25 days of hell we can’t ignore

THE veterans of Australia’s bloodiest but least-known battle in the Vietnam War could finally be about to win official recognition for their bravery.

Survivors of the Battle of Coral-Balmoral — which raged for 25 days in 1968 and claimed the lives of 24 Australians — have been fighting the federal government for a unit citation for gallantry.

The Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal has released a review agreeing that units involved deserve to be recognised. “A force comprising no more than 3000 Australians prevailed against a well prepared and numerically superior enemy,” the Tribunal found. “The fighting ... commenced with a desperate defensive action, where Australian positions and the defensive perimeter were overrun by a determined enemy and then retaken by the Australian defenders.”

It found the Australians “turned a desperate defensive battle into a battle of Australian domination” where with “automatic teamwork, things just happened”.

“And the ‘things that happened’ involved incredible individual bravery where exposure to enemy fire to get the job done was accepted seemingly without any second thought. “Awareness of the teamwork on display, and the individual courage evident in many small acts of getting the job done, lifted the group’s performance to an extraordinary level.”

The final decision now rests with Veterans Affairs Minister Darren Chester, who has had the report on his desk for the past month.

Whether it’s because the battle was overshadowed by the aftermath of the Tet offensive they were sent to contain, or because it came less than two years after the unquestionable courage shown by their comrades at Long Tan, Coral-Balmoral has gone largely unrecognised.

The battle was an attempt to stop North Vietnamese troops from slipping away from Saigon after the Tet Offensive. Coral-Balmoral veteran John “Sam” Simpson said he “took nothing away from Long Tan” — where 17 Australians died and 25 were wounded — but Coral-Balmoral was 25 days of hell that cost more Aussie blood. “It’s about 50 bloody years overdue,” Mr Simpson said of the unit citation for gallantry that veterans are pushing for. “It was by far the biggest battle. We had the most number of our mates lost. We lost 24 mates.” Veterans are hoping Mr Chester agrees with the Tribunal, and they can mark the battle’s 50th anniversary with the unit citation.