The Battle of Long Tan
2012 · Not On Label AM003 · Australia
- Artist
- Graham Rodger
- Title
- The Battle of Long Tan
- Release
- Muster on the Great Divide
- Year
- 2012
- Label
- Not On Label # AM003
- Format
- CD · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Australia
- Songwriter
- A. MacPherson
- Genre
- Country · Traditional Country
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Australian & New Zealand Songs
Country musician from Queensland, Australia. Retiring as an ambulance driver in the 1990s, he turned to music, releasing dozens of country albums, with "Australia and Australians as the major themes for his ballads", and a focus on the "traditions cemented into our culture by the late Slim Dusty".1 He wrote and released several songs about the Vietnam War, which were: "The Battle of Long Tan", "The Battle of Coral", "Missing in Action", and "Fifty Thousand Australian Sons". On this album featured the song "The Battle of Long Tan" about the famous and iconic battle that took place on 18 August 1966. A small number, approximately 108 Australian and New Zealand servicemen, defended their position against a force of around 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars, possibly preventing an attack against Nui Dat, the base of the 1st Australian Task Force.23 Note that other songs about this battle are the classical composition "The Battle of Long Tan" (2005) by Gary Nicholas and Phill Knight, the classical score to the motion picture Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, by Caitlin Yeo, and "Tell Carmelita" by Lee Kernaghan, discussed below.4 The song set-out the scene from the…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Self-released. The song is credited to A. MacPherson (on the 2016 album They Answered the Call, where it reappears).
About the artist
Graham Rodger - country singer-songwriter from Queensland; a former ambulance officer who turned to music in the 1990s and has released dozens of albums in the Slim Dusty tradition.
Themes
Combat · Battle of Long Tan · VC · Patriotic · ANZUS · Pro-Government