Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek indulgence to make a statement on the 40th anniversary of the Battles of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral from the Vietnam War. Forty years ago today, on 13 May 1968, Australian soldiers in the South Vietnamese province of Bien Hoa were coming to grips with the first engagements of what would become known as the Battles of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral.

The Australian forces had only deployed to their new positions late on 12 May. Their defences were still unfinished when the first contacts were made in the early hours of 13 May. When the North Vietnamese army attacked in the vicinity of a mortar platoon and a gun battery at 3.30 am the battle began in earnest. The first night was a harrowing experience for the soldiers fighting against overwhelming numbers of enemy, fighting in the flare and trace of darkness, fighting a bloody engagement that left 11 Australians dead. We do not know how many North Vietnamese army soldiers died although they left 52 dead scattered around the base.

In the morning one soldier recalled looking around and seeing that everyone was covered in grey mud. There was a strong smell of cordite and gunpowder. It was an open-ing action in which our troops in the words of one senior officer, ‘Performed with steadiness and bravery second to none.’ The battle that started that night ebbed and flowed for nearly four weeks. That is an extraordinarily long military engagement. Our troops—including tank and APC crews, air crews, artillery, infantry and support troops—defended their positions against repeated attacks. They patrolled into areas held tight by the North Vietnamese army and in the end they prevailed. The North Vietnamese army was forced to withdraw, badly mauled by the Australian forces. It was a hard won victory for the Australian troops. It cost 26 Australian lives and over 100 wounded. Coral and Balmoral saw Australia’s first all-arms brigade-sized action since the Second World War. It is recognised as the longest and most sustained series of engagements fought by Australian forces in the Vietnam War.

Today I want to ask the House to join me in expressing our thanks to all the Australians who fought in the Battles of Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral. The veterans of Coral and Balmoral added another chapter to the proud history of the Australian military. They showed all the qualities that Australian troops first displayed to the world at Gallipoli and during the Battle of the Western Front in the First World War and in the great battles of the Second World War and conflicts since—courage, determination and ingenuity. We in Australia have sometimes fallen short in our duty to recognise the veterans of the Vietnam War. We should not fall short in that duty any longer.

Today I want to make clear to everyone that the Australian government is proud of our veterans. The Australian government is proud of the way in which they have served. The Australian government on behalf of the Australian people is grateful for the veterans who have served their country with honour including in this action in Vietnam.

Today we remember the veterans of Coral and Balmoral, some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting last night together with the Leader of the Opposition. Today we also remember those who fell. We remember those who gave their lives in serving their country. We honour their memory. Today we also remember their families. The family members of those who died, whose suffering 40 years on still remains and remains felt deeply. To those family members I say that we cannot repay the price that you have paid but we can assure you of one thing—and that is the thanks of a grateful nation. Today we honour all those Australians who fought at Coral and Balmoral.

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence, I join the Prime Minister in supporting this statement. Forty years ago last night Australia was a different country and it was quite a different world when brave Australian men, Australian soldiers, again in our uniform, went to Coral and Balmoral Fire Support Bases some 20 kilometres north of Bien Hoa in South Vietnam.

Over a 3½-week period 2,000 Australian soldiers would be engaged in what was very heavy contact. As the Prime Minister said, almost 60 Vietnamese were confirmed dead, but the reports are in the order of some 300. Three and a half weeks after the initial movement on the evening of 12 May, 26 Australians would have given their lives and 100 would be wounded, but every single one of those men that returned to this country was a different man from that which he had been when he went.

It is very easy for us in this century to look back and settle for the broad brush strokes of our history and to not fully appreciate individual sacrifices that have been made in our name. But in our uniform, under our flag, under the Australian Army rising sun, they were wounded, they gave their lives and they suffered emotional and other traumas. Their families made enormous involuntary sacrifices to allow them to serve our nation. In doing so, their deep unyielding grief for those who were lost and those who were wounded in emotional and physical terms should remind every Australian that there are some truths by which we live that are worth fighting to defend.

As I said last night at the reception for these men and their families and the men and women who wear our uniform today, there are many things of which our country can be and is enormously proud. These men are one of the highest, if not the highest, examples. But one of the things that we must seek to do as a nation is this: whatever the circumstances and whatever the decisions taken by our governments to send men and women forward in dangerous ways in our name to fight for our values and our beliefs, we should never repeat the way in which these men were treated when they returned from the conflict in South Vietnam. We will honour them not only by this gesture but mostly by the way we choose to live our lives and shape our nation. We thank them for what they have done for us. Lest we forget.