On this day in 1966, the cost of a litre of petrol was about seven cents, a loaf of bread 15.

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You'd have been looking at about $8000 to buy a house and if you were in the market for a new car, chances are you'd have settled on the new Holden HR, the most popular vehicle that year, which sold for between $2300 and $3100.

Sounds inexpensive until you remember the average weekly wage that year was a miserly $35.

If you were young and into music, you might have been listening to The Easybeats, The Kinks or The Troggs. Or perhaps Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walkin'. And if you were young and male and had obeyed the law and registered, you'd nervously wait to see if your birthdate was selected for National Service and you'd soon be wearing boots yourself.

If you had been conscripted and found yourself in Vietnam as a member of Delta Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, you'd have wondered if this was to be the last day of your life. For 18 Australians at the Battle of Long Tan, 11 of them National Servicemen, it was.

Today marks 60 years since that heroic stand in a rubber plantation in which 105 Australians and three New Zealanders held off against a combined force of 2000 North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong guerillas. It was our bloodiest single-day engagement in the Vietnam War and a remarkable, if costly, victory.

The offensive was turned back and 245 enemy corpses were left on the battlefield. But it took 21 years for Long Tan to get the recognition it deserved. It was only in 1987 that its anniversary officially became Vietnam Veterans Day.

The 60th anniversary of Long Tan should not only remind us of the courage and sacrifice of those who fought in Vietnam - many of them now in their 80s - but also of the ultimate futility of war.

Just last week, Vietnam's President To Lam visited Australia, where he was feted.

"Australia and Vietnam are close friends and trusted strategic partners," said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a joint statement. "Today, we also welcome stronger cooperation across defence, maritime and border security, the digital economy, agriculture, energy, minerals, science, and innovation."

"We welcome the........

© Canberra Times