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 ceremony at which a white cross was erected as a memorial to those who died during 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: Corporal (Cpl) R D Brown; Lance Corporal (L Cpl) M G Campbell; Cpl B R Reilly; Sgt J Beere; Cpl W O'Rourke; (the following with backs to camera) Unidentified piper; Cpl W A Roche; Cpl B Halls; Cpl W A Akell; Cpl G R Richardson; Sergeant N Rankin. The ceremony took place three years after the battle in an area where a North Vietnamese Regiment was known to be and required A and D Companies to secure the area the previous day, 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.