Members of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment - New Zealand (Anzac) (6RAR-NZ ...

Members of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment - New Zealand (Anzac) (6RAR-NZ (ANZAC)) during the memorial dedication service on the site of the battle of Long Tan. The ten men lined up on either side of the cross are veterans of the battle which took place on 18 August 1966. Identified are, left to right: unidentified piper; Corporal (Cpl) R D Brown; Lance Corporal (L Cpl) M G Campbell; Cpl B R Reilly; Sgt J Beere; Cpl W O'Rourke; Sergeant N Rankin; Cpl G R Richardson; Cpl W A Akell; Cpl B Halls; Cpl W A Roche; unidentified piper.

On 17 August 1969, A and D Companies 6RAR/NZ launched an airmobile assault into the Long Tan rubber plantation, then searched and secured the area before members of the Battalion could move in and erect the cross. The nine foot concrete cross was erected on the exact spot of the battle and is surrounded by a chain fence. The brass plaque on the cross reads "In memory of those members of D Company and 3 Troop 1 APC Squadron who gave their lives near this spot during the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966. Erected by 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion 18 August 1969". During the night after the ceremony, North Vietnamese soldiers stole the chain fence from around the cross, but did not harm the cross itself. The cross was removed after the Australians left Phuoc Tuy Province, and was later discovered by the people of Long Dat District and laid in the Dong Nai Province museum at Bien Hoa. In 1989 a replica cross was erected by the Long Dat District Committee on the original site, along with another plaque inscribed in Vietnamese acknowledging the Battle of Long Tan.

• Members of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment - New Zealand (Anzac) (6RAR-NZ ...