ARLINGTON

Eugene Rossell sent me this. I hope you like it - I do.

Lt. Col. Eugene Rossell served with the Air Commandos during the Vietnam War. 47 thousand US defence personnel were killed in action during the Vietnam conflict. Altogether 55 thousand, in round figures, died as a result of the war. Will it ever end? We salute the men and women who gave their lives during the Vietnam War and since!

Honey Bees

The image is of the eye of a European honey bee. It is from the book "The Buzz about Bees, Biology of a Superorganism", by Jurgen Tautz, pictures by Helga R. Heilmann and published by Springer in 2008.

The good news comes from an article in the Guardian Weekly dated 31 December, 2010 to 6 January, 2011 on page 2.

" A breakthrough has been made in the battle against the varroa mite responsible for decimating honey bee populations. Scientists at Britain's National Bee Unit and Aberdeen University have found how to "silence" natural functions in the mites' genes so they self-destruct."

Luckily in Australia we do not have the mite yet! We hope we never have it but New Zealand has. The mite has destroyed many colonies of bees in the United States. They also have Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) as well in the US. My bees here in TARADALE, Victoria, are doing fine. The winter and spring this year, 2010, was very wet and they got off to a slow start. But there was so much food about that almost every hive swarmed.

Professor Jurgen Tautz refers to the bee colony as "a mammal in many bodies." They are intelligent creatures. Here's an example. A couple of years ago I opened a hive of bees to have a look. After about twenty I closed them up and left the apiary. A couple of hours later I was down in the garden about 20 metres from the hive I previously opened. I happened to look up towards the hive and suddenly a bee from the hive spotted me and made a bee-line over and stung me on the neck. So she had remembered me and recognized me without my bee suit on. That pretty smart for one tiny creature. So bees are conscious I'm sure.

Ray Kurzweil has been telling us since about 1990 that computers will soon be able talk with us. What he means that they will possess consciousness. Bees are conscious but they have little brains. I say Ray, there's no way that is going to happen, doesn't matter how much grunt the computer has.

Electronic Locusts

The community of Castlemaine is engaged in a fight to prevent an organization based in another shire from installing 65 poker machines on Victorian government property at the Castlemaine railway station. The organization we have formed to spear head our efforts is called EPIC which stands for "Enough Pokies in Castlemaine." There are already 35 poker machines in the Cumberland Hotel in Barker Street, Castlemaine. That is 35 too many, because every dollar put into one of these electronic locusts is a dollar that can't be spent with local businesses. We want a strong community that is able to take care of our children and elderly and for that to happen we must have good viable businesses in the area.

Organizations like clubs and pubs who have these machines are tax collectors. So businesses pay tax twice at least, the yearly income tax and the one that is invisible; that is when the dollars that would have been spent by Castlemaine's people on goods and services from local companies, have been put into the poker machines. Members of clubs and patrons of pubs who have these machines get their drinks and food at a discount paid for by the forlorn gamblers. That is an artificial market. If the same sort of thing happened at the Australian Stock Exchange the ACCC would investigate the scam. This practice puts a burden on cafes and restaurants trying to produce wholesome food and drink at a competitive price.

Lt. Col. Harry Smith (Rtd.), Battle of Long Tan

HARRY Smith is still leading the charge for the men he commanded at the Battle of Long Tan 44 years ago.

But this time it will be in the Federal Court of Australia rather than a battlefield in Vietnam.

The retired Australian Army commander today announced he would pursue court action in the new year to have the efforts of 11 diggers, who fought in the 1966 battle, officially recognised with medals and commendations.

Lieutenant Colonel Smith, who previously vowed to maintain the fight for his men “until they put me in a box”, is scathing of the way medals were awarded during the Vietnam War.

“The ugly truth about Long Tan, and in fact the entire Vietnam War over a decade, is that senior officers took most of the awards at the expense of soldiers who fought in action,” he said in a statement.

Related Coverage

• Court to decide Vietnam honour Courier Mail, 1 day ago
• Vietnam War Adelaide Now,22 Apr 2010
• Battle for recognition The Australian, 20 Apr 2010
• Upgraded award for Vietnam hero pilot The Australian,31 Mar 2010
• Vietnam War - 1962-1975Courier Mail, 8 Nov 2007

“Many more went to major-generals, brigadiers, colonels and lieutenant colonels far from the action.”

The federal government has refused to award more medals and commendations for those who took part in the battle, saying that would amount to “excessive recognition”.

The government acted on a review by the Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal in arriving at its decision.

Colonel Smith claims the tribunal's review was “seriously flawed”.

The Battle of Long Tan in 1966 was Australia's first significant engagement of the Vietnam War.

It is considered the defining event of Australia's experience in the war, and the anniversary of the battle - August 18 - is recognised each year by veterans.

Outnumbered by more than 10 to one, 108 Australian and New Zealand troops led by Colonel Smith held their position against 2500 enemy troops for three hours in a rubber plantation deluged by monsoonal rains.

Eighteen Australian soldiers died and 21 were wounded.

But controversy over bravery medals has long dogged the memory of the battle.

Colonel Smith belatedly was awarded a Star of Gallantry for his role, having been downgraded from a Distinguished Service Order in 1966.

His list of soldiers deserving of awards for gallantry was slashed by senior officers.

In 1996, Colonel Smith launched a campaign to gain recognition for all the soldiers on his list when the awards were denied at a formal review in 1998, which approved 81 other Vietnam War awards.

The pending class action is in support of the final 11 men “left out in the cold” and Colonel Smith is confident the court will look favourably on the action.

“We wanted to appeal in 2009 but couldn't because the tribunal wasn't a statutory body under the Defence Act,” he said.

Now the tribunal has a new status which has opened its review to legal scrutiny.

The Federal Court will hear new evidence that includes claims of an invalid scale of awards introduced by Canberra just prior to the Long Tan battle, but not approved by British authorities until 1968.

It will be claimed also that Australian military chiefs at the time falsified statements about the dismissal or downgrading of half the awards Colonel Smith recommended for his soldiers.

At least three of the soldiers covered by the court action are dead, including one - Gordon Sharp - who died at Long Tan.

AAP

Finally Recognition for Long Tan Soldiers

It's been awhile since I posted to my blog. Lot's of things have happened in the meantime and I guess that's true for us all. However, what's important is that finally the soldiers who prevented the probable demise of 1ATF base at Nui Dat, South Vietnam on the 18 August, 1968, have been recognized. Former Delta Company commander, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Smith (Retd.) received the Star of Gallantry, the Australian equivalent of the imperial award of the Distinguished Service Order for his excellent leadership during the battle. Major Geoff Kendall (Retd.) former commander of 10 Platoon Delta Company, 6RAR received the Medal of Gallantry for his part in the battle and former 2nd. Lieutenant Dave Sabben, commander of 12 Platoon received the Star of Gallantry as well.

The Victorian Branch of the Vietnam Veteran's Association of Australia fought hard to have these men recognized forty years after the event. I believe that the surviving rank and file members of Delta Company received the South Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Leaf Citation for their heroic efforts during the battle.

Of course it also is true that many brave soldiers who took part in the 10 year conflict, and who performed beyond what duty called for, will go unrecognized. That's the nature of war. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we do not glorify war.

Long Tan Commemorative Dinner at Kyneton

I seem to be getting behind in my posts. Vietnam Veterans Badge Week Appeal was a big drain on my time. I spent five full days collecting. Then followed Vietnam Veterans Day and the Long Tan Commemorative Dinner on Friday 17 August 2007.

The picture on the left was taken at the dinner on Friday night of the 17 August 2007. Dave Sabben was the guest speaker. Dave was the 12 Platoon Commander of 'D' Company 6RAR at the Battle of Long Tan that occurred on Thursday 18 August 1968 in South Vietnam. It was an important battle for Australia because if 'D' company, under the command of then Major Harry Smith, had not stood firm against odds of twenty to one the Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy Province would surely have been wiped out. That would have been disastrous for Australia.

Dave Sabben is signing a copy of his book for former Victorian State Labor MP Bruce Mildenhall. The book is titled "Through Enemy Eyes" and is an book of "faction" about the battle as seen by the enemy. The book is published by Allen and Unwin and is available in most bookshops.

Dave spoke about the battle after dinner. Dave's account of the battle is different to the official one at the Australian War Memorial. The official account says that 'D' Company was ambushed. Dave said that was not the case and gave a list of reasons why it was not an ambush. The official story was one made up by the Australian Military Command to protect politicians and generals at the time that had made several bad decisions. The talk covered the military and political aspects of the battle and the aftermath. Dave took all questions. Ninety percent of people atending the dinner were Vietnam veterans.

A Drive to Sale in Gippsland

On Friday morning, which was August 3rd I drove down to a small city called Sale. Sale is on the South Coast of Victoria and is a sea port. It was also home to an Australian Royal Australian Air Force base during the Second World War. My uncle was a gunnery instructor there. I believe it is still a RAAF base and is soon to include an officer training school. It's a three hour drive for me and I went by the Melbourne Airport, Tullamarine, to pay for a hire car that my friend Garry Cooper is to use when he arrives next week. I was supposed to arrive there in time for a meeting at 12:30 pm but I didn't arrive until 1:00 pm.

The meeting was for sub-branch presidents of the Victorian Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia. We are trying to arrive at plan for the future of the organization. It's difficult to get a bunch of veterans to agree about anything. They're like economists, if you have ten together you will have ten different opinions. The organization has been around for 25 years and was formed so veterans could mutually support each other. The Australian returned and Services League couldn't do anything for us after the divisive Vietnam War ended in 1975. In fact they were hopeless and more a part of the problem than the solution.

I stayed overnight in Sale and attended the Victorians Vietnam Veterans State Congress. I found Sale to be a very clean and tidy and a friendly country town. The Council meeting ended about 3:00 pm and I departed for the long drive home. The weather was overcast but not raining. The road is reasonably good and I had a good run and was home by 6:45 pm. On my way home I thought to myself that we have not learnt much in 4 000 years as we are still having wars across the world. There must be money in war otherwise we wouldn't do it.

Tomorrow I will be selling badges to raise money for the welfare of Vietnam veterans. The Australian public get behind us and we use the money to help veterans in need. The picture at the top of this post is this year's Long Tan Cross badge. We get a donation of five dollars each for them. The Australian Government looks after us well but the little extra helps us to do a better job.