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cheapbag214s · Posted: Mon 0:55, 26 Aug 2013 Post subject: Cheap Charlie in Long Tan-spun3

Cheap Charlie in Long Tan
'Uc dai loi, Cheap Charlie, He no buy me Saigon tea'
That's the first verse of the tune sang in Vietnam by Australian soldiers and bar girls going about their trade. 'Saigon tea costs many many P, Uc dai loi he Cheap Charlie'. It was with this particular ditty during my head which i made my very own Cheap Charlie dash from Vung Tau to the site from the Australian wartime base at Nui Dat and the memorial cross at Long Tan.
I visited Gallipoli in 1997 and finding myself in Ho Chi Minh City this month, I felt exactly the same attraction to see Long Tan the site in our bloodiest battle during the Vietnam War.
It was a 'Cheap Charlie' trip when i didn't wish to go ahead and take official $48US Long Tan tour (four hours departing at eight o'clock on an air-conditioned coach, lunch and an embroidered hat included!). It wasn't the money that put me off; I simply desired to see and experience Long Tan inside my own pace. I'd read online the Long Tan Memorial is on private property and access granted only with an official guide, but I thought this is Vietnam,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], I'll take my chances.
I get to Vung Tau by hydrofoil from Saigon and rent a bike for 200,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 dong ($11),[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], then enquire using the nearby taxi drivers about Long Tan. One of these says "Australian soldier?",[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a moto-taxi driver called Trin, and that we negotiate the fee for a private tour to 300,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 dong ($17). Then we're off … on the 'Cheap Charlie' run,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], with no special edition hat or restrictions of group travel.
Thumping along at 50 to 60 kilometres an hour, past scenery not dissimilar as to the the diggers might have encountered, we cover the 30 klicks to Nui Dat. Apart from open fields and rubber plantations, there is not much to determine; two brown brick columns mark the entrance towards the old Aussie base. A few brick bunkers and gun emplacements have been absorbed by rubber trees. Trin says that the cement company called 'Long Dat Cement' now owns the region; their intend to remove the soil and gravel to fabricate cement.
The Long Tan battlefield is nearby,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
We navigate dirt tracks and cross the first kind base, arriving Twenty minutes later at a sign that reads: THAP TU GIA LONG TAN. A few dirt tracks later Trin pulls over and points to some lone white cross,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], protected by a metal chain barrier,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], concrete wall and gate, and encompassed by a large number of rubber trees.
With the bikes turned off the silence is deafening. Trin narrates: "Many fighters. Long Tan fighters. Many were Nui Dat and then Long Tan here. VC and Uc dai lam (Australian) Army there. Fighting, you realize, boom boom boom. Very, very sad."
I invite Trin to become listed on me in the memorial,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but he politely declines; he's probably seen it one a lot of times.
I begin to consider exactly what the men on both sides went through that afternoon in August 1966. Where did they hide behind that tree or in that ditch? Officially 108 diggers (including three kiwis from D Company 6RAR) repelled the attack of between 700 and 1500 Viet Cong soldiers. For five hours . frightened, staring death down a gun barrel . they fought for their lives until reinforcements arrived from Nui Dat at nightfall.
18 Australians were killed during the battle (each soldier only a boy aged between 19 and 22). 40 diggers were wounded. Three of the dead were married,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the remainder single. Seven were national servicemen called up for duty and the 11 others were volunteers. Viet Cong casualties aren't exactly known; between 47 and 245 are thought to have lost their lives. But do the numbers really matter? Saying we killed 29 or 227 more Vietnamese than Australians doesn't seem to make victory more palatable or justified.
On the way back to Vung Tau, Trin and that i stop for any ca fe su da (Vietnamese coffee). I learn he's 48, a parent of two grown boys along with a girl. We discuss life. He informs me how good things are now compared to throughout the American War, since it's known here. "We had hardly any to eat", he shares. Having lost his father to a mortar explosion,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Trin needed to look after himself and his mum. Never given the opportunity to go to school,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Trin is happy his youngsters are able to work and focus in HCMC.
My trip to Long Tan would be a personal one, and also to meet Trin a highlight along with a bonus. I said goodbye and rode off, and may almost hear him hymning "Uc dai loi,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Cheap Charlie" in response to his 100,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 dong tip.
Trip tips
Board the hydrofoil from HCMC to Vung Tau (180,000 dong). The trip takes 1.5 hours. If you plan to return that afternoon purchase a return ticket in your departure.
In Vung Tau, you will be offered a motorbike to rent by moto-taxi riders while you walk out from the port arrivals building. Negotiate a fee and expect to pay about 200,000 dong per day.
Its worth paying one of the moto-taxi drivers 300,000 dong to do something as guide. The old Australian army base at Nui Dat is around 30 kilometres from Vung Tau (under 45 minutes by motorbike). The Long Tan Memorial is a few kilometres further. Allow between 3-4 hours.
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