von Berg, Michael

Michael von Berg was born November 7, 1943 in Vilshofen, Germany. The family had lived in Berlin, but with the bombings Michael’s mother took him to the family estate in Bavaria. After the war his mother worked for the Americans in Austria, where Marshall Plan funding was helping to build the Kaprun Dam. Michael’s parents divorced at the end of the war, and Michael and his mother left Germany for Australia in 1950. Young Michael thought his father had died in the war, but a letter from his father in 1966 – which his mother gave to him – alerted him to the truth, and to their acrimonious divorce.  It turned out that his father was a famous tenor who bravely defied the Nazis when they tried to recruit him as a propagandist; Michael also learned that he came from a distinguished family with a long history. Michael completed his schooling in Australia and went on to study accounting, but he did not enjoy it – at all.  And that led him to make a change that took him into the military:  after training he went into the infantry, with the ultimate goal of joining SAS. He decided to attend Officers’ School and after graduating in December 1965, he found himself deployed to Vietnam in April 1966 as part of 5 Battalion, where he was a platoon commander. He later commanded a recon unit in the Nui Thi Vai mountains, where he would earn a Military Cross. Other members of his unit were similarly awarded, a testament to the difficulties of that battle. At other times in his tour he dealt with the other rigours of war:  the climate, the creatures, and the unrelenting tension.  There was opposition to the war in some quarters of Australian society, and the returning soldiers had to confront that too. Michael adapted to his new situation, and over time he learned to deal with the aftereffects of the war. Michael’s resume includes a lot more than the military; he was heavily involved in rugby for many years and was in fact awarded the Order of Australia for that. The military has remained a central part of Michael’s life, and he recalls here very powerfully the brotherhood of the soldiers, and he remains committed to them, advocating for and helping them whenever he can.  Michael von Berg was interviewed in October 2025 by Scott Masters and Zach Dunn, who set this up through his Global Veterans’ Stories project – we thank him for the invitation!