LONG TAN, Vietnam, April 25 (Reuters) -- In the stillness of morning and with the sun barely visible, a group of Australian war veterans clutched their national flag in this Vietnamese rubber plantation on Tuesday and wept.
Gathered around a large white cross that marks the spot where Australia lost its innocence in the Vietnam War, the 20 veterans of the conflict hugged each other and remembered comrades killed on the jungle battlefields of Vietnam.The cross honours 18 Australian soldiers who died at southern Long Tan on August 18, 1966, in the first major clash between Australian forces and communist Viet Cong guerrillas.
For many of the 50,000 Australians who fought with U.S.-backed South Vietnam during the decade-long conflict, Long Tan has become a place of pilgrimage every April 25.
The date marks Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Day (ANZAC), when people of both nations honour those who served or died in war. ANZAC Day this year also falls just before the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War's end on Sunday.
"I think it's beaut to be part of something happening in so many parts of the world and specifically in Vietnam," said Graham Edwards, a member of parliament from Western Australia state who served in Vietnam in 1970, referring to ANZAC Day.
"It's important this year, when the Vietnamese government celebrates the 25th anniversary of its victory, that we make sure that we don't forget Australians who lost their lives during the conflict...," Edwards told Reuters Television.
Only memorial to foreigh forces
The cross at Long Tan--a replica of the original, which rests in a local museum--remains the only memorial in Vietnam to foreign forces who fought and died in a war that killed some three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians and more than 58,000 American troops.
About 500 Australians were killed in Vietnam, and their memory spurs many veterans in what they say is a long-running fight to get adequate recognition back home for their service.
Edwards, confined to a wheelchair since losing both legs in Vietnam, said Australians who fought at Long Tan were still waiting for approval from Canberra to wear officially medals given to them by the then South Vietnamese government.
"It's an outrage in my view," he said, without elaborating.
Many of the Australian veterans at Long Tan on Tuesday, a three-hour drive from southern Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, said it was their first trip back to Vietnam.
It had been a rich experience, helping ease nightmares that originated in the paddy fields of the Southeast Asian country.
The veterans placed 18 long-stemmed roses at the base of the white cross, with three wreaths, to honour the Long Tan fallen. They also lit incense to remember their adversaries.
As the sun rose, a recording of the Last Post echoed through the rubber plantation.
The veterans chanted "lest we forget," and wept.
One veteran read a letter given to the group a few days ago by a woman whose South Vietnamese husband died in the war.
"Each one of you has a high place in my heart and in the hearts of many South Vietnamese people. I thank you all and hold you deep, deep within my heart," the letter said.
Arthur Carvill, from Geelong in Victoria state, served in 1967. Coming back for the first time was a "cleansing" experience.
"I hope now I can put it to rest," he said, urging fellow veterans to make the trip to Vietnam.