I Was Only 19
Long Tan 40th Anniversary Concert in Vietnam
On Radio in Early December
Those who miss the radio programmes can get them on the Internet.
In August this year a small ABC team travelled to Vietnam to document the events surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan.
It was a time of great emotion for the hundreds of veterans who gathered in Vung Tau in the south of Vietnam to attend the commemoration service at the Long Tan Cross and to hear live performances by John Schumann, the man who brought their story to the rest of Australia back in 1983 with his song “Only 19”.
From the material gathered on this trip the ABC is presenting a series of programs over the first weekend in December on Radio National, ABC2 and RN Online that each present different aspects of this very special and unique event.
MUSIC DELI Friday, December 1 at 8.05pm and Sunday December 3 at 4.05.pm on Radio National
A concert from the VUNG TAU greyhound racing track in southern Vietnam featuring the renowned singer/ songwriter John Schumann and his current band the Vagabond Crew. They were in Vietnam at the invitation of the Australian Vietnam Veterans Reconstruction Group who coordinated many of the activities surrounding the 40th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Long Tan in August this year.
A very special concert in front of an appreciative audience of veterans in the district where so many of them were stationed during the Vietnam war.
The concert features many of the most important songs of the era and also the song that¹s become the unofficial anthem of the Vietnam Veterans, "I Was Only 19" written by John Schumann in the 80¹s.
This concert will be available as audio-on-demand at the following website:
www.abc.net.au/rn/musicdeli
Recorded on location in Vietnam by Cathy Peters and David Bates.
INTO THE MUSIC Saturday December 2 at 5.05pm and Monday December 4 at 1.05pm on Radio National
“Only 19”
A location based documentary about the iconic song “I was Only 19” which was performed by John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew at a concert in Vung Tau (broadcast in Music Deli 1st and 3rd December) for the large numbers of Vietnam veterans who traveled to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan on August 18. It’s a program about the genesis and impact of this song on both the subjects it remembers and the national psyche it touched so strongly.
When John Schumann wrote the song in 1983, he hoped to capture some of the experience of the Vietnam war from the perspective of his brother-in-law, Mick Storen and to give voice to so much that had been unspoken since the troops had returned home.
The song went on to become the unofficial anthem for Vietnam veterans and one of the most important war songs ever written in this country. It also made No. 1 in the charts for John Schumann who at the time was front man with the alternative folk band Redgum.
Produced by Cathy Peters and Mark Don
This program will be available as audio-on-demand at the following website:
www.abc.net.au/rn/intothemusic
ABC RN ONLINE from December 1
www.abc.net.au/rn/features/longtan
40 Years On – LONG TAN
A website that contains footage from the commemorative ceremony at the Long Tan Cross on August 18, 2006. As well the site features images, information and audio documenting this journey that hundreds of Australian veterans took back to Vietnam to participate in the ceremony and other events including the memorable concerts by John Schumann and the Vagabond Band at the Vung Tau greyhound racing track.
The site also features a guestbook for veterans to tell their personal stories and background information and links for students and researchers. There is an extended interview with John Schumann about the composition of the song “I Was Only 19”, and a rare extract from an interview with Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Kiem, commander of the D445 Battalion at Long Tan on 18th August, 1966.
ABC 2 - Dec 4, 2030 - ABC digital TV
www.abc.net.au/abc2
Return to Long Tan
A half hour documentary focusing on the emotional impact of the journey of Australian veterans back to Vietnam 40 years on to visit Long Tan and to gather together and listen to John Schumann in concert in Vung Tau - the coastal town not far from the Australian base at Nui Dat where many of them took periods of r & r during their service in Vietnam.
From the moving performances of John Schumann and his band the Vagabond Crew, to the errie corridors of the rubber plantation at Long Tan, the site of the memorial cross for Australian’s lost in that decisive battle, this documentary shows how many veterans are dealing with their ghosts and moving on.
Produced by Fergus Pitt
_________________
Rick Pengilly
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though reading between the lines, I suspect he's after previously unpublished ones... 
