Sydney entertainers Col Joye and the Joy Boys and singer Little Pattie, toured the Australian Task Force area at Nui Dat, South Vietnam on an armoured personnel carrier before giving shows for troops. They stopped to watch an air strike on the foothills of a nearby mountain. Smoke rises as bombs pound Viet Cong positions.

The entertainment group arrived two days after the area had been mortared by the enemy. The entertainers are the third Government sponsored group to play for Australians in Vietnam.

Before the first show Col Joye stopped to talk with Sapper David Wagstaff of Bankstown, NSW and Sapper Roger Solomon of Brisbane. While walking through the area Private Robert Kinggee (repeat Kinggee) of Kiama, NSW, shows them a shrapnel damaged truck.

In the concert area the troops arrived by vehicle and on foot. They stood and sat in blazing heat for an hour to enjoy popular songs and music. Private Norman Henderson, of Barnsdale, Victoria and Private Laurie Scattini of Kalgoorlie, W.A. were two who brought their own seats with them.

Some of the troops who saw the show had just returned from Operation Holsworthy and had spent more than a week in the jungle chasing Viet Cong. Trooper Robert McMillian of Sydney and Trooper Jock McCormick, of Melbourne, enjoyed a front-view. During one number the soldiers clapped to the beat of a popular hit tune. The opportunity to take photographs was not missed. The show over, troops move off, back to their base areas.

Whilst the concert was underway during the afternoon of 18 August 1966, The Battle of Long Tan began some 5km’s away in the rubber plantation of Long Tan.

Initially only one battery of New Zealand Artillery (161 Bty) was called in support of D Coy, 6RAR at Long Tan, but as the NVA and VC escalated their attacks on D Coy, Capt Morrie Stanley RNZA attached to D Coy, called in additional artillery from 103 and 105 Field Batteries of Royal Australian Artillery and then he began calling regimental fire missions of all batteries including a battery of US Army’s 2/35th Artillery Battalion, some 24 artillery guns in all. By this time the concert was abandoned not just due to the sound of the artillery but also rain and because most men knew something serious was happening and they would be needed at their posts.

It was decided to fly the entertainers back to Vung Tau, but before Col Joye could climb aboard the chopper, he was ‘kidnapped’ by a Sergeant, who drove him away to drink with Australian soldiers. A good scout, Col went more or less willingly.

Little Pattie, looking back from the chopper as it threshed its way south, saw the continuous flash of artillery gun-muzzles, which she took for enemy explosions in the camp. No One explained these things to her, and she spent a worried night recalling the new, confusing and (as she understood it) dangerous situation at Nui Dat.

Here is an interview Little Pattie did on 4 June 1992 recalling her memories of her time in Vietnam.

The post Little Pattie and Col Joye Concert at Nui Dat Vietnam War – 18 Aug 1966 appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

Written in partnership with award-winning journalist Toni McRae, “Long Tan A lifelong battle” is also Harry’s life story and portrays his many personal battles, from failed marriages to commando-style killing; from a horrific parachute accident through to his modern-day struggles with bureaucracy for recognition for his soldiers. Harry’s battles are tempered by his love of sailing, where he has at last found some peace.

On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, just five kilometres from the main Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat, a group of Viet Cong soldiers walked into the right flank of Delta Company, 6 RAR. Under a blanket of mist and heavy monsoon rain, amid the mud and shattered rubber trees, a dispersed Company of 108 men held its ground with courage and grim determination against a three sided attack from a force of 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops.

When the battle subsided, 17 Australian soldiers lay dead, 24 had been wounded of which one died 9 days later. Battlefield clearance revealed 245 enemy bodies with captured documents later confirming the count at over 500 enemy killed and 800 wounded.

These men were led by a gruff and gusty perfectionist, Major Harry Smith. Now, some 49 years after the battle, Harry tells his story for the first time. But this book is more than just an account of a historic battle. Harry Smith takes his readers on an extraordinary journey — one that ultimately reveals a remarkable cover-up at the highest military and political echelons.

Long Tan A lifelong battle portrays the wrenching, visceral experience of a man who has fought lifelong battles, in a story that he is only now able to tell. Harry can still hear the gunfire and smell the blood spilt at Long Tan. For him, the fight continues.

About Lt Col Harry Smith SG MC

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Smith SG MC (born 25 July 1933) is a former senior officer in the Australian Army, seeing active service during the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. He was Officer Commanding of D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (D Coy, 6RAR) during the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966.

After service as a Cadet and National Serviceman, Smith joined the Australian Regular Army as a private soldier and then graduated as Second Lieutenant from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea, in December 1952. He was subsequently posted to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in 1955 and served during the Malayan Emergency between 1955 and 1957.

From June 1966 to June 1967, Smith, then a major, was Officer Commanding D Coy, 6RAR. On 18 August, after heavy mortar shelling of the Australian base at Nui Dat the previous night, companies from 6RAR were sent out to locate the Vietcong units involved. Smith led the 105 soldiers of D Coy and the 3 man NZ Artillery Party out on patrol, but at 3.15pm, while patrolling a rubber plantation at Long Tan that afternoon, they encountered a reinforced regimental-sized Vietcong force (the Viet Cong 275th Regiment, supported by the North Vietnamese Army 806 Battalion and the local D445 Battalion) preparing to advance on the base. A monsoon struck at the same time, but Smith organised his forces to successfully hold off the assault, while coordinating support from Australian, New Zealand, and United States artillery units back at Nui Dat. D Coy was reinforced at 6.55pm by a B Company Platoon then A Company in 3 Troop APCs, the Vietcong having already started to withdraw.

18 Australians were killed and 24 wounded during the Battle of Long Tan, but under Smith’s command, D Coy had fended off a numerically superior force, with at least 293 Vietcong confirmed as killed, and another 500 believed wounded. 800 enemy killed or died from wounds were listed in records found in 1969. Nine Delta Company men were given gallantry awards, only half those recommended, and many of these had been downgraded from the original nomination. Only one private soldier of all those in forward sections who fought the enemy at the coal face was recognised. Smith’s command and leadership of his men during the fierce fighting saw him recommended for the Distinguished Service Order(DSO), but he instead received the lesser Military Cross (MC), and his Platoon Commanders were downgraded from MC to MID, while two senior officers not at the battle were awarded the DSO for their alleged involvement.

Following service in Vietnam, Smith commanded 1 Commando Company at Georges Heights and after overseas training with UK, USA and Canadian airborne units, was posted as CO/CI of the first Army Parachute Training School in 1973. Smith left the Army in 1976 after a parachuting injury and later pursued cruising the east coast and gulf, covering 150,000 nautical miles over 33 years.

In 2008, after years of campaigning for better recognition of Long Tan veterans, Smith’s MC was upgraded to the Star of Gallantry (the Australian replacement for the Imperial DSO). Two of his officers who fought at Long Tan had their MID awards upgraded to Medals for Gallantry corresponding to the original nominations of MC but his soldiers’ awards were not  recognised. On 9 March 2011 at the Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum, Smith was presented with the Star of Gallantry by local MP Paul Neville. Many of the Long Tan veterans were in attendance for the ceremony. Smith continues to fight with Defence and the Honours Tribunal for the awards his soldiers should have received in 1966 and there is to be a further review later this year.

Click here to buy Harry’s book >

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50 years ago in June 1965, the first Australian combat troops, 1RAR along with support elements; 105 Field Battery, 161 Field Battery (New Zealand) and a Troop of Australian APC’s – all attached to the US 173rd Airborne Brigade – arrived in Vietnam. 49 years ago on 9 June 1966, the first Australian Task Force arrived in Vietnam.

An infantry battalion, 6RAR, comprising approximately 600 combat troops, an Armoured Personnel Carrier unit, the 4/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse, Australian Artillery, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) unit with six Caribou planes, a small surgical team, some civil engineers, diary and signals experts and the men in the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), were under the command of Colonel, later Brigadier, Oliver Jackson, the Commander, Australian Army Force, Vietnam, who although based at the Australian Headquarters in Saigon, was under the operational control of the U.S. Supreme Commander, General William Westmoreland.

Earlier on 6 June 1966, eight Iroquois helicopters from 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), landed at the Vung Tau airbase, Vietnam. The Bell UH-1B Iroquois or “Huey” is almost synonymous with the Vietnam War and for the next five and a half years 9 Squadron’s Hueys supported the 1st Australian Task Force (1ATF).

*30 advisers as part of the AATTV (Australian Army Training Team Vietnam) departed Australia from Mascot, New South Wales, aboard a Qantas charter flight on 29 July 1962. The unit’s first commanding officer, Colonel Ted Serong, arrived in Saigon on 31 July – the date that is mistakenly considered the unit’s “birthday” – and the main body arrived three days later. On arrival, they joined a large group of US advisers and were dispersed across South Vietnam in small groups. Three groups were dispatched to South Vietnam’s northern provinces, while a fourth was based at the Ranger Training Centre at Duc My near Nha Trang in the south; a headquarters was established in Saigon. The groups began training the Vietnamese in barracks, providing instruction in “jungle warfare techniques and technical areas such as signals and engineering”, but initially, the team was prevented from actively taking part in combat operations; this restriction was later lifted, but until this occurred, the advisers deployed on operations as observers only.

The men and equipment arrived at Vung Tau on HMAS Sydney which had left Australia’s shores on 27 May 1965 on the first of 25 voyages it would make to South Vietnam, during which time the ship would become to be known among the troops as “the Vung Tau ferry.” The ship left in secret at 1.39am with only its navigational lights lit up to avoid protesters. The arrival of Australian combat troops on 8th June 1966 followed a dramatic build-up of U.S. soldiers which had begun just weeks earlier.

Formation

6 RAR was raised on 6 June 1965 at Alamein Barracks at Enoggera in Brisbane, Queensland, when a cadre of officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and two rifle companies were transferred from 2 RAR to form the nucleus of the new battalion. The battalion was then brought up to full strength when an intake of 250 national servicemen marched-in in September 1965. The battalion’s complement of platoon commanders was rounded out shortly after this with the arrival of six Scheyville graduates.

The battalion’s first commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Colin Townsend, DSO, while Warrant Officer 1 George Chinn, DCM, came from the SASR based at Campbell Barracks in Perth as its first regimental sergeant major. It was initially assigned to the 6th Task Force (which was later to become 6th Brigade). In early 1966, 6 RAR received orders to deploy to Vietnam as part of the expansion of Australia’s forces there. In order to prepare for this, the battalion undertook lead-up training at the Jungle Training Centre at Canungra and then at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area before the advance party flew out for Saigon on 31 May 1966.

9 Squadron, RAAF arrive in Vung Tau via Saigon (Iroquois choppers). The pilots move into an old French Villa on the foreshore. They fly their first mission the next day.

14 Jun

Due to increasing intelligence that the enemy might be moving into the Nui Dat area – location for the Australian task force (ATF) base – 6RAR are quickly moved by Chinook choppers from Vung Tau to Nui Dat ahead of schedule. The afternoon at Nui Dat was spent digging shell scrapes and clearing the immediate area. That night D Coy maintained 100% stand-to. It rained all night.

For the duration of a tour of duty the Platoon routines at Nui Dat were more or less organised on a 3 day rotation:

• Day 1 – all day patrol following an overnight ambush 2 to 5 km’s from the base and returning late afternoon the next day.
• Day 2 – Platoons spent time in the forward defensive lines (FDL’s) building up defensive works by hand without proper equipment, doing battalion duties such as kitchen or other development works and defending the perimeter of Nui Dat. A listening post was also manned about 1km from the FDL’s. Every late afternoon would be spent bailing water out of the weapons pits and trenches as like clock-work, the heavens opened up with a monsoonal downpour.
• Day 3 – once again the platoons would go out again on a day/night patrol and engage in setting up ambushes.

These numbing routines with little, if any enemy contact created an endless tension within each soldier – hours on patrol, or sitting waiting in an ambush all the while under threat of enemy contact. The stress of the heat and dust, mud, the endless rain, the boredom of routine and the never ending threat of an unseen enemy bore heavily on everyone’s shoulders.

6RAR’s first operation, Enoggera. D Coy’s job was to complete the destruction of a village. They were to destroy or remove any caches of food and other supplies and then destroy the tunnels and hides which honeycombed the area.

24 Jun

At noon 12 Platoon stopped for lunch and the platoon assumed all round harbour defence so they could brew up. They had only just posted sentries and lit up their hexamine stoves when there was a yelp from one of the diggers – Pte Paul Large. Such a breaking of strict code of silence quickly brought everyone to their firing positions, sending brews flying and throwing dirt on burning stoves. It turned out that Paul had been bitten by a scorpion – not the small translucent brown ones but one of the bigger, highly venomous solid black ones. In minutes Paul was in a bad way. He was sweating profusely and his eyes were losing focus. The medic gave him some pills but within 15 minutes his temperature was well up and so 2Lt Sabben determined he had to be sent out. Sabben radioed that he had a medical casualty and requested a Dustoff flight (medivac chopper). It took another 10-15 minutes to clear it in as there was artillery being fired in the area. The Dustoff landed in a swirl of dust and leaves in a nearby clearing and Paul was on his way to hospital. As he was being carried to the chopper Large said, ‘Hurrah for the Flying Doctor!’

6RAR’s next operation was Hobart. This was a search and destroy operation in reaction to intelligence indicating a large enemy force nearby. However after 3 days of searching nothing of significance was found. This operation, previous and future ones began to build an attitude of cry wolf among the diggers about any so called ‘intelligence’ reports.

29 Jul

First reports come in from Australian adviser Capt Mike Wells that a VC battalion was seen in dense jungle within Line Alpha (a line encircling the ATF base out to 5km – all civilian populations were removed within this radius of the Australian base. Anyone in it could be more easily identified as enemy.).

In the afternoon two heavily armed Chinook choppers were ordered out to strafe the enemy position. So intense was the ground fire on the choppers that they reported they were receiving more than they were giving. An immediate airstrike was called on the position.  Further reports came in indicating that 3,000 VC had arrived in Phuoc Tuy to attack allied forces. Jackson despatches Cap Robert Keep (ATF Intelligence officer) to HQ II FFV in Saigon with intelligence indicating a large enemy force was near Nui Dat. Keep relayed Jackson’s request for reinforcements. The American’s almost laughed them out of court based upon the resources they already had and comparing the information with what they already had.

547 Signal Troop (Australia’s top secret radio tracking unit) at Nui Dat begin tracking transmissions from the radio of the enemy North Vietnamese Army (NVA) 275 Regiment. Due to the scarcity of radios amongst the enemy, they would only be found at the regimental level and it was logical for intelligence to assume that along with this enemy radio was with the entire 275 Regiment (2,500+ soldiers). 547 Troop keep tracking the enemy radio through to 14 August, locating its last position at the Nui Dat 2 feature on the edge of the Long Tan rubber plantation. Ironically, this is where the first major attack on 11 Platoon, D Coy comes from on 18 Aug.

30 Jul

D Coy, 6RAR ordered out for a 3 day patrol to the north east extremity of Line Alpha. They were to determine the extent of any enemy activity and locate and destroy any enemy camps.

9 Aug

Capt Robert Keep sent to 2 Field Ambulance hospital at Vung Tau. Capt. Keep has been the most vocal proponent of an imminent large scale enemy attack on the Australia task force base at Nui Dat.

15 Aug

Capt Keep transferred to the RAAF hospital at Butterworth, Malaysia.

D Coy return from their 3 day patrol. Ironically their patrol took them to the north east around the Nui Dat 2 feature where the last reported enemy radio signals were picked up and then back via the Long Tan rubber plantation and the rubber tappers hut, but with no contact with the enemy.

16 Aug

Chief Intelligence officer Major John Rowe is evacuated to 2 Field Ambulance hospital at Vung Tau with Hepatitis. As fate would have it, 1ATF HQ had now lost both its intelligence officers.

Pte Paul Large from 12 Platoon fronts Major Harry Smith for punching a Lance Corporal. Large had been before Harry the Officer Commanding (OC) of D Coy three times previously. Harry was going to give him 21 days field punishment and 21 days loss of pay so Large asked for a court martial as he said he had good evidence and 4 witnesses to support his version of events. Large said he would have won the court martial as his witnesses would have said he only defended himself. Harry dismissed the charges. The real story was the Lance Corporal called Large a gutless little bastard so Large got stuck into him. His mates were prepared to lie to help him out!

A Coy, 6RAR followed the patrol route of D Coy and they were based just north of the Long Tan rubber plantation, patrolling south over Nui Dat 2. A Coy discovered signs of enemy. Late in the afternoon they had several small contacts with enemy dressed in greens (Viet Cong guerrillas wore black and only regular North Vietnamese Soldiers (NVA) wore green). During one of these engagements an enemy officer was killed who appeared to be carrying details associated with the firing of the mortars. A Coy harboured for the night. In the early hours on the morning of 17 Aug they were startled by the sounds of significant and sustained mortar and artillery fire on the Australian base at Nui Dat some 5 km’s away.

• 2.43am – The enemy bombard the Nui Dat base for 22 minutes resulting in 67 mortar craters. 24 Australians are wounded – one seriously who loses a leg. 7 vehicles are damaged and 21 tents damaged. The enemy artillery mainly and accurately targeted the Australian artillery, engineer lines and the FSCC command post.
• 2.50am – Australian counter-bombardment artillery and mortar fire commences.
• 4.10am – Australian artillery fire ceases.
• 4.50am – Townsend orders B Coy, 6RAR to patrol out and locate the enemy firing positions.
• 6.31am – B Coy with 80 men depart Nui Dat.
• 8.00am – B Coy locate first enemy mortar base plate position. They fan out and eventually locate sites for 5 x 82mm mortars and weapons pits for 35 men. They also locate tracks from the enemy party and follow it.
• 10.30am – The main track that B Coy are following fades away.
• Midday – 6RAR now had three separate elements searching for the enemy in the general area of the base plate positions and to the north east of Nui Dat. A Coy was 500 metres north of Nui Dat, 9 Platoon C Coy was to the south of the known base plate positions and B Coy was between the two approximately 2km’s south west of A Coy and 1 km north east of 9 platoon. It was difficult to imagine that any significant numbers of enemy in the area could remain undetected. A Coy reported heavy enemy jamming of his radio transmissions.
• 5.30pm – A porter party with food rations arrives at B Coy. B Coy stay out overnight to continue the search.

• 7.05am – B Coy recommences the search but 48 men out of their compliment of approximately 100, return to Nui Dat for their scheduled R&R (Rest & Relaxtion).
• 8.00am – D Coy HQ radio signaller Graham Smith advises Harry that he received a message for him to report to Townsend to receive orders for a company patrol. Harry issues an informal warning order to D Coy to prepare for a patrol.
• 8.30am – D Coy begin to draw rations and ammunition, test fire their weapons and pack their equipment.
• 9.30am – Harry Smith holds an ‘O’ (orders) Group with his platoon commanders; 2Lt Dave Sabben (12 Platoon), 2Lt Gordon Sharp (11 Platoon), 2Lt Geoff Kendall (10 Platoon), NZ Artillery Observer Capt. Morrie Stanley, D Coy CSM (Company Sergeant Major Kirby) and Harry’s signallers to let them know about the patrol. Their orders are to locate the enemy mortar positions, locate and engage the enemy and relieve B Coy. Harry could feel the disappointment amongst his men at missing the concert. This concert scheduled for later that day was the first concert for the ATF in Vietnam and it featured the gorgeous 17 year older singer Little Pattie and Col Joye and the Joye Boys. Everyone had been looking forward to this rare treat and break from the monotony and boredom of life at Nui Dat. Some also felt that Harry’s strained relationship with his boss Lt. Col. Colin Townsend (Commanding Officer of 6RAR) might have contributed to D Coy drawing the short straw, once again.
• 9.45am – 9 Sqn RAAF Pilots Riley & Grandin in one chopper and Pilots Lane & Dohle in another pick up the Col Joye and Little Pattie party from the US Airforce Base at Vung Tau and fly them to Nui Dat.
• 10.30am – The choppers carrying the concert party arrive at Nui Dat.
• 10.35am – B Coy report that they have found enemy pits dug for 25 men and 22 empty tubes for 75mm RCL (Recoilless rifles) rounds.
• 11.00am – Concert setup and rehearsals begin.
• 11.00am – D Coy depart Nui Dat with the echoes of the concert rehearsals in the distance. Most of D Coy are pretty pissed off that they are missing the first ever concert at their base.
• 1.00pm – D Coy rendezvous with B Coy approximately half way between the task force base and the Long Tan rubber plantation and have lunch. Harry Smith and B Coy commander Major Noel Ford discuss the tracks that B Coy found and likely routes the enemy may have taken.
• 3.00pm – D Coy leaves B Coy behind and begins to follow the enemy tracks towards the Long Tan rubber plantation.
• 3.00pm – Concert starts at Nui Dat.
• 3.15pm – D Coy enters the Long Tan rubber plantation.
• 3.40pm – 11 Platoon has their first contact at track crossing. They kill one enemy soldier and recover an AK47. The company formation used at the time means that D Coy HQ is approximately 200 metres to the rear left of 11 Platoon, 12 Platoon some 200 metres behind D Coy HQ and 10 Platoon some 200 metres to the extreme left of 11 Platoon.

And so begins The Battle of Long Tan which would see 105 Australian Soldiers and 3 New Zealand soldiers fight for their lives over the next three and a half hours against 2,500 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong Soldiers in the rubber plantation at Long Tan. 18 Australians and more than 500 enemy would be killed.

Members of D Company 6RAR display the cigarette cases and dolls received from the South Vietnamese government for their action at Long Tan. Front row, [L-R] Privates (Pte) Noel Grimes, Allan May, Bill Arkell, Neil Bextrum and Lance Corporal (LCpl) Bill Rocher. Back row: Second Lieutenant Geoff Kendall, Sergeant Bob Buick, Pte Geoff Peters, Cpl Bill (Bluey) Moore, LCpl Barry Magnussen, Pte Ian Campbell.

The post 50 Years Ago Australian Forces Arrive in Vietnam appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

Sadly, another of the brave, gallant, Battle of Long Tan veterans has passed away this week.

20 year old Harry Esler was conscripted into the Australian Army in 1965 as part of the very first intake of Australian National Servicemen for the Vietnam War. After National Service training, Private Harry Esler was posted to 10 Platoon, D Company, 6RAR in September 1965 and he would go on and fight as a 21 year old riflemen in the incredible Battle of Long Tan.

Harry was 70 years young, and sadly he passed away on Wednesday morning, 15th April 2015 at his home in Newcastle. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and fellow Vietnam warriors this week.

UPDATE – The funeral service for the late Harry Esler will be held at:

9.30am, Wednesday 22nd April, 2015
The Chapel of Pettigrew Funeral Home,
3 Harris Street, Wallsend, NSW

I’ve pulled together some of the interesting moments during the Battle of Long Tan which included Private Harry Esler:

• Esler says, “They stuck us on a plane and flew us to Vietnam. We landed on a beach and I thought, This is it. This is going to be great. A nice little beach at Vung Tau. Then they whipped us up to Nui Dat into the middle of a rubber plantation. When we got there it was all mud. There was no machinery to help us, we had to do it all by hand.”

• Esler says of Harry Smith, “Major Smith was a very good soldier, in that everybody respected him. I certainly did. He was a bloke you trusted with your life. Nothing seemed too hard for him. He seemed calm at all times and gave a feeling of confidence. Don’t get me wrong he could be a very hard man. The look he’d give you if you were playing up was enough to drill a hole in you.”

• In the height of the battle Esler said he was surprised to find he was calm, no fear, because he could see a target.

  

• Just before Harry ordered Kendall’s 10 Platoon to withdraw back to the main D Coy position having unsuccessfully being able to punch through to 11 Platoon, Esler found himself out front and, “like a silly bugger’ was one of the last to get back. He said, “I’d been having a bit of fun, looked behind and the boys had gone. Peter Doyle was the guy that told me, “For Christ’s sake get down! Get back!” I nearly got left up there. I remember running back. That was the strangest feeling, because unlike marching towards them, you had a funny feeling a bullet was going to hit you in the back. You were tense and it was worse than approaching them, meantime it was pouring down rain. Pissing down and we couldn’t see much.

• Esler moved back to the D Coy position and lay down beside Doug Mitchell and his mate Jack Jewry, Buddy Lea’s section commander who would be killed attempting to bandage Lea’s wounds. Jack was a few feet away from Esler on his left.

• Esler laid next to his friend Doung Mitchell and said to him, “OK you’re supposed to be a crash-hot shot – this is true, I’m not exaggerating – I’ll bet you a can of beer you can’t hit that bloke in the stomach. He’d have a shot, then say to me, a can of beer if you can hit him in the head’… the two friends laid there firing steadily.

• Esler noticed one member of the enemy in particular, “There was this big fellow running around in a white dustcoat. He seemed taller than the rest, giving orders, shouting orders… Anyway, I had a few shots at him. I don’t know if he had a bullet proof vest on or if I’m a lousy shot, but I couldn’t get him. Corporal Green, in 11 Platoon said later that he got the bastard but he was never found among the dead. I remember his as a big, tall bloke and whether he was a medical officer or one of the big nobs, I don’t know.

• Esler’s cigarettes, in his thigh pocket were ruined from the rain and mud. He wanted a smoke looked around and saw Buddy Lea lighting up; so he casually rose, ran across the bullet swept plantation and ‘bludged a cigarette off him, lit it up, ran back and lay down. It was the sort of stupid thing you do.’

• Esler notices the company medic, Corporal Phil Dobson run up towards the front lines of our position, out of sight, bring back a wounded Australian, patch him up and away he would go again. “He was a champion, that bloke. He should have been given the Victoria Cross for what he did.”

  

• A short distance from Esler, in the CHQ position Pom Rencher was beside a rubber tree, calmly and busily operating his radio, passing messages to Harry Smith and Morrie Stanley. All through the battle rounds had been cracking overhead and trace flying past. For some reason Esler and Rencher looked at each other, then faced the front again – “to see huge tracers floating towards us at head height, seemingly moving in slow motion.” Esler, “The world stopped as I waited to see who it would hit. No fear, just fascinated expectancy. After an eternity it passed exactly half way between us! I knew then that I was going to come through the battle in one piece and nothing was ever going to be the same again.”

• For the young Australians, prone by their trees, semi-hidden in the water, the falling rain and the mud, the lines of enemy presented good targets. Esler, “It was just like a kangaroo shoot. They were coming in waves. They were blowing bugles off to the left, in front and across to the right. I remember thinking, by Christ I wish I had a set of bagpipes here. I’d put the fear of Christ up these blokes! The bugles did get on your nerves and have an effect on you when you heard them blowing.”

• A long standing joke in D Coy was Jack Kirby’s insistence that Esler was in fact a Private Ralph who had last been heard of on patrol in Malaya. You remind me of that bludger, Kirby would say and on his journey around the perimeter during the battle to keep spirits up and distribute ammunition Kirby would remark to Esler: How are you today Private Ralph? And you’re not going to get back if you don’t watch out! Undismayed, Esler would reply I will! You make sure you do.

• Near the time the APC’s arrived, Kirby came around doling out the meagre ammunition available and asking Esler, you all right Private Ralph? Doing a good job? He dropped twelve rounds of ammunition by Esler’s side.

• In D Coy HQ peering through the trees, Harry Smith saw a mass of dark figures forming to one side and called, “Righto, Private Esler and you others had better turn around and look behind you.” “What Sir?” asked Esler. “Can’t you see them? Said Harry Smith. But Esler could not see what it was Smith was indicating. “They’re forming up to hit us from behind.” Then they saw the enemy flitting from tree to tree moving into a patch of thick scrub behind the Australians. The bugles sounded again. “Christ”, said Esler. Every shot had to count and Esler only had around ten rounds left. Esler heard Smith say on the radio, “If you don’t come for us in half an hour, don’t bother to come at all.”

• Esler and others watched the APC’s jerking and swerving as they rolled through the mass of enemy crushing some underneath. A VC stood up to throw a grenade at an APC. The commander of the APC tried to get the .50 machinegun barrel depressed far enough to hit the VC but could not. Esler and Mitchell saw this, aimed and fired. “I think I got him first”, claimed Esler as the VC was flung backwards and the grenade went off next to him.

• Esler heard one of the nearby diggers yelling and screaming so he called out to him. “I think my leg is gone”, came the reply. Esler crawled the 20-odd metres between them. “Well why don’t you have a bloody look? Esler said to him. “It’s still there as far as I can see.” Esler examined the wound. What had happened was that a bit of mortar shrapnel had cut through his boot, the ridge around the sole edge, the laces and the top and even put a hole in his sock – that’s how lucky he was. He must have thought his leg was gone. But I got up him and said, “I crawled all the bloody way up here for you and you didn’t even have a look!”

• The day after the battle, Esler and the others from D Coy rode in the back of the APC’s towards the vicinity of the battle from the day before. As soon as they let that back door down we bolted out. We looked around and didn’t know what to expect. As I got down I accidently stood on a bit of an arm – half an arm of a VC. I picked it up and said, “How would this go hanging up in the canteen?” And whoever it was nearby said, “Put that bloody thing down!”

• Esler and the others walked through the scene of the battle and saw bodies everywhere. Bits of bodies, full bodies. I came across this little dugout and there’s this fellow lying in there, a VC with not a mark on him. He was dead alright but unmarked. Maybe the concussion got him?

• Esler, Doolan, Deller and Doyle were together clearing the area and collecting ammunition and checking the dead when General William Westmoreland walked up to them and said, “You’ve done a good job fellows but this is the dirty part.” Doolan replied, “She’ll be right mate, we can handle it.” This classic digger’s response created newspaper headlines!

• The same group now with Kendall, Smith and Westmoreland came across a small group of bodies, big in build compared to the VC: six foot, chubby faced fellows. Esler said they looked like Chinese. A South Vietnamese interpreter arrived and after some discussion decided that the bodies were North Vietnamese regulars.

  

• Esler was dragging a noticeably young VC. As he bent over and pulled on the body his faced just caved in. He was full of maggots. I got a whiff of the smell and that was the only time I came close to being sick the whole time I was over there, except at the end when I was really sick.

• Esler, Doyle and a few others were searching a group of corpses. When one body was pulled over onto its back, they found underneath it two pearl handled Colt .45 pistols. The diggers assumed that these had been taken by the VC from a dead American. Esler said, “Look at these. This would be a good souvenir to take home.” Behind them a voice said, “Aren’t they beautiful? They turned and it was Harry Smith. “We spotted them first”, Esler said. Smith pointed to his rank badges. “They’re mine”, he said.

Rest in Peace Harry Esler.

The post Passing of another Long Tan Veteran – Harry Esler appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

“… The CO of Canungra announced on Friday night that Delta Company was the best company, and 12 Platoon the best platoon, that has been through since World War II. It might not seem like much to you, but, believe me, it is an achievement that any company would be proud to have. We will have a reputation to live up to, but after working with all the blokes out there, we are all sure we can live up to it.”

Private Paul Large, 12 Platoon, Delta Company 6 RAR, writing home to his parents about the training at Canungra, Queensland, on the eve of departing for Vietnam. The letter is dated 3rd April 1966, five months before the Battle of Long Tan.

By Lawrie Lovegrove, ‘Duck’. A mate of Paul Large.

‘Largie’

My earliest contact with Largie at Coolah was after my good mate Mick Donohue left the Catholic school to attend the public school, although it was some years after. Largie at that time ran with a different mob of mates, as all young fellows do from time to time — blokes like “Grimmy” Graham and “Bogan” Elliott are two that spring to mind. It wasn’t until Largie’s Dad and Mum, Vic and Dulce, moved to the house in Hospital Street where he was more closer to our territory that we started to knock around together more. Most kids up to the age of 12-13 seemed to stick to their own “territory”, but after that moved further afield and went bush and became “free-range ferals”. Fences were just something you climbed over, to keep stock in, not necessarily someone’s boundary. We never did any harm while on someone’s land, just chased kangaroos and rabbits with Sticks and rocks. Of course, it’s so different today, but looking back it was probably the reason we grew healthy and quickly.

But going back again to the pre-Hospital Street days when Largie lived in Binnia Street opposite old “By Golly” McCann’s, we used to spend time down by the creek, catching yabbies, swimming, pelting flat spinners on the water, and generally having a good time, always accompanied by Largie’s old black mongrel, Monty. We never got bored, unlike kids today. We always found other things to do, new territory to conquer, and made our own fun. During these times, Largie was always an innovator, suggesting we do this or that, and either leading or urging someone else to do something he wasn’t quite game enough to do himself. I can’t say I have any memory of Largie with a serious face.

‘The Pitches’

Every kid in Coolah looked forward to the weekend, Friday afternoon being the beginning, lasting until 9 am Monday. One of the best parts of the weekend was the Saturday arvo matinee at Vic North’s picture theatre. Saturday morning meant doing the “messages”, going up the street and getting the bread and the meat at Tommy Roots’ or Bill Venables Butchery, and hoping to snare a couple of extra pence change along with your two bob pocket money so you could have a bit extra to buy Jaffas to pelt at the other kids in “Peanut Alley” at the matinee. On the way home from the messages it was always the question, “Goin’ the matinee?” when you bumped into Largie, Mick, Grimmy, or Bogan, even though you knew they’d be there. On the way home after the matinee, we used to act out the serials, either The Shadow, Tom Mix, The Cisco Kid, Gene Audrey, etc, whatever was on at the time, making our way to the Park (McMaster Park). We made decisions about who was going to be the “goodies” or “baddies”, it didn’t matter which, and then discussing what was going to happen in next week’s episode.

The usual meeting place prior to the matinee was Peter Ferosi Cafe, where we bought our supply of “ammo” for Peanut Alley. As we grew older we gradually were allowed to double up and go to the Saturday night pictures as well, where mostly we checked out the sheilas and who was sitting with whom.

I well remember one night prior to the pictures when we were walking into Crofty’s newspaper shop and Largie had his new fleck long strides on, and Mick noticed that Largie’s fly was undone. When Mick told him, he quickly tried to whip his zipper up, but it disintegrated into metal pieces all over Crofty’s vinyl tile floor, alerting everyone in the shop it seemed. Anyway, it didn’t worry Largie, he still went to the pictures holding his trousers together, even though he never wore underpants.

‘Fishin’ and Craydabbin’

The creek was a source of fun for us all, not the least Largie who lived closeby and we spent a lot of our weekend and holiday time there catching craydabs. Largie’s Dad, Vic, used to catch the occasional catfish there, and he used to take us eeling out over the Range towards Cassilis. The big floods in ‘55 and ‘56 changed the creek a lot with a lot of willows and the bridge washing away, but it cleaned the creek out for a while.

‘Shootin’

When we were old enough to carry a rifle, and, of course after we were well instructed about how to use guns safely and responsibly, we used to go shooting rabbits and roos in the hills behind Coolah, walking for miles on a weekend, never tiring of the sport, especially Largie, who prided himself in how good a shot he was. If either Mick or myself, or whoever else was with us, got three or four roos for the day, Largie didn’t want to give up until he got more, even if it was getting too dark to see. “You were just lucky!” would be the eventual remark, but he was a good shot I will admit. I remember Largie came home from his Basic Training in the Army and the first thing he told us was “the bastards can’t shoot!” After their first rifle range drill, he said he couldn’t wait for his turn with the rifle to “show ‘em how”. I suppose it was inevitable from then on that he would end up with the forward scout’s job in the jungle.

‘The Standard’

After a while, Largie bought an old car, and we used to go spotlighting in it. Prior to that, we sometimes went with “Rocco” McBeth in “Squeaker’s” old Austin A40.

Largie bought a car, an old Blue and White Dulux-finished Standard 8, a vehicle if driven on the road in this day and age would result in a jail sentence for the driver. However, it was in working order most of the time, and it opened up a broader world for us even if the brakes were “metal on metal” a lot of the time, and the lights went on the blink at will, and often the wiring shorted out and filled the cab with choking fumes and smoke. When this happened, you just wound the windows down and let the “air-conditioning” do the rest, for there were ample drafts coming up the floor and the firewall (somewhat chilly of a frosty night out spotlighting though). It was a good “first car” to learn in, and learn is what Largie (and the rest of us) did. One day, Largie, Mick and myself decided after a few beers at the Top Pub to go to the Dunedoo Show, so off we went. Just south of Leadville township we got a flat tyre. “It’s okay,” Largie declared, “I’ve got a spare.” and opened the boot. Well, there was a spare all right, but no jack or wheel brace. After a bit of rummaging, Largie found an old multi-size bike spanner down in a cavity and miraculously it fitted the wheel nuts, even though it was only three and a half inches long. We all had a turn trying to undo the nuts, and each took all the skin off our knuckles until we eventually loosened them. Now, we had to try and lift the car to pack some rocks underneath. No good! Too heavy! But then I spotted an old fence-stay laying beside a fence near the road. We got that, jammed it under the car, put a rock under that, and levered the car up and I sat on it while Largie and Mick did the rest. During this, a car at last came along and pulled up, the driver got out and came to the front of his car and asked if we needed help, but Largie declined and the driver shook his head and declared “Now I’ve seen everything” and left. Largie reckoned I was a genius for that, and when we got to Dunedoo he shouted me a beer.

Another time we were coming home from Binnaway after a dance, Largie was flaked out on the back seat, Mick driving most of the way home, a chocking gravel road not making the trip very easy. We’d just hit the tar north of home and Mick bad ‘er flat to the boards. We were really cruisin’ now, the noise and vibrations giving a feeling we were flying (we were really only doing top speed, downhill, at 60-70 kmph, when suddenly there was a bang followed by total blackness momentarily, then another bang, and visibility again. It was then that Largie woke up and asked what the fuck happened. It took three football field lengths to pull up and we found the bonnet had come up against the windscreen then snapped its hinges and went over the top of the car, so we reversed back to pick it up. We couldn’t fit the bonnet back onto the car, so Largie opened up the boot to put it in there. Now the old Standard had a boot only big enough for a suitcase and a Sun Herald and it just wouldn’t fit, so Largie folded the bonnet over and then tried to stuff it in, but it still wouldn’t stay in so he hurled it over Colin Gill’s fence and said “Come on, let’s get home. I’ll come and pick it up tomorrow” and off we went again. The next time I saw the Standard, she had a big crease and cracked line of paint down the centre of the bonnet, and No. 8 wire through the hinges. But it still worked. I can’t remember what eventually happened to her, but she gave us some good times and wonderful memories. Talk about value for money!

‘Footy’

Largie and Mick were both a year older than me and when they started training for under 18s I went too, not just because they were going to play, but mainly because I just couldn’t wait to play footy for Coolah, although my father told me I wasn’t allowed to. I said I was just going to training. Although we had some coaches with serious intent, blokes like “Goody”, “Mutt” Glew and “Ringy” Rindfleish, I suppose we were a coach’s nightmare most of the time. None of us were to set the football world aflame, although Largie always had his eyes firmly fixed on the Coolah 1st’s No 12 guernsey, which he claimed was going to be his own one day not far off. The No 12 at the time was none other than Largie’s brother-in-law, Jimmy Manning, whom Largie idolised, as Jimmy not only played well for Coolah, but represented Group 14 and Western Division as well. We plodded along year after year and learnt what it was like to come all the way home from places like Coonamble with a missing tooth, a thumping headache and a thumping on the scoreboard, but it was so good just to play for your mates and Coolah. We never won many games that I can remember, that is until 1965 when we were in Reserve Grade with a captain-coach Gary Lowe. Suddenly things were different, a more serious approach, playing with the big fellows and a best and fairest points every week had us winning games week after week, a totally new feeling! But just when things were going well, the draft came up and Largie drew the marble, and so it was off to Basic Training. We won the competition that year and I well remember Largie being presented with his blazer at the presentation-cum-farewell in “Headlock” Jenkin’s old cafe. Even though he only played a few early games, he was so proud of that blazer and who knows, if things had turned out differently, I for one do not doubt that he would have occupied the Coolah 1st’s No 12 jumper one day.

‘High-Stakes Cards’

We often gathered at Largie’s, either after the pictures or even after shooting all day, and played cards well into the early hours of the morning, making the usual noises that a card game washed down with tinned water mostly brings out. Although I didn’t care too much for cards, I played along and mostly had a lot of fun. Vic and Dulce had to be the most easygoing people on God’s earth to put up with us, for I can’t ever remember either of them complaining about noise or even suggesting “Shouldn’t we be going home soon?”. The games were never going to break anyone’s budget, for none of us had much to start with, and were limited to either matches at first and then later on small change, which gave you more incentive.

‘The Pub’

When Largie turned 18 we headed up to the Top Pub with Mick, who had already had his 18th about a month earlier. Out the front door, I started to get cold feet and hesitated, but Largie and Mick said “You’re not stayin’ out here. Come on, you’ll be right”, and so in I went. I must have been a dead give-away looking up at the publican, Ron Toobey, who had a huge knowing grin on his face. Then Mick announced he was “buying a beer for Largie who had just turned 18, and one for Duck too.” Possy Patter, the barman, asked out loud whether I was 18? Ron Toobey said, “Of course he is.” and plonked a beer down in front of me. Suddenly I was at ease, but I kept looking towards the front door, expecting the cops to walk in. From then on, we made the Top Pub a meeting place where Mick and Largie would have a bet on Saturdays. I couldn’t afford to bet as I only earned 4/6/4 per week as an apprentice carpenter, so I only selected horses without putting any thing on.

On reflection, I have nothing but good memories of growing up with two such good mates as Largie and Mick — and their families too, for that matter. We were often referred to as the Three Musketeers because whenever you saw two the other wasn’t far away. The same can be said about most of the “baby boomers” of that era as most of the kids were all good friends, fights were very uncommon. I suppose it says a lot about Coolah and its people.

The post Remembering 21 year old Private Paul Large appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

The links that bind Australian and New Zealand soldiers, past and present, will be underscored when veterans of the historic Battle of Long Tan join with troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan for a very special charity event in Canberra next month.

This event will feature a first ever screening on the big screen of the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary The Battle of Long Tan narrated by Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation, Clash of the Titans) at Dendy Cinemas in the Canberra Mall.

The event on Thursday, 16 August, which has the full support of former Chief of the Australian Army LTGEN Peter Leahy AC (Retd), is being held in advance of the 46^th anniversary of the Long Tan conflict – one of the most savage of the Vietnam War.

All proceeds raised will be shared between Australia’s two major independent soldier support groups – Soldier On soldieron.org.au and The Commando Welfare Trust commandotrust.com.

This event will bring together an array of military veterans, family, next of kin, serving soldiers, politicians, and representatives of the business and entertainment sectors.

Guests will include decorated Commanders from the Long Tan battle – LTCOL Harry Smith SG MC (Retd), WO1 Bob Buick MM (Retd) and COL Adrian Roberts (Retd); other Long Tan veterans like Major Bill ‘Yank’ Akell MID (Retd), Bill Roche and more, and two of the five sisters of the last soldier killed in the battle – Private Paul Large.

Honorary guests will include:

• Chief of Australian Defence Force General David Hurley, AC, DSC
• His Excellency Major General (Retd) Martyn Dunne, New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia

Program

• 6:00pm Doors open.
• 6:30pm Welcome and introduction by some very special guests.
• 7.00pm Screening of documentary begins.
• 8.45pm Q&A with Long Tan veterans including; D Company, 6RAR commander LTCOL Harry Smith SG MC (Retd). 11 Platoon Sergeant, WO1 Bob Buick MM (Retd). CHQ D Coy Signaller Major Bill ‘Yank’ Akell MID (Retd). 10 Platoon’s Bill Roche and more to be announced shortly.
• 9:15pm Reception with light food and drinks (including alcohol) and a casual auction.

Tickets and donations can be made online below or on Eventbrite.

This event also pays homage to the arrival from Vietnam of the original Long Tan Cross for special services at the Australian War Memorial – this cross has never left Vietnam and it is only one of two foreign memorials permitted by the Vietnamese Government, the other being a French memorial for the battle of Dien Bien Phu.

The Diggers from Delta Company who fought at Long Tan on 18 August 1966 – many of them National Service conscripts – were from 6RAR – the same Regiment that has served beside American and New Zealand troops in recent years in Middle East War zones from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Both Soldier On and The Commando Welfare Trust have created support services, including financial assistance, for returned soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Their services also help the families of Australian soldiers killed and/or wounded.

To keep up with the latest news on this event, please join our Battle of Long Tan Facebook page.

About Soldier On

(soldieron.org.au )

Mission: Soldier On supports servicemen and servicewomen of the Australian Defence Force who have been wounded, physically or mentally, in the service of their country.

Vision: Our vision is for wounded Australian Defence Force personnel to have the world’s best care to allow them to achieve the same goals and dreams they had prior to their wounds.

About The Commando Welfare Trust

(commandotrust.com )

Whilst the Departments of Defence and Veteran Affairs have established processes to cover initial financial responses to the death or serious injury of Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) personnel, these tragic events invariably cause hardship for many years to come.

The Commando Welfare Trust has been created to support both initial emergency funding and then long term financial requirements of families in times of hardship where existing funding or grants or entitlements no longer provide support.

The post Anniversary fundraiser to unite soldiers from Long Tan to Afghanistan appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

I must point out that there is no such thing as ‘build it and they will come’, in our case make a film, get a small distribution deal and people will come and see it. The majority of Australian films suffer from poor to non-existent marketing, unrealistic expectations about audience interest, not enough investment in marketing or poorly targeted marketing. Mao’s Last Dancer achieved $15m at the Australian box office off the back of a best selling book (existing audience) and a $2.5m+ marketing budget. Even great films like ‘The World’s Fastest Indian‘ which did extremely well in Australia and New Zealand and generated critical acclaim, can do poorly with poor distribution deals – in this case a poor U.S. distribution deal. I have outlined a detailed case study of Paranormal Activity which was made for USD$15k and earned some USD$180m at the box office through a very smart marketing strategy and campaign in one of my other blog posts ‘The Future of Filmmaking: Seizing back control of the Six Pillars of Cinema‘.

Now, before I outline a couple of detailed breakdowns of what a movie might earn and the expenses and fees associated with it (tables below), it is important to note the different distribution relationships independent producers have with the distributors:

• In-house studio production
• Negative pick-up
• Distribution agreement

In-House production

This relationship is typically engaged through a studio’s production operations. The producer provides an acceptable story, plus the capacity to complete development and deliver a finished picture on schedule and within budget. The studio provides all the development and production support, financial and business (legal and accounting) resources to complete the picture, and all the distribution resources to sell its rights. This relationship is less common, as the studios have reduced in-house development and increasingly look to independent producers to bring them at least partially developed projects.

Though the producer has creative freedom, the ultimate creative control typically resides with the studio. Also, the studio owns the negative, copyright, and all distribution rights. The producer is paid a production fee, refunded his or her development costs, if any, and typically has a net, adjusted gross or gross-profits participations in the film, commonly called points.

Negative Pick-up

This relationship is substantially more independent than studio production, and typically it is entered through a studio production unit. The producer provides an acceptable story and the capacity to complete development and deliver a finished picture and the pictures financing. The studio provides production support, a bankable contract for all or a substantial portion of the needed production funds to be paid upon delivery of the film, and license rights for global, U.S., or international distribution, as negotiated. The bankable contract typically states the studio will pay an agreed-upon amount when the film is delivered, plus royalties (a percentage of the film’s profits, according to a “net profits” definition). Negative pick-up relationships commonly allow the producer more creative freedom during the production process, though the studio may have the right to the picture’s final cut. Negative pick-ups are easier to understand and process than they are to receive, as studios have tight script, producer, and above-the-line criteria that can be challenging to satisfy.

Though it is a negotiable point, the producer typically owns the picture’s copyright, and as part of the agreement, the studio receives the distribution rights (as negotiated, consisting of global, U.S., or international rights). From the gross receipts collected by the studio, the studio is pais its distribution fee for all rights it sells, recoups its direct distribution expenses (DDEs), and may also have points in the picture.

An entertainment bank lends the producer the production financing, which necessitates that the producer have bank and completion bond relationships. The collateral provided to the bank for the production loan is typically a combination of a studio negative pick-up contract and may also include foreign pre-sales contracts and unsold territories estimated value (gap) financing. This collateral equals or excedes the picture’s negative cost, after deducting loan interest and fees. Contingency elements in the negative pick-up contract are primarily that the producer will deliver the studio access to the picture’s negative or a colour reverse internegative (CRI, created to make release prints) and campaign materials, on or before the contract delivery date, and that the picture contain preapproved above-the-line talent, including the director and principal cast. An insurance company provides the bank a guarantee (referred to as a completion bond) that the picture will be delivered within budget and by the contracted delivery date with the specified creative elements intact.

Distribution-only Relationship

This relationship typically is entered through a studio’s distribution arena. This is the most sophisticated relationship for producers to engage and delivers them the greatest overall benefits. This relationship naturally motivates the creaton of the consistently successful motion pictures, better prepares the various rights areas in the major markets, grants producers the greatest autonomy, earns the most revenues for each film, and delivers the highest profits to the producer. Typically this is the most beneficial relationship globally for audiences, studios, producers and licencees. One of the most successful production companies in this arena is Alcon (The Blind Side, My Dog Skip).

The distribution-only relationship takes many forms. Generally, the producer engages a U.S. studio or other distributor to distribute U.S. theatrical and home entertainment. In this relationship, the studio or distributor does not provide negative pickup, other financing collateral, or advance fees. The producer provides the finished picture, developed, produced, financed, and in some relationships, part or all of the direct distribution expenses (the hybrid deal). The studio’s distribution unit or other distributor provides production and campaign consulting and, most commonly, U.S. home entertainment distribution.

Although the producer consults with major market distributors throughout the development and production of the film and is license-bound to deliver the picture represented to presale participants, the producer has complete creative freedom during the production pr0cess.

The producer owns the project’s copyright and distribution rights and licenses distribution rights to U.S. and international distributors and global media. From the gross receipts, collected by the U.S. studio / distributor, the studio / distributor is paid its distribution fee for all rights it sells, recoups it direct distribution expenses, and may also have points in the picture.

Key Takeway for Producers / Film Makers

Knowing these things, before meeting with a studio or distributor, producers should thoroughly prepare, understand what they want, have in writing the deal points of a fair relationship for both sides, and should have reviewed the deal points with their entertainment lawyers. Producers are classically underprepared and underexperienced. They too often leave the negotiating table without obtaining the benefits and power they should have and with a substantially different understanding of their relationship than the documented deal points define. Contract language is precise – it is enforced in its ultimate interpretation by contract law, not by the dictionary, and though most of the language is stable, definitions can literally change daily. Producers should be prepared in every creative, business, and legal aspect relative to the production and distribution relationships they negotiate. They should expect and respect that studio and distribution executives will be excellent negotiators and impeccably well prepared.

Examples: Movie Income Comparisons

Now, let me show you an example of what a movie could earn, its expenses and how the different studio / distributor relationships impact the earnings potential for a producer. In this particular case I am using a representative example of Mao’s Last Dancer which had a reported production budget of AUD$25m and took in approximately $15m at the Australian box office. This movie did not enjoy great international distributon and marketing so the international income represents my estimate which is by no means official:

*Exhibitors in Australia generally receive around 60% of box office vs 50% on average in U.S.A.

Click on image for a clearer version.

As you can see, even when earning some $15m at the Australian box office and $13m+ in ancillary revenue in Australia, a movie with a $25m production budget would need to do extremely well across international markets to provide any financial return to the producer and production company.

Now, let’s take a look at another example, ‘Wish You Were Here’. I am assuming the production budget is AUD$3m, a P&A (Prints & Advertising) Budget of $400k, it earns $3m at the Australian box office and generates best case income from home entertainment, VOD, PayTV and Free to Air etc:

Click on image for a clearer version.

As you can see in the two examples above and the one below, the best economic situation for a producer, production company and investors is the ‘Distribution Only’ relationship but as outlined above it can have its own challenges.

In both cases I have increased the talent participation fees as most Australian movies have lower budgets and therefore can only pay small fees upfront for the lead cast so it is common to give the lead cast more participation in the success of the movie through talent participation and points (of share) allocated to the director, writers, cast, producers and others from the final Net Producers Share.

And here is a stark example of the differences in distribution options for a ‘successful’ movie with a $25m production budget and which does reasonably well in Australia & New Zealand and reasonably well internationally:

Click on image for a clearer version.

The down side of a Negative Pick-up or a Distribution Only agreement is you have to raise the budget (cash) prior to being able to put your film into production. A Negative Pick-up can be easier than a Distribution Only deal but for a producer in Australia the larger the budget the more challenging this can be. I will write another blog post specifically on financing your film along with a couple of spreadsheets which you can use to help with this process.

As I outlined in my other blog post ‘Can Australian Films Make Money‘, not all film ideas scale to the big screen and might not be commercially viable for a typical theatrical-first distribution strategy. In fact I would argue around 50% of Australian feature films released in the last six or so years would have generated more income had they adopted a VOD (Video on Demand) first distribution strategy but unfortunately a lot of our filmmakers and funding agencies are far too single minded and obsessed with a theatrical release. In fact even major studios like Warner Bros now use alternate distribution strategies featuring digital channels depending on the nature of the film property. ‘Red Cliff‘ was released to VOD before theatrical and it significantly helped the film in all channels including theatres.

Of course I am generalising but the point is that film makers must think seriously about a relevant and commercially viable distribution strategy specifically related to the characteristics and potential of their film.

Here are two good articles including examples about the growing importance of VOD for independent films:

• Wall Street Journal, ‘For Indie Films, Video-on-Demand Fills in Revenue Gap‘
• The Wrap, ‘VOD Rides to the Rescue of Indie Film‘

*N.B. The two specific examples above are for illustration purposes only. I have only used figures which have been publically reported through the media and I have estimated other income figures.

**Contributing source: The Producers Business Handbook, third edition by John J. Lee, Jr. & Anne Marie Gillen.

The post The Economics of a Movie appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

The Commander at the helm of the historical and bloody Battle of Long Tan has welcomed the addition of an ‘unsung hero’ of the Vietnam War to the list of candidates for a retrospective Victoria Cross.

Lt Colonel (Retired) Harry Smith said it was “only right and proper” that the Defence Honours Awards Tribunal investigate posthumous VCs for soldiers in the Vietnam and Korean conflicts alongside those for the two World Wars.

“I am cheered that my formal application for Warrant Officer Jack Kirby for his sustained gallantry at Long Tan has been accepted. Throughout the battle ‘Big Jack’ disregarded his own safety while braving enemy fire to distribute ammunition,” commented Smith. You can read more about what Jack Kirby did during The Battle of Long Tan in our previous blog post: Jack Kirby – An Unsung Hero of The Battle of Long Tan.

“Jack continuously exposed himself to enemy fire to carry wounded Australians over his shoulder back to the Company Aid Post. He also rushed out of the D Coy perimeter to silence a wheeled enemy heavy machine gun which was setting up less than 50 metres away from the Australians.

“Jack knew instinctively that in just a few moments this heavy machinegun would be able to strafe and decimate the Australians. He killed the enemy machinegun crew, then rushed back and continued to carry on handing out ammunition, moving around the entire company position and giving out words of encouragement.”

Long Tan took place on 18 August 1966 in a rubber plantation amid torrential monsoonal downpours, and involved ammunition resupplies by helicopters and continuous 24 gun artillery barrages. 108 Australian and New Zealand troops, many of them young conscripts – repelled an enemy force of more than 2,500.

Eighteen Australians were killed and 24 wounded. Enemy forces suffered horrendous casualties. Figures released in 2006 suggest as many as 1,200 killed or died from wounds.

“Personal gallantry is not the only requirement for the VC, and as in the regulations, some previous VCs have been awarded for ‘extraordinary performance of duty in the face of the enemy’,”  said Smith, who has been a gadfly for awards recognition for his men for the past 18 years and belatedly received a Star of Gallantry Medal last year in lieu of a Distinguished Service Order downgraded in 1966.

“Thus, apart from personal gallantry under fire, I believe Jack qualifies for his extraordinary performance of his Company Sergeant Major duties under fire at Long Tan.

“It is an abysmal situation that not one VC was awarded in the Australian Task Force battalions between 1965 and 1972, although they fought significant battles such as Long Tan, Coral-Balmoral and Bin Ba,” said Colonel Smith.

“It is particularly shameful when you consider that in those 10 years Australia lost some 520 young men and another 2,200 wounded.”

Kirby, who served with the 1st Battalion in South Korea (1954-55) and 3RAR in Malaya (1957-59), died tragically from a friendly artillery salvo misdirected by an inexperienced artillery officer six months after Long Tan.

Media inquiries to Martin Walsh, Red Dune Films – 0438 417143

*Keith Payne, Kevin Wheatley, Ray Simpson and Peter Badcoe were awarded a Victoria Cross in Vietnam but they were part of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) and not 1 Australian Task Force.

The post Long Tan Vietnam Hero on List of Victoria Cross Possibles appeared first on Battle of Long Tan Blog.

“What an extraordinary coincidence that two young McCormack’s, unrelated and from different states, ended up dying next to each other on a battlefield in Vietnam.”

A knock at the door….the fateful telegram….and then the 20th August 1966 headlines in that evening’s edition of the Examiner Express – ‘Launceston Boy Killed in Viet. Battle’ – thrust the Vietnam War into the face of every Tasmanian. Albert Frederick McCormack was Effie and George McCormack’s youngest and Tasmania’s first son to die in the conflict that hardly seemed real in the distant ‘Apple Isle’…until Long Tan.

Albert’s life began and ended in war. He was born on 20 March 1945 before World War II had ended in either Europe or the Pacific. Twenty-one years later his life was cut short in the hail of bullets that has come to represent the defining Australian battle of the Vietnam War – in a rubber plantation on the outskirts of the hamlet of Long Tan.

My Cousin Albert’s funeral is one of my most vivid childhood memories. Although I was just six years old at the time, the images are indelibly etched: uniformed soldiers with medals and brass crowding the small Elizabeth Street Gospel Hall; the coffin draped in the Australian flag accompanied by marching soldiers all the way to Carr Villa Cemetery; young soldiers firing a salute before the coffin was lowered. I remember innocently running to collect the empty cartridges only to have two unexploded blanks confiscated by an astute uncle. I revisited Carr Villa Cemetery a few years ago and found Albert’s grave next to that of his parents, and also, movingly for me, exactly as I had remembered it three-and-a-half decades earlier.

Albert was the youngest of seven children and grew up in Ormley Street, Launceston. He studied at Launceston High School and after working for three years with the Tasmanian Government Insurance Office, moved to Brisbane in 1964 to work for an insurance firm there. Just three months after his twentieth birthday, Albert was conscripted into the newly established 6^th Battalion of the Royal Australia Regiment (6RAR), raised specifically for Vietnam and composed almost entirely of conscripts among the non-commissioned ranks. After 12 months of training he was deployed with the battalion in June 1966.

Albert’s mates from D Company, especially those he fought with in 11 Platoon, describe a sensitive, articulate and musically talented bloke who was most content playing his guitar with the band he helped to form. All the Diggers from D Company knew him as Lionel McCormack. Apparently he reminded some lark of the singer Lionel Long and his nickname has stuck for 40 years. He was the designated stretcher-bearer for 11 Platoon and had primary responsibility for administering medical aid.

Albert’s last letter was written to his parents the day before he was killed. He described the Viet Cong mortaring the Australian base at Nui Dat in the early hours of 17 August 1966 and how the B Company patrol had located the mortar base plates but had not encountered the Viet Cong soldiers responsible. Instead, it was Albert and the other 107 Diggers of D Company, sent out on just another routine patrol from Nui Dat in the early afternoon of 18 August 1966, who encountered as many as 2500 Viet Cong massing in the Long Tan rubber plantation for a serious assault on the Australian force.

How dreadful the ensuing fire fight must have been as literally thousands of bullets exploded out of automatic weapons, destroying the rubber plantation and the lives of many of the young men crowded in it, producing pungent, acrid, cordite smoke and streaks of tracer fire. Simultaneously, thousands of shells fired from the heavy artillery at Nui Dat smashed into the ground, blasting shrapnel and body parts throughout the plantation. The heavy skies opened and a torrential monsoon seemed only to add to the inferno rather than douse it.

The Diggers of 11 Platoon were the first to engage. In the lead section of the platoon another McCormack was an early casualty. Private Dennis McCormack had also been conscripted into 11 Platoon, D Company, 6RAR with the next consecutive service number (assigned on the basis of surname in alphabetical order) to my cousin Albert’s. When the names of the 18 Diggers killed at Long Tan are read out at memorial services people often wonder whether two brothers were killed that day. Dennis was from Adelaide and no immediate relative of Albert but when he was shot, Albert went to him and was himself fatally wounded in the stomach as he attempted to administer first aid. What an extraordinary coincidence that two young McCormack’s, unrelated and from different states, ended up dying next to each other on a battlefield in Vietnam.

The immortal words of The Ode are as true for Albert as for all other lives cut short prematurely: “They will not grow old as we that remain grow old. Age shall not weary them.” My cousin is forever a fit, strong and youthful 21 year old. I was so young when he died and I had so much growing up to do. Now I am more than twice his age and past my physical prime. His mates are in their 60’s and in just a few more decades none will remain.

Of course I would rather have him alive and be able to talk to him about his memories if he were happy to share them. But he at least did not suffer the ignominy of utterly unjustified and shameful vilification upon his return from a controversial war. No one spat at him or verbally abused him, as was the experience of so many returning Vietnam veterans. His death occurred before the anti-war movement had gathered momentum and the people of Launceston turned out to honour him. He is immortalised on the honour roll of the 6th Battalion and in the hearts of his immediate and extended family.

He did not ask to go to war and did not relish his participation in it. He inscribed the motto of the anti-war movement ‘Save our Sons’ on his army hat and wrote home about his personal struggles with the horrors he witnessed in the conflict. Irrespective of the merits of the war, he went to Vietnam because his country asked it of him. In paying the supreme sacrifice, he was true to the 6th Battalion motto – Duty First.

On the third anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, 6RAR was back at Nui Dat on the battalion’s second tour of duty. D company, which included veterans of the battle, erected a memorial cross in a clearing next to the rubber plantation in honour of their fallen comrades. The Long Tan Cross has now become symbolic of the loss of Australian lives at Long Tan and of the cost of the nation’s participation in the conflict. One of the Diggers who helped erect the cross told me that, as the chopper lowered the cross into the clearing, the heavy monsoonal clouds parted and a shaft of sunlight lit up the cross and followed it throughout its descent. He was visibly moved as he recalled the spectacle he witnessed so many years ago. Long Tan, for us, and for many other Australians, is hallowed ground.

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There were 105 soldiers from D Company, 6RAR and 3 soldiers from 161 Battery RNZA who fought on the battlefield at Long Tan. The list below totals more than 108 as some members of D Coy were on language courses and attending to other duties at the time of the battle. However, all members of D Coy, 6RAR from August 1966 are entitled to wear the Australian Unit Citation for Gallantry (UCG) and the U.S. and South Vietnamese Presidential Unit Citations for Gallantry.

You can also download a .PDF version of the D Coy, 6RAR Battle of Long Tan Manning details.

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