Sequins, go-go boots, fringe bikinis, evening gowns...bombs? Welcome to Season 2 of Women of War where we continue the discussion of the war entertainer, this time in the humidity and red dust of Vietnam. In the midst of the horrors of war, these mythologised women offered soldiers’ a fantasy and an escape from the frontline for an hour or two. Join Hannah and Nicola as they learn what life was like for the women beneath the sequins and bop along to some fun tunes.
This episode contains references to murder, sexual assault, forced sex work and trafficking, racism and colonialism. It also contains some rude language. It may not be suitable for all listeners.
Women of War is written and recorded on Wurundjeri Land. We pay our respect to Elders past and present, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners. Sovereignty was never ceded.
All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in this podcast however with the nature of historical research, there may be mistakes or inconsistencies.
An incredible thank you to Lorrae Desmond for her permission to use recordings of her tour rehearsals in this episode and a thank you to her good friend Gael Ballantyne for acting as our correspondent with Ms Desmond. We would also like to thank the National Film and Sound Archive and Angus Johnstone for providing us a copy of the recording itself.
Audio clips from:
Lorrae Desmond, Lorrae Desmond: Rehearsal Sessions for Tour of Vietnam, Sound Recording, Unpublished, 1965, 390710, National Film and Sound Archive.
David Reginald Combe, Lorrae Desmond Concert Party DPR/TV/1174, 16mm/b&w/sound (Phuoc Tuy Province, Nui Dat, Vietnam, 19 September 1969), https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C273758.
Byron Charles Campbell, 7th Government Concert Party to Vietnam DPR/TV/636, 16mm/b&w/sound and silent (Vietnam: Phuoc Tuy Province, Nui Dat, 16 June 1967), www.awm.gov.au/collection/C256036.
ABC News, Australian Government’s Decision to Send Troops to Vietnam, videorecording/b&w/sound, 30 April 1965, https://abcspla.sh/m/153694.
Key resources used:
Siobhan McHugh, Minefields and Miniskirts: Australian Women and the Vietnam War (Sydney: Doubleday, 1993).
Ann-Mari Jordens, ‘Not “Apocalypse Now”: Government-Sponsored Australian Entertainers in Vietnam 1965-71’, Labour History, no. 58 (1990): 65–75, https://doi.org/10.2307/27508983.
Lynne McCormack, ‘Civilian Women at War: Psychological Impact Decades After the Vietnam War’, Journal of Loss and Trauma 14, no. 6 (2009): 447–58, https://doi.org/10.1080/15325020902925209.
John Murphy, A Harvest of Fear: A History of Australia’s Vietnam War (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1993).
Mitchell K Hall, The Vietnam War, (New York, NY: Routledge, 2018).
For more information on the podcast, go to womenofwarpod.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @womenofwarpod for updates, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Sign up to our newsletter at womenofwarpod.com/subscribe to get notified of the newest episodes plus all the cool things we couldn’t fit into the episode.
S3E8: The Brawling, Boisterous, Scottish Wench — Agnes Randolph and the Siege of Dunbar
S3E7: 12 Nuns, 68.3 metres and 93 penises-The women of the Bayeux Tapestry and the Battle of Hastings
S3E6: Get Up, Stand Up, and Deliver — Truganini, the NOT last Indigenous Tasmanian
S3E5: She’d Probably Hate Her Great-Great Nephew–Dame Mary Gilmore, the Pinko on the Blue Note.
S3E4: The Amiable Madwoman - Doña Manuela Sáenz + the Fight for Spanish American Independence
S3E3: The Woman in the High Castle–Veleda, Seeress of the Bructeri
S3E2: Daughters of Artemis? - The Naval Queens Artemisia I & II of Caria
S3 E1: The Mother in Exile–Alexandra Sokolovskaya, the Creator of the Soviet Union
Bonus: Irish Pirate Queen Chieftain Rebel - Grainne O’Malley and Her Fight for Freedom [Re-Recorded]
Season Three Trailer
S2E9: The War-Wrecked Generation & Anna Coleman Ladd: Copper Masks and Newspaper Dating after The First World War
S2E8 Part 2: No Thought of Glory - Clara Barton and the end of the American Civil War
S2E8: Death, Danger, and Nursing - Clara Barton in the American Civil War, Part 1
S2E7: Fame at any price: The horrifying indifference of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl
S2E6: A Family Affair: Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian Revolution, and the Iran-Iraq War.
S2E5: A Banana Skirt and a Gold Piano - How Josephine Baker Seduced Secrets from the Nazis
S2E4: The Last Empress of Russia - Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer
S2E3: A Most Famous Feminine Sea Captain - Gráinne O’Malley, Irish Pirate, Rebel, Chieftain
S2E2 Pt 2: Planes, Trans and Automobiles - Roberta Cowell (The Dillon/Gillies Remix)
S2E2 Pt 1: Planes, Trans and Automobiles - Roberta Cowell
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