Harry Smith ( Australian soldier ) Lieutenant Colonel Harry Arthur Smith SG MC ( born 25 July 1933 ) is a former senior officer in the Australian Army , seeing service during the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War . He was Officer Commanding of D Company , 6th Battalion , Royal Australian Regiment ( D Coy , 6RAR ) during the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966 . Early years . Smith was born in Hobart , Tasmania on 25 July 1933 . Military career . After service as a National Serviceman , Smith joined the Australian Regular Army and graduated as Second Lieutenant from the Officer Cadet School , Portsea . He was subsequently posted to the 2nd Battalion , Royal Australian Regiment in 1955 and later served during the Malayan Emergency between 1955 and 1957 . Battle of Long Tan . From 8 June 1966 to 14 June 1967 , Smith , then a major , was Officer Commanding D Coy , 6RAR . On 18 August , after heavy mortar shelling of the Australian base at Nui Dat the previous night , companies from 6RAR were sent out to locate the Vietnamese units involved . Smith led the 105 soldiers of D Coy and the 3 man NZ Artillery Party out on patrol , but at 3 . 15pm , while patrolling a rubber plantation at Long Tần that afternoon , they encountered a reinforced regiment - sized Vietnamese force ( the Viet Cong 275th Regiment , supported by the North Vietnamese Army 806 Battalion and D440 and D445 Battalions ) attempting to advance on the base . A monsoon struck at the same time , but Smith organised his forces to successfully hold off the assault , while coordinating support from Australian , New Zealand , and United States artillery units back at Nui Dat . D Coy was reinforced at 6 . 55pm by a B Company Platoon then A Company in APCs , the Vietnamese having started to withdraw . 18 Australians were killed and 24 wounded during the Battle of Long Tan , but under Smith ' s command , D Coy had fended off a numerically superior force , with at least 245 Vietnamese confirmed as killed , and another 300 believed wounded . 800 enemy killed or died from wounds were listed in records found in 1969 . 9 Delta Company men were given gallantry awards , but many of these had been downgraded from the original nomination : Smith ’ s leadership of his men during the fierce fighting saw him recommended for the Distinguished Service Order , but he instead received the Military Cross . Post - war service . Following service in Vietnam , Smith commanded 1 Commando Company at Georges Heights and was later posted as CO / CI of the first Army Parachute Training School . Smith left the Army in 1976 after a parachuting injury . Upgrading of award . On 14 August 2008 , after years of campaigning for better recognition of Long Tan veterans , Smith ' s Military Cross was upgraded to the Star of Gallantry ( the Australian honours system replacement for the Commonwealth Distinguished Service Order ) . On the same day , two others who fought at Long Tan had their bravery awards upgraded to correspond to the original nominations . On 9 March 2011 at the Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum , Smith was presented with the Star of Gallantry by local MP Paul Neville . Many of the Long Tan veterans were in attendance for the ceremony . After the presentation , Ben Roberts - Smith VC , MG , spoke about his time in Afghanistan .