Remembering All Veterans and Those Who Still Suffer - The Mystery of the Long Tan Cross Plaque

This beautiful plaque commemorating the Battle of Long Tan can be found in our Post World War II Gallery. A hand-made memorial meticulously put together, its intricate design draws a lot of attention from visitors to Anzac Square Memorial Galleries. One eagle-eyed visitor even spotted the name ‘D. Dickson’ in the bottom-right corner of the plaque.  

Where did it come from? Who made the plaque and why? The origins of the Long Tan Cross plaque remained a long-standing mystery. Until now.  

After a call out for information about the plaque in a newsletter, Diane Dickson visited the Galleries on Vietnam Veterans’ Day 2023 and claimed authorship to the astonishment of gallery staff, who were beginning to think this day would never come. She was joined by longtime friend Frankie O’Leary, and the two proceeded to share an incredible story explaining the plaque’s history.

The story begins with Francisco Salveron, who was on board transport ship USS Don Isidro when it was sunk by Japanese aircraft in February 1942. Rescued by the HMAS Warrnambool, Francisco travelled to an army hospital in Brisbane to recover, and it was in Brisbane that he had two fated meetings. One was with General Douglas MacArthur, and Francisco proceeded to work as MacArthur’s aide de camp for three years, even being at MacArthur’s side when he uttered the immortal words, “I have returned” upon landing at Leyte Gulf. While in Brisbane he also met Australian woman Clarissa Gray. The two started a relationship and had two children, a daughter Frankie and a son Douglas, named after General MacArthur himself.  

Douglas Javing Salveron was conscripted into the army, joining the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment on 8 June 1966. He and Diane were in a relationship at the time, and Diane is generous in sharing her memories of Doug, including their first meeting, which she says was love at first sight. ‘I certainly believe in it. I don't think it happens a lot, but it can happen... I told my mother a lie and said I was staying at a girlfriend's place one night, but we actually went to the boathouse. And she was going with this guy, Andy... anyway, Andy and Doug walked in and I just spotted Doug, and that was it. Gone!’ 

A great jive dancer and a very neat dresser (which earned him the moniker of ‘Mr. Smooth’), Doug soon made a big impression on Diane’s family. ‘We were going together and he came to our home’, she recalls. ‘Of course, they fell in love with him. My twin brother wanted to wear his hair like him. He said, “Can you show me how to dance like Doug?” My three brothers and my sister and my parents... they loved him. I actually haven't met anyone that didn't like him.’ She adds, ‘We never used to fight. I wasn't going to fight with him. I didn't want to lose him.’ 

When Doug was called up to serve in Vietnam, there was never any question of his not going. ‘His pride wouldn't let him do that, no way’, Diane says. ‘He was in the very first call up... He never said, “I don't know”, nothing. No, just straight to it.' 

One story that his fellow soldiers still remember is how Doug’s immaculate dress sense once landed him in hot water. ‘I took his greens in for him, because he was very small. Apparently he asked his mother and his mother said no, so he asked me and I didn't know any different. So I took them in for him. And he got into trouble! But... he didn't want to have baggy pants!’ 

Somehow, Diane always thought that Doug would come home. ‘When they had platoon parties and that before they all went away, and I had said to myself, ‘Oh I hope you come home’ and not once! Not once! Did I think he wouldn't. I don't know why, but I just didn't think it was going to happen to him. I thought he would come home. So it certainly knocked me for a six when it happened.’ 

Sadly, Doug was killed on 18 August 1966 at the Battle of Long Tan, which saw Australian soldiers fighting in the Long Tan rubber plantation and outnumbered at least 10 to 1. Diane reflects on the day she received the bad news. ‘Most days they delivered mail on a Saturday. Anyway, once they’d been out to inform us what had happened... I was standing next to my father at the front door. But I must have just turned off, because the next thing Dad just looked at me and said, “Doug's gone”... I often think, I wonder what it was like in the First World War when there was so many killed. The amount of wives, mothers, girlfriends. And to read, in one street there'd be three telegrams on the one day, and the next day there'd be more in the following street. It just went on and on... Could you imagine?’ 

The loss of Doug had a lasting impact on both Diane and her family. ‘I just never got over it. It took me years. It took me a long, long time to be able to even look at a photo. Or talk about him without, you know, being upset... My whole family loved him. Even the day of his funeral, my dad come up to me and put his arms around me and said, “I feel like I've lost one of you”.’ 

Doug’s sister Frankie remained friends with Diane over the years, and in 2013, Diane decided to make a plaque for Vietnam Veterans’ Day. With the original Long Tan Cross memorial laid at the site of the battle by 6RAR in 1969 as inspiration, Diane used leftover pieces of glass that she had been using for craft to create the cross. The plaque is inscribed with the names of Australian soldiers killed in the battle, including Private Salveron, as well as the words, ‘Remembering all veterans and those who still suffer’. Diane explains, ‘I just wanted to do something because I've never forgotten him... I did it for the boys. Because there's a lot of them that still suffer, that's for sure... If any of them saw it, they’d know that they weren't dismissed, they were still considered.’ 

After the service at Anzac Square, Diane simply placed the plaque against the Vietnam Memorial statue. It’s unclear what happened to the plaque next, but it can be assumed that it was admired and therefore stored away in the Galleries. 

Vietnam Veterans’ Day still has special significance for Diane, a day that she always sets aside, no matter what. ‘It's the day I have to remember him, honour him and the others. It means a lot. There’s a day that I can commemorate him. Think of him. That's my day for remembering Doug... He's deep inside me now. It'll never go.’ She describes the experience of attending services as an emotional but ultimately rewarding one. ‘We were standing out the front (of the church) and of course one of (the Long Tan veterans) come up and he says, “Oh Doug really loved you”. I said, “Please don't be bringing that up. I've got eye makeup on!” But it was nice. To know that at least he’d spoke about me and told the boys what he felt about me.’ 

Diane was surprised and pleased to see the plaque on display, and when told of the attention it receives in the Galleries, she responded, ‘Makes me happy. It really does. And I'm glad I took the time to make it.’ Diane also realised that her parents, and especially her father, would be proud. ‘Because he loved Doug, he loved him like a son... I'm happy it's there. I hope it stays there. And gets looked after when I’m gone.’ 

Today, the Long Tan Cross plaque is on permanent display in our Post World War II Gallery. Considering both its design and the captivating history which has now been told, the Long Tan Cross plaque is a beautiful and unique memorial that serves as a lasting and loving tribute to those who served, those who were lost, and all the family, friends and loved ones left behind. 

Douglas Javing Salveron is buried at Mt Gravatt Cemetery and Crematorium alongside Warren Mitchell and Kenneth Gant, who also perished in the Battle of Long Tan. A plaque on his grave reads, 'Greater love hath no man than this. That he lay down his life for his friends'. 

References 

Australian War Memorial n.d., 'Studio portrait of Sergeant Francisco J Salveron, United States Army, and his Australian de facto wife Clarissa Gray (nee Willmett)', awm.gov.au, viewed 11 October 2023, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1290364  

Department of Veterans' Affairs 2020, ‘Battle of Long Tan’, viewed 11 October 2023, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/vietnam-war-1962-1975/events/combat/battle-long-tan-1966 

Department of Veterans' Affairs 2023, 'SALVERON, Douglas Javing', viewed 11 October 2023, https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=1277339&c=VIETNAM#R   

Ekins, A 2022, 'Unique memorial - the Long Tan cross', Australian War Memorial, viewed 11 October 2023, https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/55/long-tan-cross 

Ekins, A 2023, 'A very close thing indeed', Australian War Memorial, viewed 11 October 2023, https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/55/long-tan  

Emerick, M 2016, 'Long Tan 50th: Soldier's sister remembers his death and legacy', The Catholic Leader, viewed 11 October 2023, https://catholicleader.com.au/news/australia/long-tan-50th-soldiers-sister-remembers-his-death-and-legacy/ 

Find a Grave 2009, 'Private Douglas Javing Salveron', viewed 11 October 2023, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37409236/douglas-javing-salveron  

New York Times News Service 1998, MacArthur Aide in WWII, Chicago Tribune, September 3, viewed 11 October 2023, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-09-03-9809030274-story.html