VICTOR FOUR COMPANY

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

This was 6 RAR’s first major operation and all units were deployed into the Area
of Operations (AO) Vincent, by various means on the 31^st May 1969.

The area was known as the Courtenay Rubber, consisting of bush, bamboo, thick jungle,
rubber intersected by numerous streams and well used tracks.

The Fire Support Base (FSPB) Virginia was established within the AO to provide
Artillery and Mortar Support for the ground troops.

V4 was air assaulted in by Helo which was preceded by an artillery barrage
and aircraft strafing of the landing zone (LZ) area. The side door machine gunners also laid
fire into the surrounding jungle prior to touchdown. This was known as a ‘Hot Insertion’.

The Company (Coy) would use this procedure on many future operations.

The Battalion’s (Bn) mission was to deny the enemy use of communication routes in the area.
​Ambushing used access routes and Reconnaissance in Force was the method used to achieve this.

There were many contacts and incidents during the operation but the 1 Platoon encounter
with 100 plus enemy who were withdrawing from a previous contact was memorable.

The company followed up and a major contact ensued from a heavily defended enemy position
​in the late afternoon of the 17^th June where Jack Williams was Killed in Action.

Willie Peacock was wounded in action in a previous enemy contact.

After 30 days on Operation Lavarack, the Coy was airlifted back to Nui Dat.

Operation Lavarack