Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We used to say in the Army that no plan survives contact with the enemy. In listening to the contributions by the member for Hinkler and the member for Ballarat on this battle of Long Tan motion, I will dispense with the notes I have prepared for this occasion and go from a deeper place. Harry Smith once said in an account of the battle, ‘I’ve little time for the politics, theories or criticisms which detract from the outstanding performance of my company and all the supporting forces involved in the battle.’ How true that really is.

Long Tan was a victory, there is no doubt about it, against overwhelming odds. There will always be a little bit of doubt about the size of the enemy force but I think that it is pretty clear that about 1,500 or more was always going to be the sort of number that is correct. Indeed, at the end of the battle there was debate as to how many Vietnamese or Vietcong soldiers were actually killed. Yet the Americans later found evidence from Vietcong records that they found in the field that suggested that between 500 and 700 enemy soldiers were killed.

I think it is a testament to the courage and bravery of the Australian soldiers, particularly these 105 Australians and the three members of the New Zealand forward observer party, that this turned out to be a victory. It was a victory not just for those on the ground, it was a victory for all those that were in the support roles. We know that some 3,000 rounds of artillery were called in from all the batteries that were back at Nui Dat, including the Americans, the New Zealanders and the Australians. So we know that was the case. We know the desperateness of the fight on the ground, the monsoon conditions, the mist that was rising from the ground, together with the accurate artillery fire and the RAAF being able to drop ammunition from the helicopters directly into the defensive perimeter of the company.

There were a number of soldiers killed that afternoon, 18 of them. I will read into the record their names in commemoration of their supreme sacrifice for our nation: Private Richard Aldersea of Perth, Glenn Drabble of Brisbane, Ken Gant of Brisbane, Ernest Grant of Thurgoona, Vic Grice of Ballarat, James Houston of Wallsend, Jack Jewry of St Mary’s in New South Wales, Paul Large of Wellington, Private McCormack from Launceston, Dennis McCormack from Adelaide, Warren Mitchell from Dalby, Douglas Salverton from Brisbane, 2nd Lieutenant Gordon Sharp of Tamworth, David Thomas of Bendigo, Private Francis Topp of Toowoomba, Private Max Wales of Goondiwindi and Private Colin Whiston of Sydney. And from the APC squadron there was Corporal Peter Clements of Cunderdin in Western Australia. All these men were 19 to 22. These were very young men. Some of them were national servicemen, some were career soldiers within the Army. They paid a great sacrifice. But it was a victory, there was no doubt about it. The Vietcong suffered greatly from that day and they never really controlled Phuoc Tuy province after that. Yet this was a battalion that had only been established for 15 months.

I think the only real tragedy with regard to this victory was the way the recognition of bravery and courage was undertaken afterwards. I found it incredible in reading through the records that we see the brigadier of the taskforce was given a Distinguished Service Order—a brigadier. There is no way he was out there with a rifle, he was up there at the base. There is even some question regarding the battalion commander. There are some records which say that battalion headquarters came out with the APCs but other records say otherwise. There are a lot of questions that still remain about this matter.

I certainly support the member for Hinkler’s call for an inquiry. Maybe we should do something in this parliament to look into this with a lot of detail. It would be good to see this matter finally resolved. I know there has been great work to make sure that medals have been forthcoming but I think we need to search for the truth of this matter a little bit further.

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