How do you become a war correspondent?
Fourth year Bachelor of Laws/ Bachelor of Media and Communications student Elliot Goodyer plans to find out. It’s his ambition is to report from war zones.
While on Exchange for a semester at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, an opportunity presented itself to Elliot. He was on his way to meeting a famous war correspondent – the first person in the world to broadcast that the Vietnam War was over.
“My Advanced Reporting ajarn (Thai professor) leant me a copy of a book called 55 Days: The Rise and Fall of Saigon, after I explained that my immediate career goal was to become a war correspondent. It turns out the author, Alan Dawson, was an old friend from the Bangkok Post who still lives in a corner of Bangkok.
Mick, my ajarn, set up the meeting for the afternoon of 12 February. We had class in the morning and then Mick and I caught the Skytrain, followed by a taxi to a coffee shop to meet Alan.
We spoke for two hours about mortar explosions, reporting from the trench, and surviving rocket barrages with his wife and children. His crowning achievement is that he was the first person in the world to broadcast that the South Vietnamese Army had surrendered and that the Vietnam War was over.”
Thinking about studying overseas on Exchange?
Learn more about where Exchange could take you at La Trobe’s Exchange Expo in April. Register here.
If you have an Exchange story you’d like to share, email mylatrobe@latrobe.edu.au