Brothers in arms: honouring the three main Australian-Fought Vietnam battles in a special silver coin set All war has its horrors and the Vietnam conflict certainly had more than its share, especially given its many conflicting elements: raw courage against deep cunning, ideological and political conflict, familiarity with terrain or fearsome ignorance of it, experience against inexperience - to name the most obvious. The all-encompassing tragedy was compounded by the ways these are generally interchangeable between both sides. So it was with the war in Vietnam where one blood-soaked engagement followed the next. Three major ones come immediately to mind: the Battle of Khe Sanh, The Tet Offensive and the Battle of Coral and Balmoral. The Battle of Khe Sanh, a 77-day siege, was one of the longest and bloodiest in the entire war, with some five hundred US Marines killed along with around ten thousand of the enemy. Both sides claimed victory but any gains were largely diluted by losses and the base was dismantled. Australian contributions included large-scale RAAF bombing missions. The Tet Offensive was a surprise attack launched by the Viet Cong in January 1968, a supposed time of truce. The North Vietnamese forces had been exhorted to “Crack the sky, shake the earth.” The surprise attack on Australian, New Zealand and American forces was fought house-to-house before the enemy was eventually repelled. Known for their ups and downs, the May 1968 battles for the Australian support bases Coral and Balmoral saw outstanding sacrifice, courage and mateship. Coral was initially over-run then retaken and Balmoral withstood enemy attack - both theatres owing much to Aussie mateship and courage. The Bradford Mint is proud to commemorate these engagements with this outstanding set of three pure silver dollar coins, brought to you in a special timber presentation case. All coins depict detailed action scenes and bear the courageous words of Gary McMahon, 6th Battalion RAR “We would do anything for a mate, anything except leave him on the battlefield.” Whether treasured as militaria or historical mementos, these honour all the brothers in arms to whom we owe so much.