This was the second year the Veterans section of the Rangiora branch of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association has hosted the gathering at the Rangiora cenotaph and the Rangiora RSA Club.
Former soldiers, sailors and airmen from five countries gathered on August 18, to remember the Battle of Long Tan in 1966, and to commemorate all who served and gave their lives in the Vietnam War, and the many other conflicts since then.
Rangiora RSA patron Bernie Power says it was the biggest turnout so far and it’s important for comradeship between the veterans who experienced a war where they went through ‘‘hell and high water’’.
Mr Gunn says the country has learned from the mistakes made when the soldiers returned from serving in Vietnam.
‘‘We treat the soldiers better now when they return, there is a better net around them from Veterans Affairs and the government, which is an improvement over what we faced when we returned from Vietnam.’’
In the battle, a company of 105 Australian soldiers and three New Zealanders from an artillery forward observation party of the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery’s 161 Field Battery, faced over 2500 North Vietnamese Army personnel while on patrol in a rubber plantation at Long Tan, about 5km from the combined base at Nui Dat in Vietnam.
Last Thursday was the 57th anniversary of the battle, and the 60th anniversary of the Vietnam war.
Organiser Chris Gunn, a Vietnam veteran, says many of the people attending had served with the Australians in Vietnam in the late 1960s.
‘‘It is great to have them all come here today for the reunion, to see old friends and not just to tell war stories.’’
He says the Rangiora branch is the only RSA in the country to commemorate the battle and the sacrifice made by so many.
The Battle of Long Tan resulted in 18 Australian soldiers killed and 24 wounded, and over 245 North Vietnamese Army soldiers dying in the threeandahalf hour battle.
Ten gun crews from RNZA’s 161 Battery based nearby at Nui Dat, provided covering fire. The battle was made into a movie in 2019, titled ‘Danger Close’.
