Unopened tin of Anzac biscuits contains a mother's grief for son killed in Vietnam War
By Louise Maher
Posted yesterday at 10:36am
AUDIO: Treasure Trove: Unopened tin of Anzac biscuits from Vietnam War (ABC News)
For 33 years after the death of soldier Terry Hendle, his mother Adelaide treasured the tin of Anzac biscuits she had baked and sent to him in Vietnam.
The tin was returned to her unopened; she kept it sealed with its original masking tape and carried it tenderly with her to the many different houses she lived in until her own death in 1999.
"Every time she moved she would take the tin of Terry's bickies and have it in her lap on the new drive to her new home," said Dianne Rutherford, curator of military heraldry and technology at the Australian War Memorial (AWM).
"It was something that she treasured of him and of his service."
Lance Corporal Terry Hendle, nicknamed Snow, served with 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).
He was married with a baby daughter when he died at the age of 20 after a Vietcong attack near Nui Dat in November 1966.
During his six months in Vietnam his mother and sister Desley had regularly sent him homemade Anzac biscuits that he would share with his mates.
The last batch, in a tin decorated with an artist's impression of the Sydney Opera House being built, arrived on the morning he was fatally wounded while on sentry duty.
As he'd decided to wait until after the night patrol before opening the tin, Hendle he never got to enjoy his last taste of home.
Tin never to be opened
Anzac biscuits have long been a popular food item in care packages sent to Australian and New Zealand soldiers serving overseas.
Though their origins are unclear, they first appeared in Australian cookbooks in the 1920s and are traditionally baked around Anzac Day.
After Hendle's death, his mother and sister never baked the biscuits again.
The AWM plans to follow the Hendle family's tradition by keeping the tin forever sealed.
"This biscuit tin tells us a lot about family relationships, about people at home waiting for their loved ones and trying to keep a connection with their loved ones overseas," Ms Rutherford said.
"The fact that Adelaide kept it after Terry died ... also shows just the love that she had for him and the memories that she was holding of him."
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