Why we should stop to remember today, of all days.
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Second Lieutenant Gordon Cameron Sharp was 21 when he died from a single gunshot wound during the Battle of Long Tan.
A conscript, he was called up as part of the first national service ballot in March 1965. He flew through officer training and was quickly posted to Vietnam with the 6th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) in June 1966.
He was in charge of 11 Platoon, D Company, when they came upon a large enemy force in the Long Tan rubber plantation.
The platoon was pinned down and suffered several casualties.
Despite being under intense fire, Second Lieutenant Sharp continued to direct his men and call for artillery support.
Hampered by heavy monsoonal rains, when he raised himself up on his knees for a better overview of the battlefield, he was fatally wounded with a shot to the neck on August 18, 1966.
It was just a few months after he had arrived in Vietnam.
Gordon Sharp was the only Australian officer to be killed in the battle.
In total 17 Australians were killed (one died later of his wounds) and 24 were wounded, in what was considered to be a decisive victory for the Australian forces, while Viet Cong and North Vietnamese casualties numbered up to 245.
But the battle also sparked outrage back home, where conscription was becoming increasingly controversial, and forced the government to later limit the number of conscripts to no more than 50 per cent of a unit.
In civilian life Gordon was a television cameraman and he should have had his whole life ahead of him.
Second Lieutenant Gordon Sharp is laid to rest in Tamworth Memorial Park and died in defence of our freedom, like so many others.
Today, we remember them all, past and present, here and overseas.
Lest we forget.