Surviving the Battle of Long Tan
THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR WALKING IS THE SONG GEMLIFE BRIBIE ISLAND’S VIETNAM VETERAN NEIL RANKIN REMEMBERS MOST, BUT HIS PLATOON COULDN’T IMAGINE WHAT THEY WOULD WALK INTO.
Sergeant Neil Rankin joined the Army in 1960, served in Malaya between 1961 and 1963, and celebrated his 21st birthday in Indonesia.
He was 25 when he went on to serve in Vietnam for his first tour of duty from 1966 to 1967, as Platoon Sargeant of 10 Platoon, Delta Company 6RAR – the company responsible for patrolling the area around Nui Dat.
“We oversaw patrols in the area and, on 17 August 1966, the taskforce was mortared, inflicting some casualties. By mid-morning the next day, we were sent out to continue the search for the soldiers responsible so we could locate their base plate or firing position,” Neil recollects.
Neil’s platoon was ambushed by the Viet Cong and the men were brutally thrust into one of the fiercest and most intense battles of the Vietnam War.
“The battle took place in a rubber plantation near Long Tan, South Vietnam, over 18 and 19 August 1966, and it was during our search of the plantation, Delta Company’s 11 Platoon came under heavy small arms fire,” he says. “Our platoon was ordered to assist them but also came under heavy fire and we were directed by our company commander to form an all-round defence position.
“As the Platoon Sargeant, my job was to control the fire and movement of our right flank, both during our assault on the enemy’s position and the evacuation of our wounded, which were beginning to mount up.”
When Neil’s platoon found out how big the enemy forces were, they drew back to a safer position. Their job was to repel the attack, an almost impossible task thanks to the ongoing enemy onslaught which kept coming, wave after wave, and with ammunition running low.
“We soon realised we were up against a far superior force because the enemy was firing at us with heavy machine guns, rockets and mortars, followed by repeated attacks from all sides of our position. They were determined to annihilate us,” Neil says.
Respite came in the form of a monsoon. Neil’s platoon couldn’t see the enemy line, but fortunately, the Viet Cong couldn’t see them either. When the enemy were within a 50 to 80 metre range, Delta Company could make out their silhouettes in the heavy rain and fought back.
Repelling attack after attack, each time using their rapidly dwindling supplies of ammunition, the increasingly desperate platoon had no choice but to fight on. It was during a lull in one of the attacks that their platoon’s machine gunner reported movement in front. Someone was trying to crawl towards them.
“I told our gunner to shoot the bastard, but he said the man had one of our hats on. I told him to hold fire and, with one of my soldiers, we went out to check on the guy,” says Neil. “It turned out to be the sergeant of 12 Platoon, D Company, 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, who’d been shot through both ankles. He was later that night evacuated by chopper to the base hospital.
“That was Sergeant Jim Paddy Todd; originally an Irishman who lived to a ripe old age and only passed a couple of years ago, although I never saw him again after that night.”
After four hours of constant attacks, Neil’s platoon finally heard the rumbling of the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) heading towards their position. In that moment they knew they were going to make it.
“We were saved by the cavalry, and without the accurate fire support from the Royal New Zealand Artillery and arrival of the APCs, no one from Delta Company would have survived,” Neil says. ”There’s no doubt in my mind.”
“We ended up losing 17 and had 22 wounded, so most of our forces were either dead or hurt, with only a handful of us unscathed.”
It was later confirmed that Delta Company, just 108 men, went up against an enemy force of 2500. Although the battle is noted for the largest loss of Australian lives in a single battle during the Vietnam War, the enemy loss tallied 254.
“I don’t know how I was lucky enough not to be injured. I even got blown up when a mortar or artillery shell landed at my feet lifting me about 18 feet into the air. Somehow, I came out unscathed.”
The next tour Neil did was in 1969, when he returned to Vietnam and was given the honour to mark the location of the Long Tan Cross, Delta Company’s exact position during battle. Read about it here.
Delta Company was awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for the Battle at Long Tan.
As for Nancy Sinatra’s song These Boots are Made for Walking?
“It was the D Company’s theme song, because all we did was walk. Our company commander, Major Harry Arthur Smith, thought it was an appropriate song for us, so we adopted Nancy on that tour.”