Battle of Long Tan eventually became synonymous as a focal point for commemoration for Australia's service in Vietnam in general," said Craig Tibbitts, senior historian at the military history section of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. When the Delta Company 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment was sent to fight the enemy who had attacked the task force base at Nui Dat during the night, 18 Australian soldiers were killed and 24 wounded. "That's why they picked the 18th of August to become known as Long Tan Day, more broadly as Vietnam Veterans Day for Australians," Mr Tibbitts said. For some, ceremonial occasions such as the one held in Bowral on the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan can be triggering. "There have been a lot of men diagnosed with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], and a lot in more recent years too," Mr Tibbitts said. "Soldiers had to endure the gruelling physical demands of being out on patrol, sometimes for weeks, and the exacting toll that took on you physically and psychologically. "But it was a real test of the Australians' resolve and enhanced their fighting reputation, demonstrating they were a force to be reckoned with." Overcoming adversity For decades, the cherry blossom trees stood tall at the Bowral Vietnam War Memorial, but six years ago, veterans approached the Wingecarribee Shire Council for help. Some of the trees had developed root rot, for which there is no practical cure. "They [veterans] were pleading with us saying, 'We need to do something. [We] can't keep letting the trees die and not replace them,'" said Charlene O'Connor, the council's senior arborist and leader of the tree management team. "There are 120 species of root rot in Australia, but what we have here is specific to these cherry trees because you can see there's other trees growing perfectly fine,"she said. To resurrect Cherry Tree Walk, Ms O'Connor engaged a nursery in Millbrook, Victoria, which specialises in grafting trees, essentially cloning the original trees. "We sent them original branches, and they grafted them onto rootstock, and they've been doing that for six years now," Ms O'Connor said. "We're replacing the exact canopy and the flowers are exactly the same." Ms O'Connor said she enjoyed working on the project and appreciated everything the veterans had done. "It's something they value that we should all value as well," she said. "I like the trees, [their] purpose and its meaning. It's very sentimental."