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The Long Tan cross

The battle of Long Tan was fought on 18 August 1966. One-hundred-and-five men from D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) and three New Zealanders from an artillery forward observation party from New Zealand’s 161 Field Battery, encountered a force of more than 2,000 Viet Cong soldiers. During the battle, 17 Australians were killed and a further 25 were wounded, one of whom later died of wounds. This was the highest number of Australian casualties incurred in any one engagement of the Vietnam War.

The losses on the Vietnamese side were at least 245 dead, an estimated 350 wounded, and three captured.

The Australian War Memorial will mark the 52nd anniversary of the battle of Long Tan and Vietnam Veterans’ Day in August with a number of moving tributes honouring the 60,000 Australian men and women who served our nation throughout the Vietnam War.

Please note: A private function marking the Unit Citation for Gallantry to the RAN Helicopter Flight-Vietnam will be taking place in ANZAC Hall from 2 pm. The Gallery will not be opened to the public at this time.

The following program of commemoration will take place at the Memorial:

On the morning after the battle, troops in a clearing in the rubber plantation of Long Tan examine some of the Viet Cong weapons captured by D Company, 6RAR, including rocket launchers, heavy machine-guns, recoilless rifles and scores of rifles and carbines. FOR/66/0667/VN

Public talk

17 August 2018, 3pm, BAE Systems Theatre

Australian soldiers fought in scores of fierce actions during the Vietnam War. Few were as intense or dramatic as the action in the Long Tan rubber plantation on 18 August 1966. Join the head of our Military History team and a curator with our Military Heraldry and Technology section as they discuss the valiant stand of 108 Australian soldiers which became a defining action of the Vietnam War.

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Petty Officer Aircrewman (POACM) O'Brian Cedric Phillips

Last Post Ceremony: Petty Officer O'Brian Cedric Ignatious Phillips

18 August 2018, 4.55pm, Commemorative Area

This Last Post Ceremony will commemorate Vietnam Veterans Day and the anniversary of the battle of Long Tan. It will remember the service and sacrifice of Petty Officer O'Brian Cedric Ignatious Phillips.

Learn more
Long Tan Cross

Long Tan cross display

18 August 2018, 10am, Conflicts 1945 to today gallery

The original Long Tan cross and plaque erected on 18 August 1969 by 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) on the site of 11 Platoon's last stand in the Long Tan rubber plantation.  The cross was removed for use as a memorial to a Catholic priest, Nguyen Van Chinh, and was later recovered by the Dong Nai Museum in Bien Hoa city, Vietnam. The original Long Tan cross will be on permanent display in the Australian War Memorial's 1945 to today gallery on the 52nd anniversary of the battle.

Read more about the Long Tan cross
Official war artist Bruce Fletcher compressed some aspects in time and embellished others: the ammunition re-supply was free-dropped from helicopters, not delivered by slung load; and the armoured personnel carriers did not use their headlights in the initial assault.Long Tan action, Vietnam, 18 August 1966, oil on canvas, 152 x 175 cm, 1970, AWM ART40758

"A very close thing indeed"

Wartime issue 55 feature article by Ashley Ekins

The battle of Long Tan was Australia's most costly battle in Vietnam. Read Head of Military History Ashley Ekins' article on the battle of Long Tan.

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The original Long Tan cross and plaque erected on 18 August 1969 by 6RAR/NZ (ANZAC) on the site of 11 Platoon's last stand

Unique memorial - the Long Tan cross

Wartime issue 55 feature article by Ashley Ekins

In the years immediately following the battle of Long Tan, the main focus of Australian task force operations gradually shifted to the more remote regions of Phuoc Tuy province and beyond. Few Australians visited the site of the battle in the Long Tan rubber plantation, although it lay less than five kilometres from the task force base at Nui Dat. Read more about the cross in Ashley Ekin's Wartime article, 'Unique memorial - the Long Tan cross'.

Read more
Long Tan cross on display

"That's where it belongs - on the wall in the War Memorial"

Article by Claire Hunter

It was made of reinforced concrete and was flown in by helicopter before being set in to the red dirt at the site of Australia’s most costly engagement in the Vietnam War. But now the Long Tan Cross has a new home on the white walls of the Australian War Memorial.

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Pipers flank the men who fought in the battle of Long Tan during the dedication ceremony.  C1183238

"With the heel of my boot I marked the site": the story of the Long Tan cross

Article by Emma Campbell

It’s rough, scarred and made of concrete, but the Long Tan cross has a beauty and poignancy that transcends its rudimentary form.

Erected in memory of the 18 young men who died in one of the most intense and dramatic actions of the Vietnam War, the cross has been adopted by veterans to symbolise all Australians who died or were wounded in that conflict.

Read more about the Long Tan cross
Dr Brendan Nelson at the unveiling of the Long Tan cross

Unveiling of the Long Tan cross

Speech, Dr Brendan Nelson, 6 December 2017

"I say to Vietnam veterans of Long Tan, of all of the conflicts and battles across the Vietnam War, the families who love and support you, your descendants and for Australians this cross is and will be permanently displayed," said Director Dr Brendan Nelson at the unveiling of the Long Tan cross at the Australian War Memorial on 6 December 2017.

Read the speech
VIETNAM. 1966-08-19. TROOPS OF 6TH BATTALION, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT (6RAR) ON BOARD ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS (APC'S) OF NO 1 APC SQUADRON WAITING TO RETURN TO BASE AT NUI DAT AFTER THE LONG TAN BATTLE DURING OPERATION SMITHFIELD.

Key images from the battle of Long Tan

View key images in the Memorial's collection from the battle of Long Tan.

View photos from the battle of Long Tan
Long Tan, Vietnam. 1966-08-19. Troops of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), on a sweep in the area, fire an APC mounted mortar during Operation Smithfield.

40th Anniversary of the battle of Long Tan

Speech by Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC

"It is indeed a special privilege this morning –as a Vietnam Veteran myself – to share with the nation this commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan. This epic battle reinforced traits for which Australian soldiers have become world renowned: courage and determination, mateship and teamwork, leadership and tenacity, compassion and humour," said Major General Jeffery on the 40th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan.

Read the speech
Capturing enemy weapons at the battle of Long Tan

Enemy weapons captured at Long Tan

Article by Shane Casey

On 18th August 1966 a large force of Viet Cong advancing through a rain-swept rubber plantation encountered infantrymen from D Company, 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment.  Standing their ground against impossible odds, the Australians prevailed, killing at least 245 enemy, but losing 18 of their comrades in action. Left behind on the chaotic battlefield the next morning was a considerable quantity of enemy equipment – personal belongings, items of clothing, and a large number of weapons.

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Veterans from the battle of Long Tan at the unveiling of the cross on 6 December 2017

Photographs from the unveiling of the Long Tan cross

6 December 2017 at the Australian War Memorial

Photographs from the unveiling of the Long Tan cross at the Australian War Memorial on 6 December 2017.

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This photograph taken by Michael Coleridge in 1967, shows RAAF and American helicopters in the sky and swooping over a rice paddy in South Vietnam as they land troops of the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), into a landing zone for a search and destroy operation south-east of the Task Force base at Nui Dat.  Taken during the first tour of 6RAR, the scene would have looked much the same to Mick two years later during Operation Mundingburra. Australian War Memorial, Photographs Collection

A walk in the light green

Online exhibition

This online exhibition focuses on the popular song, I was only 19, which gives a first-person account of an Australian soldier's experience of the Vietnam War. Taking its title from the alternative name for the song, A walk in the light green presents a range of items from the Australian War Memorial’s collection – including items loaned by families involved with the song and a series of interviews ­– in order to flesh out the story behind the song.

Learn more about the song
John Schumann donated his guitar to the Australian War Memorial.

A walk in the light green

Article by Claire Hunter

It’s the song that changed John Schumann’s life. But when the singer-songwriter sat down to write about the Vietnam War more than 30 years ago, he never dreamt the song would become a number one hit, or that its lyrics would one day be inscribed on a national memorial.

Read more

Last updated: 17 March 2021

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