UnSubRocky wrote on Jun 25
th, 2022 at 4:33pm:
I thought Major Smith was being a bit too brave in some places and a bit too overdramatic in others. Private Large was a real concern. It seemed like he knew better than what he was. But, he became more of a problem through the drama than necessary.
I have a book on Vietnam from an Australian's point of view. The author is Paul Ham. There is another book about the place that I need to look at again. The only Vietnam War history book that I have read thoroughly was based on American perspectives. They do not seem to reference the Battle of Long Tan. Author Hugh Lunn did a tour with the American Marines in Vietnam. He was the photojournalist who watched battles take place. His account of the war was very good.
There are numerous books on the Vietnam War from an Australian perspective. Some are overly dramatic and many concentrate on the strategic aspects of the war, rather than the tactical ones. Ham isn't bad as an authour. There are several specifically on Long Tan.
To Americans it was a minor action, to Australians, it was a major action. It taught us that we weren't in a playground like Malaya any more but playing with the big boys in their playground now. We learnt that the enemy wasn't going to cut and run as they used to in Malaya but fight it out hard with us. Suddenly we had to carry twice or three times the ammunition, we had to carry more grenades and be prepared to mix it hand-to-hand with them. Long Tan was an important battle for us, we had to take the war seriously, far more seriously than we had before, which is why the Task Force commander was making decisions which appeared disconnected to the battle because he had to look at the bigger picture. It was his career on the line as much as it was the lives of the diggers.
It was the only battle where an entertainer was given a rifle and told, this was how you loaded it and this was how you fired it. He could have had to fight for his life if what they had feared had actually happened. Little Patty was flown out, Col Joye wasn't, he was entitled to a campaign award as much as the diggers were.