Media Heads have produced a 30-segment radio series for the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, which will be commemorated on August 18.
Singer Little Pattie in Vietnam
Whilst Long Tan was not the biggest battle fought in Vietnam, it is a defining one for Australia. On that fateful day, August 18, 1966, 108 men from 6RAR were on patrol. All hell broke loose when they ran into a North Vietnamese force of well over 1,000. Some say it was more than 2,000. After a three-and-a-half-hour battle with those forces in a rubber plantation, much of it fought in blinding rain and with ammunition supplies rapidly running out, they were able to overcome the enemy. It is arguably the best-known Australian action of the Vietnam War.
August 18 was for many years known as Long Tan Day, until 1987, when it was officially renamed Vietnam Veterans Day.
Platoon Commander Dave Sabben, now and then.
To mark the occasion, at a time when the rates of attrition among Vietnam veterans continues to thin the ranks of those who served in that war, Media Heads has created:
• A 30-segment radio series featuring 90-second vignettes with veterans from that Battle, as well as other people who were directly affected. Many of the veterans/people featured in this series have passed. • Interview opportunities with a couple of Long Tan veterans (Platoon Commander Dave Sabben, and Richard ‘Shorty’ Brown), a couple of highly-qualified historians, and even Little Pattie (who was performing a concert with Col Joye just a few kilometres from where the battle was unfolding).
Col Joye with Little Pattie in 1966
This is a great opportunity to pay homage to those veterans who are still with us.
For further information, please contact Peter Rubinstein from Media Heads at: [email protected] or 0417 438 400.
Main image: David Sabben at Long Tan in 1966 – images supplied
