Posted on 08/11/2006 5:15:58 PM PDT by 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
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.
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.
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
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