Greg McCarthy

Position:

Managing Director

Worked in Travel:

Over 25 years now, including 8 years at Qantas, 10 years running my own Travel Company in Brisbane and then 5 years working as an executive director with the global travel company now called HRG Australia.

Worked at SCTM:

Founded the company on the 1st of June 2007..and loving it

Favourite Place/s:

This would have to be South America, I spent several months there a few years back and loved it for its uniqueness.  

Dream Holiday:

Taking my family around Italy, visiting my wife Rachel’s relatives up near Treviso.

Travelled To:

Well, after 25 years have seen most of the world, except Antarctica, I love the whole process in travel, right from the booking process to eventually returning home and appreciating just how good life is back home.

Ideal Dinner Party Guests:

Definitely my wife plus Richard Branson, my brothers (they are hilarious) and to top it off….Sean Connery.  

Likes:

Naturally I love travelling, eating outdoors, playing sport and hanging around the NSW South Coast with my family.

Brush with Fame

Caught a flight once from Moscow to London up the front on BA and sat next to a very recluse ‘Asian’ looking lady, When I landed in Heathrow, she was escorted off the plane and I later found out I was sitting next to (and fighting for elbow space on the armrest) with Yoko Ono for to 4 hours.  

Claim to Fame:

this is a hard one…..maybe that back in 1989 I was the first person to start a privately owned business travel company in Brisbane that was a huge success and now 18 years later I am the first person to open a business travel company on the NSW South Coast….dejavu!  

Trip Reports:

REMEMBERING LONG TAN

In February this year (2008), I had the privilege of travelling to Vietnam with a number of Vietnam vets, some of whom were returning for the first time since they fought there over forty years ago.                    

One of the most well-known Australian engagements of the Vietnam War was the Battle of Long Tan, 17-20 August 1966. The battle saw the action of 180 Australian soldiers against a Viet Cong (North Vietnamese) force estimated at 2,500. The Battle was one of the heaviest conflicts of the War and has become quite symbolic of the battles that our Australian soldiers fought during this ten year long period of conflict.

Eighteen young Australians lost their lives and many more were wounded. Enormous damage was inflicted on the enemy with hundreds of dead and wounded carried from the battlefield. For its ‘extraordinary heroism while engaged in military operations against an opposing armed force’ D Company was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by the President of the United States.

By visiting Long Tan, I experienced the digger spirit as I re-traced in part the route of D Company of the 6th Battalion from the base at Nui Dat, toward the rubber plantation to the East, where the battle of Long Tan took place.

Vietnam was the longest war Australia was ever involved in. It was marked by controversy and significant levels of public opposition to conscription and concern about casualties. The Vietnam War was also the first war witnessed 'live' on television.

While it will forever remain the rightful memory of those men of the Delta Company group alone who fought that action, Long Tan is not only being recognised as a symbol by veterans, but by all Australians.

Vietnam Veterans' Day, celebrated in Australia on 18 August each year, commemorates the Battle of Long Tan as well as all Australians who served and died during the Vietnam War.  

Australians are now visiting Vietnam in greater numbers. I am sure the Long Tan Cross and Memorial erected in 2002 will ensure Long Tan will take its place along with other iconic memorial sites such as Gallipoli, The Western Front and Kokoda.    

For more information on Long Tan, contact Greg McCarthy at South Coast Travel Management in Gerringong.