Now I understand what we mean by Long Tan

Image selected by Shreyas Khanna as special from the trip: A view of the banana plantation that now exists where a rubber tree forest was once the site for the Battle of Long Tan in which the 6RAR served.

Shreyas writes:

Now I understand what we mean by Long Tan

Vietnam: The memories that I have made here across a two-week span; alongside Bob, my fellow fifteen mates, not to mention Lauren, Maddy, Ellen and Malcolm are ones which will last no less than a lifetime. Our time spent at the orphanages, the smiles of Vietnamese citizens who embraced us despite knowing little or nothing of each other, the confronting scenery at Hanoi Hilton and War Remnants, Bob’s spurs of comedic spontaneity and wisdom, retracing the steps of the Viet Cong at Cu Chi and our commemorations at Long Tan to name a few. Long Tan remains a particular highlight for me. Recalling little of what I had learnt prior to this excursion, the learning about the experiences of Australian and New Zealand soldiers that occurred here for me was invaluable. Standing amidst the recently developed banana plantation (as shown in the photograph), which once was a violent, torrential rain-covered rubber-tree forest in which our forces fought for four gruelling hours astonished me. This way in which the landscape had been transformed from a former forest to its current agricultural role reminded me of how a war-torn Vietnam had recovered and progressed since the war. Bob’s first-hand account of the fierce female Viet Cong who bravely transported the bodies of soldiers, and the mud – one of the few remaining reminders of the Battle of Long Tan; that transformed a soldier’s greens to a red. These are subtle glimpses that I allowed me to envision the former landscape. Not to mention the efforts of 108 troops to defeat over 2,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong is testament to all from both sides who survived and fell that day. Our service there, in which we commemorated the respective soldiers whom we researched that fell in Vietnam, was an eye-opening and memorable experience aided by images and input from our guide Mr T. This was all as we convened around a replica of the Long Tan Cross, which is the sole memorial to the Australian contribution during the Vietnam War. What Bob, Mr T and being here reminded me that day was why history is as interesting to me as it is: as we remember and restore the many pieces of our past to live on in those who shape the future. This trip has been incredible experience, meeting new people and exploring a culture and society so vastly different to our own. One of the best parts of my life thus far!