About the
Book
On Saturday 20 August 1966, front-page newspaper reports in every Australian newspaper trumpeted to the nation news of an epic victory in South Vietnam in the biggest battle involving Australian troops since the Korean War. In the years that have followed, the Battle of Long Tan has become the subject of books and film, most emphasising the length and ferocity of the Vietnamese assault on a single Australian infantry company; and their successful defence despite being surrounded and heavily outnumbered.
While the soldiers were indeed courageous, many of the details of these books and films are simply myths.
Embellished claims surrounding the battle of Long Tan do the brave soldiers of both sides a disservice.
The truth is important. The date is very important to 60,000 veterans and their families especially as 18 August is now recognised as Australia’s official Vietnam Veterans’ Day.
This ground-breaking new book is an examination of the memories, myths and reality of the Battle of Long Tan.
Emeritus Professor David Horner
'A major contribution to understanding Australia’s iconic and most influential battle of the Vietnam War. Carefully researched with incisive and compelling conclusions.'
Prof. Peter Stanley, UNSW Canberra
'Brigadier O’Brien corrects more than fifty years of exaggerations, errors, misunderstandings and outright lies about what happened at Long Tan, and why. His revelations do not diminish the scale or intensity of the fight, but they do give us a clearer idea of the real story, and why it has been distorted for so long.'
Dr. Mia Martin Hobbs, Deakin University
‘Beyond this valuable new contribution to historical understandings of the operational story of Long Tan, O’Brien offers a clear, considered history that properly situates the Australian war in Vietnam in its wider context, revealing the construction and contradictions of Australian war memory.’
About the Author
Brigadier Kevin John O’Brien, CSC (Rtd) served in the Australian Army for 33 years.
He had a distinguished defence career including operational service in Vietnam; service with the British Army in England and on the Rhine; Instructor at the School of Artillery at North Head and later at the Australian Command and Staff College, Queenscliff. He held key artillery leadership appointments: Battery Commander ‘A’ Field Battery, Commanding Officer 8/12th Medium Regiment and Commander of 1st Division Artillery.
He has edited several books on the Defence of Sydney, the Korean War and New Guinea. He was also the executive producer of television documentaries: “Kokoda - The Bloody Track” and “Hamel - The Turning Point”. He initiated and then managed the creation of new memorial parks at Fromelles and Le Hamel in France. His most recent publication was ‘Defending Middle Head – A Short History’.
He has previously been appointed as a Trustee of the Sydney Harbour Federation
Trust; to the Board of the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway; as a Trustee of the
Bathurst RSL Sub-Branch; and as a member of the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal. He regularly lectures at the United Services Club of Queensland on Australian military history topics.
