Veterans Affairs Minister Darren Chester holds key to Battle of Coral-Balmoral recognition

Daniel Knowles, The Courier-Mail

May 3, 2018 1:30pm

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

For more than 20 years, survivors of the Battle of Coral-Balmoral, which raged for 25 days from May 12, 1968 claiming the lives of 24 Australians and wounding hundreds more, have been fighting the Federal Government for a unit citation for gallantry.

On Thursday, the Defence Honours and Awards Appeal Tribunal publicly released their review into the battle, agreeing with veterans that units involved deserved 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, which Mr Chester’s own department’s Anzac portal website describes as “Australia’s costliest and most protracted battle of the Vietnam War” 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 veterans are pushing for.

“It was by far the biggest battle. We had the most number of our mates lost. We lost 24 mates. They stopped counting after 250 wounded.”

He said the Diggers had fallen victim to the poisonous political atmosphere back home and been denied recognition for their courage.

“It was deliberately bloody buried,” Mr Simpson said of the battle.

“I’m not taking anything away from Long Tan but it means after all these bloody years, the people of Australia and the government of Australia acknowledge what happened.”

Veterans are hoping Mr Chester agrees with the tribunal, and they can mark the 50th anniversary of the battle later this month with the unit citation.