Battle of Long Tan -- Special Report

Herald Sun ^ | August 12, 2006 | Neil Wilson

[Kiss Me Hardy]

Former professional soldier "Tiny" O'Shea will remember the legendary Long Tan battle on his own terms and in his own way, as NEIL WILSON writes.

VETERANS of Australia's legendary Vietnam war battle Long Tan will gather at Parliament House in Canberra this week for a special 40th anniversary reception.

All but one, that is.

John "Tiny" O'Shea will not be there. Instead, he will mark Vietnam Veterans Day, for the first time, next Friday, at the Shrine of Remembrance.

Using a wheelchair and with limited arm movement, Tiny decided the trip to Canberra would be an ordeal for him and an inconvenience for others.

more at:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/indepth/section/0,,5008080,00.html

[Kiss Me Hardy]

It's the fortieth anniversary of the battle of Long Tan, when 120 Australian diggers fought 2,500 North Vietnamese to a standstill and suffered 60% casualties.

The special report is pretty good, and also a reminder that Australia has been shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in every war each country has fought -- including the current one against Muslim terror.

[caisson71]

We had some Aussies attached to us for a few missions. We shared rations, stories, some beer, etc. They were very professional, competent and we never minded them on our flank. The ROKs were more serious and stayed to themselves and we especially liked them on our flanks.

[concentric circles]

Long tan, Vietnam. 19 August 1966. Troops in a clearing in the rubber plantation examine some of the Viet Cong weapons captured by D Company, 6th battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), after the Long Tan battle. The weapons included rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles, and scores of rifles and carbines.

The United States and Australia are seperated by many miles but in today's world we share the same foes and the future will doubtless find us on many a field, side by side, locking arms in defense of all we hold dear.

There's an excellent account of the battle written by Major Harry Smith who commanded the company that ferreted out the NVA battalion at Long Tan.

PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION
Delta Company 6 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment

By virtue of the authority invested in me as the President of the United States and as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, I have today awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for extraordinary heroism to D Company, Sixth Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, The Australian Army D Company distinguished itself by extraordinary heroism while engaged in military operations against an opposing armed force in Vietnam on August 18,1966 While searching for Viet Cong in a rubber plantation northeast of Ba Ria, Phuoc Tuy, Province, Republic of Vietnam, D Company met and immediately engaged in heavy contact. As the battle developed, it became apparent that the men of D Company were facing a numerically superior force. The platoons of D Company were surrounded and attacked on all sides by an estimated reinforced enemy battalion using automatic weapons, small arms and mortars. Fighting courageously against a well armed and determined foe, the men on D Company maintained their formations in a common perimeter defence and inflicted heavy casualties on the Viet Cong.

The enemy maintained a continuous, intense volume of fire and attacked repeatedly from all directions. Each successive assault was repulsed by the courageous Australians. Heavy rainfall and low ceiling prevented any friendly close air support during the battle. After three hours of savage attacks, having failed to penetrate the Australian lines, the enemy withdrew from the battlefield carrying many dead and wounded, and leaving 245 Viet Cong dead forward of the defence positions of D Company.

The conspicuous courage, intrepidity and indomitable courage of D Company were to the highest tradition of military valour and reflect great credit upon D Company and the Australian Army. LBJ

[naturalman1975]

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal
It was a long march from Cadets
The 6th battalion was the next to tour and it was me who drew the card
We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left

And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched down to the quay
The clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean
And there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens
God help me, I was only nineteen.

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months
But we made our tents a home, VB, and pinups on the lockers
And an Asian orange sunset through the scrub

And can you tell me doctor why I still can't get to sleep
And night-time's just a jungle dark and a barking M-16
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means
God help me, I was only nineteen.

A four week operation, when each step can mean the last one
On two legs - it was a war within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down till they had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and thought about something else

Then someone yelled out "Contact!" and the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours, then a god-almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon
God help him, he was going home in June.

I can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a 36 hour rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row

And the ANZAC legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
God help me, I was only nineteen.

And can you tell me doctor why I still can't get to sleep
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means
God help me, I was only nineteen.