Terendak Military Cemetery: Bodies, Burials, and ‘Operation Bring Them Home'

Terendak Military Cemetery occupies an unusual position in the history of Australian war cemeteries. Initially established to service the needs of the community at Terendak Garrison—the operational base for Commonwealth forces in Malaya during the early years of the Cold War—it became the official overseas burial site of Australian dead during the Vietnam War. Changes to long‐standing policy in the mid‐1960s saw the introduction of government‐funded repatriation of deceased Australian servicemen, but some continued to be buried in Terendak. After Vietnam, the cemetery faded into obscurity until five decades later, when the considerable efforts of various veteran‐led campaigns resulted in the largest mass repatriation in Australian history—‘Operation Bring them Home'—and the return to Australia of the bodies of most of the Terendak dead. In examining its origins, its role as a burial site during the Cold War years, and the return to its grounds in 2016, the article reveals that despite its long obscurity in the Australian commemorative landscape, Terendak Military Cemetery lay at the heart of some of the most significant changes regarding the treatment of Australian war dead in the 20th century.