Remembering Long Tan

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Long Tan Day or NZ Vietnam Veterans Day this year falls on Friday, August 18 and marks 57 years since that historic battle. 
D Company 6 Royal Australian Regiment contacted and fought off a large enemy force in a rubber plantation near Nui Day, with 161 Battery Royal New Zealand Artillery and other support elements also heavily involved in the battle. Both countries commemorate this event each year on August 18 in the spirit of our joint Anzac heritage.
As the years roll on, the number of Vietnam veterans diminishes.We have become the inheritors of the mantle previously held by our World War Two fathers and uncles. Like them, we answered the call to duty when our country needed us.
Now as we age and become frail, we remember all our brothers who were injured or lost their lives in this conflict.
Ka maumahara tatou ki a ratou. Lest we forget.
WALLY TE UA