Battle of Long Tan Cross

“A Veterans Return” 5 of 5 starsReviewed 5 May 2015 This was an emotional experience for me, I'm ex 1Tp 1Fd Sqn RAE, a tunnel rat... Oh boy, what a roller coaster ride of emotion today. Up B&E for breakfast and to meet our “local” guide Ms Huong (aka Banana), started with drive around Vung Tau and saw where the Badcoe Club once stood then on to Ba Ria. The cinema is still there as is the water tower…. Don’t believe that it all has disappeared there are still many many reminders and Ms Huong knows her business. No council yard now it’s a hotel…. Then on to Long Phouc to see the tunnels, now I should have held back but Ms Huong knew if she wasted time around she would never get me in there. Words fail to describe the adrenalin rush, it was not till we surfaced that I became emotional, wow 45 years and the old senses and memories hit me like a driver-less MRT train. Sit down deep breaths… The first of quite a few today…. On to Nui Dat, not much here to recall, Nui Dat it has been used as a quarry and the Airstrip is now the main street of the town. Here there is also a kindergarten that Ms Huong help set up with some Aussies about 5 years ago. But then the car stopped and we were led behind a house and there still standing and instantly recognizable was the rock that was outside HQ, it had a flag pole and plaque on it last time I saw it in 1970 that has gone of course. Using that landmark I could have paced out the exact location of my lodgings but no, long gone are the days of nature rambles through rubber plantations for this little Uc da Loi. Hell that shook me but more was to come. Next up was the site of the Long Tan battle, you have to get the plaque from the “office” as people keep stealing it, and so clutching the plaque we walked down the path to the Long Tan Cross. Carol and I laid a rose in remembrance of the fallen and then I totally came undone. The futility of it all just so some politicians could get their rocks off. I still firmly believe Mr Menzies was as mad as Mr Churchill…… Anyway…. Then it was on to Dat Do but the dog track has long been closed; now rice paddies. It was elusive to ever get to a meet at the Dat Do dogs, I always heard about someone going but never got there myself… The Horseshoe is off to the left just past Dat Do and has been quarried and I didn’t recognize it. Back to Vung Tau to drop off the effervescent and not to mention very attractive Ms Huong who has a stunning younger sister who will hopefully email my eldest Son who could move to Vung Tau and set up a computer shop. Then it was on to a classy restaurant for lunch, we had a pork dish, Veggies, fried rice and beef washed down with lashings of iced green tea and beer…. I had cried so much I needed serious re-hydration… Not sure if the ghosts have been expunged, but it was a very interesting and emotional day for us. I’m glad I did return, I was just not prepared for the rush and raw emotion.