#OTD #VietnamWar #LongTan #6RAR On August 18, 1966, D Company, 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) (which was just over 100 men strong), held their ground in a rubber plantation in the village of Long Tan in South Vietnam, ...

... facing off against a Viet Cong force of anywhere between 700-1,500 men. Supported by the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery and American aerial and artillery support, and resupplied by air from No. 9 Squadron RAAF, ...

D company held off the day-long VC advance long enough for a relief mission to arrive at night time to reinforce them, and preventing a VC attack at the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat.

Commanded by Major Harry Smith, following the battle they would receive a US Presidential Unit Citation by President Lyndon Johnson for their actions, and would receive the “Long Tan” battle honour.

One of the most significant Australian actions of the Vietnam War, Long Tan has gone down in the annals of Australian military history in the same way Gallipoli, Kokoda, Tobruk and Kapyong have.

Due to its significance to the Australian contribution to the Vietnam War, August 18 is commemorated annually in Australia as Vietnam Veterans Day.

The Battle of Long Tan was immortalised in the 2019 movie ‘Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan’. Funnily enough, the two most iconic Australian songs about the Vietnam War, Cold Chisel’s ‘Khe Sanh’, and Redgum’s ‘I Was Only 19’, make no reference to Long Tan.

In 2008, ‘Khe Sanh’ songwriter Don Walker rewrote his classic hit, the first line changing from “I left my heart to the sappers ‘round Khe Sanh” to “I owe my life to choppers at Long Tan”. This version was sung by Redgum’s John Schumann.