Going Back (12 page)

Paul Greenhalgh peers through the soft gloom of the rubber in Nui Dat near where 5 RAR established their original home in the Task Force base. Many veterans can place where their tent lines were during their stay in the area.
Photo courtesy Paul Greenhalgh

A veteran walks back from his old tent lines in the northern sector of the former Task Force base at Nui Dat. The rubber is once again being worked and a factory now stands close to where the aircraft refuelling point was located.
Photo courtesy Tony White

This road on the eastern flank of the Nui Dat base was once called Infantry Circuit and the three infantry battalions shared the avenue. Further south and beyond the photograph the road enters a prohibited zone where the current
D445 Battalion
is located.
Photo courtesy Garry Adams

Standing amidst the ruins of what was the artillery command post at Nui Dat the 5 RAR tour group consult maps and memories as they survey the former Task Force base area.
Photo courtesy Peter Isaacs

One of the few remaining signs of Australian occupation at Nui Dat is the ruins of the back gates to the Task Force base.
Photo courtesy Garry Adams

Today, the local people ride their bikes through the Nui Dat rubber near the ruined gates.
Photo courtesy Peter Isaacs

The 5 RAR pilgrims reflect on the battle at Long Tan in 2005 after a brief but moving informal remembrance service by several veterans who served in the battle area in 1966.
Photo courtesy Rupert White

The Memorial Cross at Long Tan stands silent and sombre under the rubber canopy. The site has become iconic to veterans returning to Viet Nam and is one of only two foreign war memorials in the country.
Photo courtesy Elizabeth Stewart

Embracing in front of the remains of The Horseshoe that had briefly carried the name Fort Wendy are Wendy Greenhalgh and her husband Paul, whose subunit was the first rifle company to occupy and begin fortification of the permanent fire support base in early 1967. Today the feature is being quarried for road base and is slowly disappearing
. Photo courtesy Tony White

The view looking south-east from The Horseshoe with the edge of the Long Hais barely visible through an approaching afternoon thunderstorm.
Photo courtesy
Garry Adams

5 RAR Association President Roger Wainwright leaves a simple yet moving tribute to the officers and men of his rifle company who were killed in a mine incident outside the village of An Nhut on 22 February 1967.
Photo courtesy Roger Wainwright