Retired senior Australian Army officer, Sir Peter Cosgrove, has detailed what it was like on the battlefield in the Vietnam War.

He is the Department of Veterans’ Affairs ambassador for the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and was only 22-years-old when he served.

He received a Military Cross in 1971 and said there is “no sense of joy” from the war, “just the relief that you’ve survived”.

Press PLAY to hear what it was like on the battlefield

(Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)