It is also the 49th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, the first major conflict involving Australian troops in Vietnam.

For the men of 6RAR’s D-company the day started out like any other and ended with a bloody ambush in torrential rain in a rubber plantation called Long Tan.

By the time it was over 18 Australian soldiers – 17 from D-Company 6RAR and one from the 1st APC Squadron – were dead.

The battle exacted an even heavier toll on the Viet Cong, with 245 killed in the ambush and Australian soldiers ordered to bury their bodies the following day.

Muswellbrook RSL sub-branch president, Greg Cole, said that was how it was then.

“It was the right thing to do and our soldiers did the right thing.

"You’ve got to clean up, you must clean up; otherwise you have disease,” he said.

Greg Cole served with 1RAR.

“We went on HMAS Sydney nicknamed the ‘Vung Tau Ferry’ in March 1968, landed by barge, were put on the back of a truck, taken up to Nui Dat and settled in there.

“There were five blokes that I trained and served with who became mates and they were killed in one night on May 13,” he said.

Greg Cole is referring to Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral, 7km north of the town of Tan Uyen, which was temporarily overrun by the North Vietnamese Army 7th Division on May 13, 1968.

“What a great Mother’s Day present must that have been for the mothers of those children killed on that first night at Coral.

“They got a tap on the door to say their son was dead,” Mr Cole said.

Muswellbrook seems light years away from that brutal campaign in Vietnam nearly half a century ago, but the memories are as real as if it was yesterday for those who survived and lost mates there.

That’s why, said Greg Cole, the Vietnam Veterans Day service at the Muswellbrook memorial is so important.

It is a unique place, displaying an impressive Wall of Remembrance bounded by chest-high crosses in heavy metal and also documenting on simple pieces of timber set low to the ground the numbers of Australians sacrificed in each combat unit in Vietnam between 1962 and 1972.

‘RAN 8 killed; AATTV 34 killed; SAS 7 killed …’ and so it goes on for a kilometre along the New England Highway on the northern entrance to the town.

“I think it means a lot for the veterans and I think it means a lot for the younger generation, especially the unit names and their losses along the side of the road.

“You’ll see little wreaths laid; you’ll see poppies taped to the names of the diggers; and even with the little Vietnamese memorial which, I think is the only one outside Cabramatta, people always supply the flowers for that.”

“This memorial out here, it helps bring the veterans back together,” Mr Cole said.

Bob Lemmon, from Caboolture, and Reg Turnbull, from Brewarrina, agree.

Mr Turnbull was an aircraft engineer with 816 Squadron on HMAS Melbourne during the Vietnam War and Mr Lemmon was an aircraft weapons mechanic based at HMAS Albatross in the late 1960s fitting everything from bombs to ejection seats on aircraft.

“I’m not down here [Muswellbrook] for me,” Mr Turnbull said, “I’m here for them.”

“There’s a couple of people I know, one served on the same squadron as me, and I was invited to come along some years back and I’ve been coming to Muswellbrook's service ever since," Mr Turnbull said.

"I joined as a junior cadet in 1967 and stayed with the RAN for 12 years," Bob Lemmon said, "and I was lucky I didn't have to go into a war situation, but you knew the possibility was always there."

Both Mr Turnbull and Mr Lemmon said for those who've served their country there's an understanding that doesn't have to be explained.

That understanding was evident on Tuesday as the crowd gathered along the New England Highway for the Muswellbrook service at 3.45pm, the same time 49 years ago when members of D-Company's 6RAR were confronted by the enemy in the Long Tan rubber plantation.

A big contingent of veterans travelled long distances, including a group of 50 Vietnamese from Sydney, who have been attending the August 18 service since 2008.

“They fought on our side so we fly their flag and we have their little memorial and they enjoy coming up and mixing with us," Greg Cole said.

“It took about two to three years to break the ice, but our blokes have relaxed around them now and they are relaxed around us.”

Greg Cole said most of them would have been killed after the war if they didn’t leave South Vietnam.

I ask the RSL sub-branch president what’s in the offing for Muswellbrook’s Vietnam Memorial as the organisation head towards the 50th anniversary of Long Tan next year.

“Well, we want a pathway through the memorial so people can amble through it.

“It will go from the “Welcome to Muswellbrook” sign all the way to the Nashos and that’s about 1.7km and that’s a lot of concrete,” he said.

“But we’ll get there; we always do.”