– 18 August 1966 will always be remembered as the day the Australian Army with Kiwi support put its stamp on the Viet Nam War. 103 soldiers of D Coy, 6RAR and 3 Kiwi artillery forward observers come in contact with a force approaching 2500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers.
The battle raged for 4 hours – the heavens opened up and drenched the combatants with over 1 inch of rain in under and hour – nearly 3600 rounds of artillery were fired. The gun barrels drooped into retirement once their work was done.
18 of our finest gave the ultimate sacrifice and we buried 245 of theirs. Later movement through the area reveals the remains of up to another 500 enemy.
One US Army Ranger, when discussing the battle many years later suggested the enemy was outnumbered.