I had never learnt about the Vietnam war

Image above: Metala with students at Song Cau Primary school in the Phuoc Tuy Province.  Regarding her choice of photograph from the trip, Metala says "Although this photo doesn't relate to the topic of my diary entry below, it is definitely one of my favourites. These three girls were so happy and grateful towards us and the gifts that we gave them. To me this picture reflects the smiles and laughter shared that day."
 

A journal extract from 2017 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize student Metala Burgess about visiting the Long Tan battlefieldon 4 October 2017.

I would have never had learnt if I was sitting in a regular classroom in Australia

I had never learnt about the Vietnam war before this trip. I had only ever heard about the more famous battles such as Long Tan but overall my knowledge of the war was minimal. After a fun-filled, karaoke singing bus trip to our destination on day 4, we got off of the bus, already beginning to sweat in the heat of the mid-morning sun and were confronted with hundreds of rows of rubber trees. These trees were a part of a rubber tree plantation, the same plantation where the battle of Long Tan was fought. We walked through the rubber trees to the memorial. Looking around at the plantation that had now grown back almost to its original state was interesting. The local people had moved on and practically forgotten what had taken place in the plantation. They had planted new trees and they use the area surrounding the plantation for food for their cattle and goats. The memorial that we visited was one of the very few memorials for the Vietnam War in Vietnam.  As a group we stood around the memorial and had our own ceremony to both the fallen and affected soldiers of the Battle of Long Tan. Standing there in silence thinking about the battle, how many people were affected both physically and mentally from the battle and the many soldiers who died was a huge eye-opener for me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I was standing in the middle of the rubber tree plantation where over 300 men on both sides lost their lives and 18 Australian soldiers were killed.  Just imagining the soldiers fighting for their lives in the heat and humidity that we were experiencing and the torrential rain that we had witnessed a few days before, became so much more realistic when we were standing on the battleground of this awful battle. I learnt so much about the Battle of Long Tan that day. Although I had done some research prior to going on the trip about the Vietnam war and the battle of Long Tan nothing compared to what I was able to learn whilst standing at the memorial and looking around at the atmosphere where the battle took place. What I learnt that day, what I saw, heard, smelt and felt was incredible. This knowledge was something in which I would have never had if I was sitting in a regular classroom in Australia and I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to endure the incredible experiences that I did on this trip.