The story of Vietnam veteran Allan ‘Aldy’ Aldenhoven, born in Darwin, his mother was of “The Stolen Generation” and his father a descendant of German settlers. Grew up in Adelaide, and was conscripted to fight in the Vietnam War. He was with the 7 RAR where his fighting spirit was legendary.
Upon his return Aldy became a professional boxer, a star in TV “Ringside” and the Australian Welterweight Boxing Champion. He was a friend of Aussie rock and music stars Bon Scott, Ruusell Morris, Jim Keays, Broderick Smith and Evan Jones. He was a larrikin, loving his fame and notoriety.
The treatment meted out to Vietnam veterans angered him and he struggled with his war demons and the psychological scars they inflicted. He became involved in a world of drug dealers, gangsters and crooked cops.
He was part of Adelaide’s underworld and was involved in the kidnapping of a heroin dealer in a plan hatched by rogue South Australian police. Shortly after he died under mysterious circumstances. He was 30.
A short, eventful life, with bursts of glory and a squalid ending, one of the many Vietnam veterans who found civilian life, the denigration of their service, and their memories hard to manage.
