Australian Embassy
Vietnam
Embassy address: 8 Dao Tan Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi - Telephone: 3831 7755 - Fax: 3831 7711

COMMEMORATION SERVICE LONG TAN BATTLE 18 AUGUST 2006


ORDER OF SERVICE

Welcome by Australian Consul-General, Mr. Mal Skelly
Address by Australian Ambassador, Mr. Bill Tweddell
Address by New Zealand Consul-General, Mr. Peter Healy
Prayer by Father Tom Shanahan
Laying of wreaths
Playing of "Last Post"
Observance of one minute's silence
Ode to the fallen
Playing of "Reveille"



ADDRESS BY AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR MR. BILL TWEDDELL 

Veterans, families and friends, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome. It is uplifting to see so many people here. Many of you have travelled far to share in this commemoration service. Thank you all for coming.

I’m pleased to have with me in the official party today, in addition to Australian Consul General Mal Skelly: Mr Peter Healy, New Zealand Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City; Captain John Griffith RAN, Australian Defence Attaché to Vietnam; and Mr Arthur Edgar, of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Canberra.

On this day, at this time, 40 years ago, a significant page in Australia’s history was written.

Soldiers from D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, encountered and engaged the enemy in battle. In a battle some four hours long, much of it in pelting rain, 18 young Australians lost their lives and a further 21 were wounded.

One New Zealander had also been killed the day before in a mortar attack on the Australian Task Force (1ATF) base 4-5 kilometres away at Nui Dat, during which 22 Australians were also wounded.

Of the 17 Australians from D Company who lost their lives in the Battle of Long Tan, the oldest was 22, the youngest 19. Eleven of the dead were National Servicemen, conscripts, who comprised some 80% of D Company.

Those involved in artillery support throughout the battle, in the risky resupply of ammunition by helicopter at around 6 pm, and with the APCs which arrived on the scene at around nightfall, all played their part as well. One member of 3 Troop, 1 APC Squadron, was to die of wounds he received in the battle.

This wasn’t the biggest or most protracted battle Australian troops experienced during the war in the Vietnam. But it was so significant a battle that 18 August is now recognised by Australians as Vietnam Veterans’ Day. As an article in the Bulletin magazine recently and aptly wrote of the soldiers involved, “At the end of that bloody day, their courage stamped Long Tan as Australia’s defining engagement of the Vietnam War”.

But this battle has even wider resonance and significance. In Townsville, the North Queensland city in which I grew up, there are, for example, three public Olympic swimming pools, the Tobruk, the Kokoda and the Long Tan.

I mention that, ladies and gentlemen, as welcome acknowledgement that this is the sort of company in which the Battle of Long Tan belongs, alongside the battles fought in such iconic campaigns in our military history as Tobruk, Kokoda, Lone Pine and Beersheba. For the professionalism, bravery, resolution and resourcefulness with which these soldiers fought has written the Battle of Long Tan into the annals of Australian history.

The qualities displayed by our forces, here and in those earlier battles, typified what many Australians (and I suggest New Zealanders) have come to see as some of the defining characteristics of our national identity. Fiercely independent spirits, bound however by strong bonds of loyalty, they stood by their mates and stood up for what they believed right. And their competence and professionalism as fighters was matched by their resolution and defiance against unbelievable odds.

Those who gave us so much reason to be proud - right here, as well as elsewhere in the Vietnam War and other conflicts – went to war not because they gloried in it, but because they shared a sense of right and duty. Yet through their actions they defined their own national identity to the world.

Not many of us can do much to alleviate the pain some of our veterans feel to this day. What we can do is honour the memory of those who paid with their lives or their health or their peace of mind – primarily here at Long Tan but also in many other theatres of conflict down the years. And that is what we are here today to do.

We also honour their loved ones who have borne enduring pain of a kind few of us can hope to comprehend.

We do so by remembering and mourning. We do so by celebrating our good fortune to be citizens of countries whose way of life men and women like these have fought to safeguard. We do so by committing ourselves anew to work for peace wherever it is threatened.

I do not propose to dwell today on the domestic controversy over Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, but simply to suggest that history has two lessons:
• Voicing opposition to Australia’s involvement was and remains a democratic right – and brave young people have fought, suffered and died for years to secure that right.

• But in exercising the right to oppose a war, one should support and respect those whom the Government sends to fight it.

Those people whose service and sacrifice we honour today - here in these simple but richly evocative surroundings – deserve to be counted alongside all those whose selfless courage has contributed to shaping our nation’s character.

My fervent hope, and the wish of all who have played a role in organising this 40th anniversary commemoration service, is that our gathering here, on the land of former foes, will help in the healing and reconciliation process for veterans of this battle - and indeed of all conflicts in which our troops have been called to take part.

Lest we forget.

Thank you.

 

ADDRESS BY NEW ZEALAND CONSUL-GENERAL MR. PETER HEALY

Ladies and Gentlemen. I am deeply honoured to stand here before you all representing the Government and people of New Zealand at this commemorative service for the battle of Long Tan. Many of you have travelled from Australia or New Zealand because of a personal or family connection with the battle. Some of you have lost sons, brothers, fathers and mates. All of us should feel immensely proud of what was achieved by Australian and NZ troops who fought here 40 years ago.

While it was an Australian battle, NZ Artillery from 161 Battery, played an important role. Three NZ artillery spotters were with the frontline Australian troops of D Company and it was their professionalism in supplying the attack coordinates which made the artillery so effective. At some stages the fighting was so close that they called artillery fire down virtually onto their own positions.

A Digger from D Company later recalled

"It got to the stage where we all thought that there was no way we could get out of there. The only help we seemed to get was from the artillery. Every time the enemy troops got close to us it seemed that a salvo of artillery would land amongst them, just in time. We didn't have all that much ammunition anyway, and we were using our fire properly and not wasting it. When they did build up and move in quickly it was always the artillery that kept them out of our way."

The Kiwi Gunner’s at Nui Dat toiled without let-up for 2 and ½ hours. To quote Patrick Duggan ‘The position looked like hell on earth, with clouds of cordite smoke gusting across as the rain hammered down. The noise was unbelievable. There was no let-up…

This commemoration rightly records the courage and sacrifices of all of the men and women who fought and died here 40 years ago.

NZ and Australian troops first fought together in the Boar war at the close of the 19th century and they fought together again in World War 1, World War 2, Korea, and in the Malaya Emergency. They are working together today in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and in many other trouble spots as peace keepers. It is hard to think of a scenario where New Zealand and Australian troops would not help or fight along side each other.

The Vietnamese despite suffering unimaginable losses from invading armies and civil wars over the past 150 years have emerged as hospitable and welcoming people. Their dead from the battle of Long Tan lie buried all around this site and many of the families in this province today must have lost relatives in this battle or others like it. Despite this loss the Vietnamese invite New Zealand and Australian people to visit, to live and do business in Vietnam. The Australian and New Zealand communities in Vietnam now number in the hundreds. Kiwi Vietnamese & Australian Vietnamese families abound. Vibrant Vietnamese communities have been established in New Zealand and Australia.

I have lived in Vietnam for 18 months & I have never heard a single Vietnamese make a negative comment about our two countries involvement in the war. Not one recrimination, nothing but warmth and good will and a wish to look forward.

Vietnam and its people are at peace for the first time in over 150 years and we must all celebrate that. A wish for peace in Vietnam, South East Asia and the Pacific was why men and women from Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam fought and died at Long Tan. If you or your family have suffered loss at Long Tan I believe this peace and friendship between Vietnam and Australia and New Zealand must make that loss a little more bearable.

Thank you all for coming today and Ambassador thank you for including New Zealand in your commemoration of the battle of Long Tan. New Zealanders were standing with their mates 40 years ago. It is good to be with mates again today.




PRAYER BY FATHER TOM SHANAHAN  

A reading from the book of Wisdom (3.1-6)

The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going fourth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Let us humbly say together the prayer given by Jesus Christ.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done’ In earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bred; And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever.
Amen.

LORD BLESS OUR SAILORS, SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN AND ALL WHO SUPPORT THEM.

Let us pray for all who were involved in the Vietnam conflict.

Gracious God
We recall our nation’s commitment to the Vietnam conflict.
We remember with pride the skill and dedication
of our fighting men and women.
We remember our allies in this war.
We honour all who died in this conflict.
May their sacrifices never be forgotten.
We pray for all wounded in body, mind or spirit.
Lay Your healing hand upon them.
Release them from bitterness and anger
and grant them Your peace.

LIVING GOD HEAL OUR DIVISIONS AND BIND US TOGETHER AS ONE PEOPLE.

Let us pray for the Vietnamese people.

God of all people
We pray Your blessing on the people of Vietnam.
They too have suffered war, social upheaval and poverty.
They too have known destruction, death and despair.
Prosper the endeavours of these people in agriculture, industry and education.
May the ordinary people of that nation experience increased prosperity,
Greater freedom and a lasting peace.


DISMISSAL AND BLESSING

Go forth now and live a life that is pleasing to God.
This is God’s commandment:
that we should believe in the name of Jesus Christ,
and love one another
just as He has commanded us.

The blessing of God
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
be upon you and remain with you always.

AMEN.


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