This web page is for Victor 3 Infantry Rifle Company from the First Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, 1 RNZIR, that served in South Vietnam during 1968 and 1969 as a military sub unit within the First Australian Task Force, 1 ATF, based in Nui Dat located in Phuoc Tuy Province.

The Victor 3 Vietnam veterans have a Yahoo Group to which former members can subscribe, click here to see the Groups' Yahoo Page.

The Company [V3] was comprised of personnel who were members of the 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment [1 RNZIR], garrisoned at the time in Terendak Military Camp, about 15 kilometres north of Malacca on the Malay peninsula. 1 RNZIR was a highly-trained, combat-ready unit, well able to fulfil the roles envisaged in various SEATO contingency plans and as well as combat operations in South Vietnam.

Extensive training programs culminated in testing operational exercises designed to assess the Company's preparedness for active service.

Given that early training had commenced in New Zealand this was followed with more intense training on the Malay peninsula where New Zealand infantry troops had been stationed since 1955. Some of the V3 soldiers and many of the junior and senior NCO's were experienced in the techniques of jungle warfare in Malaya and Borneo, the most recent prior to Vietnam being during the Indonesian Confrontation in the mid-1960's. Such experience was to hold V3 in good stead in South Vietnam during its deployment from May 1968 to May 1969.

The V3 sub unit ultimately had 172 personnel posted to its strength in South Vietnam, two were killed in action. The rotation of Australian infantry battalions saw V3 attached as a rifle company for a short period of time with the 2 RAR/NZ [ANZAC] Battalion. The remainder of its tour of duty was with attachment to the 4 RAR/NZ [ANZAC] Battalion. Both battalions were integral components of the 1st Australian Task Force garrisoned at Nui Dat in the Phuoc Tuy province.

The following comment from Brigadier Ian Thorpe, a former second-in-command ot a 2 RAR/NZ [ANZAC] Battalion sums, up the conribution of V3 personnel:

'If there is one element in the New Zealand military ethos that is worth emphasis. it is, to me, the attitude that, in the international field where we have always served and planned to serve, we are always a small increment in a larger force, and therefore can only make our mark through quality � and I think that amongst regulars there has been the recognition that quality does not fall like manna on the chosen but results from serious study and hard training.'

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