Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to mark the forthcoming anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan and to note the contribution of Australian troops in the Vietnam War. Friday is the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan and, although the facts are well known, they bear repeating here.

On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, 108 men of D Company 6th Battalion RAR, including three New Zealand artillery observers, were on patrol in a rubber plantation outside the 1st Australian Task Force based at Nui Dat. Advancing towards the base was a combined North Vietnamese Army and Vietcong force. Estimates of the size of this force range from 1,500 to 2,500. The engagement, against an apparently overwhelming enemy, began and for the next three hours it continued in rain and darkness. D Company fought off repeated attacks from the mainly Vietcong irregulars, supported by machine gun fire and mortar fire. Artillery support for D Company was called in and Australian helicopter crews risked their lives to fly in ammunition. The men of D Company were effectively on their own but held their ground. After three hours—and I am sure it felt like a lifetime for those who were fighting for their lives—reinforcements arrived. Seventeen men of D Company died and one from the 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron. More than 20 were wounded.

These were, of course, not the only casualties suffered in the Vietnam War, but Long Tan was the first costly battle for Australians in that conflict. It is remarkable, and a tribute to the skill and determination and bravery of those troops, that, despite being outnumbered by some 15 to one, they held out and we can count Long Tan as a victory.

As I say, Long Tan was not the only battle in which Australians fought and the men of D Company were not the only casualties, but 18 August has become the day on which we acknowledge the service of all Vietnam veterans. I wish to commend my ex-services community for their tireless efforts to ensure that the courage and sacrifice of our servicemen and women are remembered. It is through their efforts that we see so many people, most of whom have not experienced the horror of war, attending commemorations around the country not only on Anzac Day but throughout a host of other days which are significant on the military calendar.

I would like to particularly note the Nambucca RSL subbranch and the Coffs Harbour and District Association of Vietnam and South-East Asian Veterans and the Locating Artillery Association of Coffs Harbour which are conducting functions to commemorate Long Tan Day, which I will be attending on 18 August. On 18 August we should turn our thoughts to the bravery and sacrifice of those we asked to serve in Vietnam on our behalf.