In 1971 as a conscript in the 3rd infantry battalion I was in a platoon "search and destroy operation" in Phuc Tuy Province. One late afternoon, after a hot day of patrolling, we stumbled into the original Long Tan battle site and jungle graves of the Viet Cong troops who perished in 1966. There was a desolate, eerie quietness about the place. But there was little time to engage in any commemorative reflection as we had to move on, quickly and silently, to another part of the rubber plantation.
The Vietnamese are desperately poor and do not have the equivalent of our Office of Australian War Graves Commission to maintain their battle sites, of which tens of thousands are scattered through their country, consisting mostly of unmarked graves in remote, inaccessible locations. But while Australia can resource commemorative events in various parts of the world to recover some tenuous nationalism – including at Lone Pine, Villers-Bretonneux or Long Tan for example – the Vietnamese can at least proudly and justifiably proclaim that they have recovered their own country.
![Illustration: Jim Pavlidis](/web/20160830105641im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/v/o/t/v/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqvby3.png/1471571326523.jpg)
Paul Papadopoulos, Reservoir
Keeping the fight in perspective
Some groups seem to want to create a new Gallipoli or Fromelles by exaggerating aspects of the Battle of Long Tan. The story gaining prominence is that the Australian and New Zealand soldiers were victorious despite being greatly outnumbered by about 15 to one and with limited support. In fact, what the records state is that while the numbers are reasonably accurate, our troops were backed up by extensive military support. This included 10 amphibious carriers (tanks equipped with machine guns also carrying infantrymen), eight helicopters equipped with two machine guns dropping ammunition and supplies, and three US jets dropping ordnance, including napalm, on the enemy. The men were also supported by substantial artillery fire (24 canons). This information is publicly available. The North Vietnamese, on the other hand, were hugely under resourced with limited outside assistance. Their casualty count would have been far lower if they'd had choppers to evacuate their wounded. The exaggerations do an enormous disservice to not only the Long Tan diggers but other courageous diggers who fought in countless other theatres of war without receiving the same recognition and respect.
Robert Cartledge, Northcote
Put ourselves in their shoes
Could you imagine the uproar if the Japanese wanted to come to Australia and celebrate the bombing of Darwin during the Second World War. Yet we arrogantly demand to celebrate the battle of Long Tan where we often boast of how many Vietnamese soldiers we killed against overwhelming odds. Never mind our complicity in the horrendous indiscriminate deaths of innocent civilians through the use of napalm and Agent Orange. The most honourable thing to do would be to officially apologise to the Vietnamese people for our involvement in a war that we should never have participated in.
Ed Veber, Malvern East
The dangers of jingoism
The article "My men fought like heroes" (The Age, 18/8 ) describes a small group of Australians in armoured personnel carriers going through "enemy infested territory" – otherwise known as "armed Vietnamese", some of whom may have been born and raised in the Long Tan area. These "armed Vietnamese" could have had a life of growing rice, fishing and raising families but somehow they became an "enemy" to the French, the Americans and the Australians. Even more curiously, they lived within the borders of their own country, but jingoism can alter the basic facts.
Des Files, Brunswick
THE FORUM
Generosity of Turks
The understandable emotions felt by Australia's brave Long Tan veterans in response to the restrictions on memorial observances underscores the remarkable magnanimity, over decades, of the Turkish governments and people in allowing Australians to attend Anzac dawn services on the Gallipoli peninsula; symbolised in the official recognition of the name, Anzac Cove, in 1985. It is difficult to believe Australians of European background would demonstrate similar generosity of spirit had our nation seen military conflict on our soil.
Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza
Decline and then fall
Hey Tony, you could've knocked me over with a feather when I heard your call for less poisonous partisanship in politics. Coming from you, Dr No, I found it very rich indeed. As this nation and your beleaguered party suffer the consequences of your relentless negativity, the deep wounds and scaring of our body politic, we can look across the Pacific to America to see where the attitude you gifted this nation leads. Not pretty, is it? Decline, certainly, and possibly fall, following your bloody minded refusal to rally on the common ground.
When you were elected I tried to convince myself and others that as an intelligent individual and a man of principle you would not steer us too far from the good. Never have I been so wrong about Oz politics or one person's nature.
You were truly the worst of prime ministers and if this nation falters, the blame will rest on your "warrior's" shoulders. Hang your head in shame. Yours in dread of a coming storm.
Peter Rushen, Carnegie
Curse of carbon
It was intriguing to hear Mr Turnbull's concern about passing on debt to future generations. He was trying to steel Australians into accepting savage cuts to services to "save" the country. But he fails to see that the worst debt we can leave future generations is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
And in this we will not be able to tax the poor to rid ourselves of this curse. This poison of capitalistic greed and selfishness we will have to share with every race or creed across the globe. Can there be a non-violent end to this madness, or do we just wait until Armageddon engulfs our descendants? Christ threw the money lenders from the Temple because they offered no true way to happiness. Please take notice.
Rob Ward, Lake Tyers Beach
All Dutton's own work
If defamation is defined as damage to an individual's reputation, it is difficult to see how the media could defame Peter Dutton. His own actions have already demonstrated his reputation; all the rest is just commentary.
Jane Edwards, Peterhead, SA
Awaken our conscience
The protesters at Mr Turnbull's speech echoed into that vacuum we call our "conscience". NT politicians sold "tough on crime" policies for years because they believed it was what the public wanted. That abuses had incubated in this climate was widely known. Then a photo was published. Instantly the "tough on crime" consensus became an outrage against public conscience. The photo of three-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi caused change where knowledge of what he was fleeing had not.
Politicians have rightly judged that if we don't see pictures of abuses in detention centres we'll accept the policy – the needle on our moral compass won't flicker.
People are granted refugee status after consideration of intelligence reports of conditions in places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan which shows that persecution – including perhaps murder, abduction and rape – are real and present dangers there. We then lock these people up.
So when protesters come into possession of a photo of a detainee being raped in a detention centre, Mr Turnbull should announce two inquiries: one into his policy which the photo will have transmuted into an outrage, and one into how the public conscience came to be inured to knowledge of injustice, responsive only to visual stimuli.
Andrew Cassidy, Melbourne
Hare-brained scheme
Nick Xenophon again reaches for a seemingly simple solution to a complex problem. Teaching and support staff already have more than enough to do each school day without managing another hare-brained scheme inside the school gate. Let the senator prepare a detailed budget that illustrates the labour and associated costs of preparing, delivering, storing and distributing the milk to thousands of students, on a regular basis, as well as the costs of providing lactose-free options, the supply and maintenance of new refrigeration units for each school and meeting cleaning up and recycling requirements, without drawing on already over-stretched school resources. Existing staff and school fundraising income must not be called on to underpin the scheme's viability.
Sue Dyer, Downer, ACT
Careful what wish for
You wished for accountability from teachers and now you have an education system that has taken this concept to new and dizzy heights. A teacher's role has become one of endless documentation and record keeping with little or no time allocated to research and analytic discussion of teaching approaches and student engagement strategies. Why are we surprised when we have education systems – primary, secondary and TAFE – staffed by teachers who are fantastic administrative assistants rather than people who are improving their skills as educators.
Joan Broughan, Ivanhoe
Cuts both ways
James Merlino complains that "Firefighters are sick of being used as political footballs" ("Court win fuels CFA crisis", 18/8). Oh really? They weren't when dressing in their fire uniforms and handing out election material while parking huge fire trucks outside pre-polling stations in the lead-up to the 2014 election when they encouraged voters to support Labor. But when somebody has the temerity to stand up to these union bullies they don't like it.
John Capel, Black Rock
Remake City Square
If the City Square is to be demolished to build the Melbourne Metro, why rebuild it as it is? Fed Square is a far more successful public space than the city square ever was. The trees and grass at the front are pleasant and the cafes well used, but the large gravel area is empty most of the year. This block was once an integral part of the city, with laneways, an arcade, two pubs and a variety of tenants on the upper floors.
Retain the trees and grass, but turn the rest back into a vibrant part of the retail heart of the city, with a grand glass-covered arcade on the axis of the cathedral, with cafes and shops, niche businesses upstairs, and perhaps the City Library, with the Bourke and Wills statute in the centre. Put something there that is much more "Melbourne".
Rohan Storey, Fitzroy
Forget the downsides
The Economist's intelligence unit has again given Melbourne the title of most liveable city, but with its unaffordable housing, surging utility costs and rates, traffic congestion, rising homelessness and disfiguring graffiti, the unit can't have much intelligence.
Rod Matthews, Fairfield
Full steam ahead
Paul Cribb (Letters, 17/8) is concerned about the one or two minutes added to the Frankston timetable due to the new station at Southland. The current timetable still carries four minutes of padding introduced to work around braking problems with the Siemens fleet. As the problems were supposed to have been solved years ago, it's high time we ran the trains at full speed again, as we did for three decades before 2008. Then there would be no regrets about a long-overdue stop at Southland, a vital link for the south-east.
Tony Morton, Public Transport Users Association
Upholding core values
Your paper wrote of our "lacklustre Olympic campaign" and "where it all went wrong". On the contrary, our dedicated athletes competed against the best in the world and some became the best. However, each won gold for upholding the core values of the movement: excellence, friendship and respect, none of which can be calculated on a computer or assessed by a cash register analyst. Our Olympians inspired us to forge friendships despite differences and competed fairly while acknowledging the success of others.
Laurie Miller, Yeppoon, Qld
Adopt a greyhound
As a dog owner and an animal welfare supporter, I applaud NSW's decision to ban greyhound racing from 2017. However, the timetable is too short. In less than 11 months, the whole structure must be dismantled. How are the people in this industry to find new jobs?
And how will the dogs be protected? How many will be "disappeared" before steps are taken to put a protective, effective system in place? There should be a count of all dogs, including those with registered ear tattoos, as well as puppies and other animals not yet registered. While costly, it is the only way to ensure dogs will not be simply terminated. Good friends of mine have "adopted" rescued greyhounds. They are beautiful, gentle dogs who love people – and couches. More such adoptions would help considerably to ease the "wastage rate" of unwanted stock.
Jo Clancy, Woodend
AND ANOTHER THING ...
Asylum seekers
For God's sake, in the name of humanity, let them come here.
Pat Rivett, Ferntree Gully
Mr Dutton, how much lower can you drag our human rights reputation?
Pat Agostino, South Melbourne
The Manus victims are not "still in limbo", Mr Shorten. Mr Dutton has consigned them to a living hell.
Vince Corbett, Glenroy
Of course Mr Dutton always intended to close Manus Island – just as soon as the last hapless refugee committed suicide in despair or died of old age.
Graeme Scarlett, East Malvern
On February 4, Mr Turnbull said one child in detention was one too many. When will he act?
Susan Munday, Bentleigh East
Politics
Christopher Pyne's whine about "pairs" is farcical given his behaviour during the Rudd/Gillard years.
Stephen Baldwin, Frankston
Only took six years – and the shoe to be on the other foot – for Barnaby Joyce to admit the Coalition was morally wrong.
Les Aisen, Elsternwick
The PM is still in denial. It's all the other mobs' fault.
Peter McNamara, Canterbury
First the election, then the census. Now we watch in trepidation to see how the government team will perform in its favoured event – the plebiscite.
Colin Mockett, Geelong
Malcolm Roberts: we've been dealt a Trump card from a dodgy pack.
Margaret Ward, Eltham
Can Dan Andrews sack the Supreme Court?
Ian Powell, Glen Waverley
Other matters
How would we react if Japanese veterans requested permission to commemorate their invasion of Darwin or Broome?
Kye Tan, Fremantle
A Times Square in Camberwell (The Age, 17/8)? Ha ha! You still need to change your money into pounds, shillings and pence when you shop there.
Shaun Lawrence, Hawthorn