Going Back (15 page)

Roger Wainwright was similarly philosophical. ‘I think we've got to respect what our foes were doing at the time,' he remarked. After reflecting that both he and Mr Hoang had been of the same rank, he added: I think the fact is that war overall is a nasty thing, and the suffering occurs to both sides. And to meet them in more friendly circumstances all those years later is interesting. And, you can't say there is any malice remaining in this day and age. It was great to meet him. I would have liked to have had a longer chat with him.
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As a doctor, Tony White didn't physically go up into the Long Hais during the war, but certainly had to deal with the result of Allied operations in the foothills. ‘My main link with the area was the Operation Renmark mine incident, and of course we couldn't get within cooee of that.'
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Operation Renmark was conducted in the Long Hai Hills between 18 and 22 February 1967, and 22 February was another black day for the 5th Battalion. Three infantry soldiers and two cavalry crewmen were killed, and another nine men were wounded, when their armoured personnel carrier ran over a mine most probably constructed from a large unexploded aerial bomb. Four Platoon, commanded by Lieutenant John Carruthers, was leading a mounted advance and had struck the mine.

During the immediate commotion and commencement of the casualty evacuation phase and reorganisation of the company, an M-16 ‘Jumping Jack' mine was triggered—and within four minutes of the initial incident many more men were seriously wounded. Captain Tony White was the RMO of 5 RAR and was flown in by Sioux helicopter, to be greeted with an atmosphere of deep shock and fear. Captain Peter Isaacs notified Task Force Headquarters and within minutes an Iroquois Dustoff chopper was overhead, awaiting the preparation of a landing zone at the point of the explosions. The scene was horrendous, with a total of 31 wounded.

Another excruciating problem for Tony was determining who would be treated first of the large group of casualties, several of whom were in danger of imminent death. Fortunately the 36th US Evacuation Hospital at Vung Tau was only five minutes away by Iroquois, and the more severely wounded cases were on operating tables within 25 minutes of being wounded. Major Bruce McQualter was still just conscious when Tony arrived, and urged him to treat the 4 Platoon casualties first. Shortly afterwards Bruce lost consciousness. Lieutenant Carruthers was also seriously wounded, and despite severe head and body injuries, each man held on to life with great tenacity. Lieutenant Carruthers died on 24 February, and Major McQualter at 5 a.m. on 5 March.
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Even after having to deal with the incredible trauma and horrific injuries inflicted by the former enemy, Tony White expressed these feelings after meeting Mr Hoang:

No ill feelings at all. No, I feel that was then. He was a 17-year-old who went in there and he was defending his country. We were on our side doing our duty, and it just highlighted the absurdity of the whole exercise. And many deaths and a lot of people knocked around mentally and physically.
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Binh Ba

Binh Ba, seven kilometres north of Nui Dat, was—and still is today—a rubber plantation workers' village and very picturesque. The houses are built in orderly rows, and most have concrete walls, tiled roofs, and wooden doors and window shutters. While there are trees and shrubs between and at the rear of houses, the front is usually well mown. It has a properly laid out road system, and the eastern edge of the village is next to the former Route 2 roadway.

This village was cordoned and searched by 5 RAR very early in their tour of duty, and many following battalions based their modus operandi on how 5 RAR went about their business. Roger Wainwright recalled that first cordon of the village and what he remembered most:

I suppose the approach to it by night into the position as we did with all of those cordons. It was pretty much the very first one that we did, and of the absolute vital necessity of linking up at night time with other companies so that you don't have clashes with other platoons. And walking at night with toggle ropes.
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Today the village has grown somewhat, but is still essentially a community of local rubber plantation workers. Entry is restricted at times—on my last two visits I have been denied access to the village, but I have not been able to ascertain exactly why. The day the 5 RAR group arrived, entry was again restricted and it was bucketing rain. The group was not given a permit to enter the area from the Vietnamese government. Battle sites are declared ‘sensitive areas' and permits must be obtained through the government tourist agencies or arrest and detention can result. People were allowed off the bus and looked across at the village. The veterans peered through the pelting tropical downpour at where they had once formed a perimeter around the village and flushed out dozens of Viet Cong soldiers and sympathisers. Adjutant and assistant operations officer Peter Isaacs commented ruefully, ‘Binh Ba was unrecognisable apart from the water tower, and the airstrip is invisible from the road. There was no sign of the Regional Forces post we constructed.'
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Roger Wainwright was also disappointed he couldn't get into the village in 2005 because, ‘After we did the initial cordon and search of Binh Ba, our company lived there for almost two months, and that is probably why we never finished digging in at Nui Dat.'
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Aviator Peter Rogers was also interested in visiting the village because he had been involved in the Battle at Binh Ba as part of Operation Hammer from 6 to 8 June 1969. ‘It was a colossal stoush while I was there,' he reflected.
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The road heading north up from the old Task Force base at Nui Dat was once an arterial road between isolated villages, right up to the next province capital of Bien Hoa. But since the war, the growth of the populated areas has been staggering. As Peter observed, ‘I couldn't recognise the place. It is all ribbon development now.' Peter was saddened that he couldn't identify where the former airstrip had been located, north-west of Binh Ba, because two aviator friends were shot down and killed near there just after he finished his tour of duty.
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The tour group travelled from Binh Ba west across the area that was formerly known to Australians as the Hat Dich region. During the war it was a large tract of primary and secondary jungle; now a highway runs through it, supporting ribbon development, small towns, coffee and pepper plantations and market gardens. Fred Pfitzner said he couldn't believe it: ‘I was gobsmacked at the development—it is bloody good to see it.'
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Xuyen Moc

Twenty kilometres due east of the Nui Dat base, but some 35 kilometres by gravel road, was the town of Xuyen Moc (pronounced ‘Swen Mok'). It was a settlement that swelled from a rapid influx of Catholics who left North Viet Nam once the country had been divided in 1954.
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During the American War, the isolated town was subjected to constant harassment by the Viet Cong, who felt secure in attacking the local populace given the long reaction time required to deploy a large combat force to restore order and repel their forays. The road leading out to the town via the provincial capital of Ba Ria and the district capital of Long Dien was often mined, and subject to frequent motor vehicle ambushes. In 1966, 5 RAR was given the task of clearing the road and establishing a presence in Xuyen Moc. As Fred Pfitzner observed on the logistics of even getting there, ‘To actually have got out to Xuyen Moc required a special operation every time it was ever done.'
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After the war, the resettled North Vietnamese Catholics paid the price for not buckling to Viet Cong pressure: the town was the very last in the province to receive electricity.

Dr Ted Heffernan conducted Medcaps at Xuyen Moc, and when he returned in 2005 he was absolutely thrilled to see the town and the people again. When the group alighted from their bus near a large Catholic school at Binh Gia they were mobbed by young children in bright blue school uniforms. Chaos reigned as the school kids gathered around, and some were rather bemused when staring at the heavily scarred, one-legged and black-eye-patched Peter Isaacs, who replied rather earnestly to an enquiry from an inquisitive child that he was in fact a pirate. Show and tell would have been something to eavesdrop on the next day.

Wendy Greenhalgh participated in a romp with several tour members and dozens of school kids and said later, ‘Everybody was so happy—and I thought, God, why couldn't it always have been like that?'
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Chapter 6
LONG TAN: THE CROSS

The Long Tan Memorial Cross was first erected on the site of the massive battle in the Long Tan rubber plantation not far from the Nui Dat base during 6 RAR's second tour of duty, with serving battle survivors of Delta Company—the rifle company involved in that bitter encounter—in attendance. The Cross has become the focal point of Australian pilgrimages to Viet Nam for one simple reason. While battlefield pilgrimages have traditionally focused on visits to the cemeteries of war dead, in Viet Nam no Australians are buried in war cemeteries—it was the first overseas conflict in which most Australian dead were brought home for burial. A small number (24) of Australian dead from Viet Nam lie in the Australian section of the British War Cemetery in Terendak, Malaysia, and one serviceman in the Kranji Military Cemetery in Singapore, but that vital link with the past is not present in Viet Nam itself. The Long Tan Cross has come to represent the men killed in South Viet Nam, and is one of only two foreign monuments to the dead allowed in Viet Nam (the other is to the French at Dien Bien Phu). Veterans are permitted to visit the area in small numbers to pay tribute not only to the Long Tan dead, but to all veterans killed and injured during the war.

An escort by police and special permits are required to enter the Long Tan rubber plantation and Long Tan Memorial Cross area. Visitors need to travel up Route 764 towards Binh Ba and turn off onto Route 766, or if coming from the west turn off the Dat Do–Long Phuoc road and head north-east to the battle site past The Horseshoe to the rebuilt Long Tan village. Turn north near the signpost reading ‘Long Khanh 59 km', then turn north into the battle site. Groups will have to stop at the police post in Long Tan village, where the bronze plaque that adorns the Cross is kept in safekeeping for placing. A small bus can take you almost right into the area, then it's a short 200-metre walk to the Cross.

As historian Elizabeth Stewart notes, ‘The area has become sacred ground, and many comment on the eerie nature of the place. Few words are spoken in the simple ceremonies held there, but few visitors leave the area dry-eyed.'
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The site has not always been in its present condition; it was previously a cornfield and tapioca patch. A decade ago, rubber was planted and the area is now almost as it was when Delta Company began patrolling through the area on that fateful, stormy afternoon of 18 August 1966.

While a visit to the Long Tan Cross provides a cathartic and emotional highlight for many pilgrims, another highlight involves meeting former enemy. In informal meetings— often with former members of the Viet Cong
D 445
Battalion
—veterans from both sides drink a toast and recognise in each other a common struggle with a difficult war legacy. Realising that their former enemies were simply soldiers doing a job, just as they were, is an important step for Australian veterans coming to terms with their past actions. They are often heartened, as well, by former South Vietnamese who thank the Australians for their efforts on their behalf, and for the public works they carried out, which helped improve lives during and after the war.

Tour leader Garry Adams believes the Long Tan battlefield is the main point of pilgrimage for most Australian veterans. Interestingly, however, it took until November 2006 for an Australian Prime Minister (John Howard) to visit what has become almost hallowed ground for Australian and New Zealand veterans of the war.

The visit to Long Tan is always an emotional experience, especially for veterans or next of kin. Private Steve Campling was a National Serviceman who served with 6 RAR between September 1969 and May 1970 on its second tour of duty. He reflected on why the Long Tan Cross has such a special significance for him:

The trip back to the Long Tan Memorial was one of the most moving experiences of my life. Being back in the rubber just brought back so many memories. To think how those fellows went through what they did is just totally unbelievable. And probably more moving for me also, because the 18th of August is my birthday and when the Cross was dedicated on 18 August 1969, I was here, and had my 21st birthday.
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Corporal Bob Hansford was 22 years old and a RAEME mechanic when he toured with 161 Independent Recce Flight in 1968–69. He visited Long Tan in 2002.

It was really eerie: . . . it just had a feeling about the place. It was very quiet. It must be hard for some of these other guys [in the tour group] too because they are mainly infantry, so they would have a much closer tie to it than myself.
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In 2002, Gail Campling visited the battlefield site with her husband Steve, in a tour group of which I was also a member. Afterwards, she confessed: ‘I was extremely moved. I would have liked to have just sat there and meditated and tried to absorb all the feelings that I knew were there; all the pain and the suffering.'
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Several years later I asked Gail to recount the most emotional experience from that trip and she said, ‘The most moving highlight for me was at Long Tan hearing your version of those events. I almost felt I was there seeing it all unfold before my eyes.'
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For veterans who were in South Viet Nam when the battle took place, returning to the site is charged with memories and emotions. Paul Greenhalgh was commanding Delta Company 5 RAR and recalled the morning of the battle and subsequent events: