The story of Long Tan

 

Image above: Commemoration ceremony and dedication of memorial cross on the site of the Battle of Long Tan. This time last year, you may remember that the Battle of Long Tan was in the news for a range of reasons. It was the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan and many Australians who travelled to the memorial site could not enter. Many of those excluded were Australian soldiers who had fought in the battle and felt somewhat disturbed that they could not commemorate their mates that fell at that spot. As always, as a contestable issue there are two sides to the story - sides that we discussed when we were in Vietnam several weeks later. As you know this is again a part of our tour and it would be great if you had some detailed background on the battle and the commemoration activities. We will be conducting a Memorial Service at the site when we visit - led by Kendal. In fact, this is the only official memorial service we participate in because there are no other memorials to Australian soldiers in Vietnam. We will however have informal moments of commemoration at nights when you present the soldier you have researched. I recommend that you listen and/or watch the links below that provide some excellent backgrounding to the Battle of Long Tan and the controversy from last year. What do you think? Radio and podcasts to listen to about the Battle of Long Tan ... and other aspects of the Vietnam War for Australians Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uODWvj8aP-Q&t=13s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nsbMhY5r6w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1YEaJ6ZCJQ ... and many more at: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=long+tan