As ageing numbers made it harder for veterans to keep running their own ceremony, two Seymour College students stepped up, and this year they’ll lead the town’s Vietnam Veteran Day Service marking 60 years since the Battle of Long Tan.
Marking the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, the 2026 Vietnam Veteran Day Service in Seymour will this year be hosted by students from Seymour College.
In 2024, local Vietnam veterans approached Seymour College Defence Mentor Kelly Quigg-Akkersdyk to see if the school would be interested in taking over the running of the event, as age and declining numbers meant they were no longer able to conduct the ceremony. “I welcomed the opportunity to have our students take part in commemorating the service of our Vietnam veterans,” Kelly said. “It is a great opportunity to pass the baton on to the younger generation.”
The move has resulted in a dramatic increase in attendance at the ceremony.
This year two female Year 11 students from the Vocational Major course, Lyrik Loder and Ella Noble, have taken on the responsibility of planning and hosting the ceremony under the guidance of local Vietnam veterans. “Over the last few weeks, we have been meeting with four or five local veterans who served in Vietnam to better understand their stories,” said Ella. “None of us knew how bad the situation was for them and what they went through. One of the veterans we spoke to was a nurse, Jan McCarthur,” said Lyrik. “I feel like we made a real emotional connection with them.”
The Battle of Long Tan was the deadliest single battle for Australian troops in the Vietnam War. To create a visual representation of the losses Australia incurred, 18 students from the college will be holding photographs of each of the 18 Australian soldiers who died in the battle.
“Many of the soldiers who died were not much older than the students holding their photo,” Lyrik said.
The ceremony will be held at 11am on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, at the Vietnam Veterans Walk in Seymour. It will include the Catafalque Party from the School of Armour, reflections from local Vietnam veterans, and a wreath laying ceremony with representatives from across the community.
