Knives in Vietnam

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The Whip said:
I find it odd that any doubt exists about SOG-issued knives and Randalls having been carried in Vietnam, as entire books have been written about the topic (with photos and other documentation aplenty).

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CISO purchased 7,600 Bowies and 1,300 Recons during the course of the war. There sure aren't many out there for collecting these days, so somebody must have carried them!
-Steve
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As far as SOG, there's no doubt at all. Thread I put up from the UDT-SEAL museum shows the knife on display donated by Capt Olson from SOG. I don't know who produced it but it's the knife on the cover of the book above on left side:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/knives-used-by-seals-member-qs.1633913/page-4#post-18679390
 
miguet said:
Banana knives.
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Ok thanx. That makes sense. I was thinking old French and commy bayonets. Various locally fashioned blades. Anything they could scrounge from the dead. But that’s just my imagination lol
 
katanas said:
Those of us in mac-sog carried pretty much whatever we wanted (mini grenades were quite popular in my group). :cool: Firearms ranged from standard 16s and 60s to M79s and Swedish Ks (usually traded from a Seal); my pick was an XM177 (don't know how we came to have it, but I got it). :thumbsup:Knives were all over the map, from ka-bars to gerber to handmade and, yes, even randalls (and a number of hawks). Good times! (sort of) ;)
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what color was the boat house at hereford
 
That's because like Ruana Bowies, Randall combat knives have become beanie babies for well heeled collectors flip on the web. In our day plain old grunts carried both if they were into knives.
 
re-reading these posts I see a mention of EK knives. I only saw one EK knife in 30 years in the Army. That was on Okinawa in about 1985, a man on the HALO Team kept on in his Team Room to open his mail with. He went on to be with the Agency as one of their Field Operators, but do not know if he carried his EK there. John
 
Grump Old Man. Ironically I have about 3 of those Balisongs. Recently I was given another one by a man who I served with in Vietnam. He retired out of the premier Tier 1 unit (Not a Seal) and had been given it by a man in the Agency when he went to a course at a classified Agency location. I know, I know, but the knife not he story, but after knowing him since 1964, and having served in combat with him, I trust him implicitly. John
 
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The second Western Bowie in this thread was carried & used in Vietnam:

Photos - Western Bowie USA

One of my recent finds, an early Western Bowie from around 1965: Older thread about this knife: http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/help-identify-my-w49-age-and-other-information.1330326/#post-15274576
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
Personally I would love to see some Ek knives from the Vietnam War, or maybe any Ruanas. I have a book by Mike Silvey with cool pics.
 
FN in MT said:
I was a USAF non combatant, worked on F-105's. But did have some exposure to Army infantrymen and Marines occasionally. They ALL liked the standard issue USAF/Army Aviation survival knife. Those knifes, with leather sheath made great trading stock. It was many years back and I wasn't the knife nut I am now, but I WAS a gun guy. The little XM 177 was my "wish I could bring one of THESE home" fantasies. Did finally build a faux version a few years back.
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I was in high school for the early period of the Viet Nam war . . .and a boy Scout. Somehow, I managed to get hold of an Airforce Pilots Survival knfe. Went camping with it. It was the rugiddest, most butch looking knife at csmp. But the blade was a bit soft for camp tasks.

Later in life, I got to understand that that knife was designed and made so as not to snap off when hacking through the skin of a downed helicopter or plane (the survival part).
 
vjb.knife. that Buck (119) in your first photo reminded me of another friend now gone, RIP, who had a "Discussion" one night with an NVA crawling into his perimeter. He hit the NVA in the chest with his KaBar, where the NVA had his chest AK pouch and the KaBar blade snapped off where the blade meets the handle. Things got pretty exciting about then. My friend knew I was a knife guy and what would I recommend that he could get quickly and I told him that Buck, and he carried one for the rest of his tour. John
 
John A. Larsen said:
vjb.knife. that Buck (119) in your first photo reminded me of another friend now gone, RIP, who had a "Discussion" one night with an NVA crawling into his perimeter. He hit the NVA in the chest with his KaBar, where the NVA had his chest AK pouch and the KaBar blade snapped off where the blade meets the handle. Things got pretty exciting about then. My friend knew I was a knife guy and what would I recommend that he could get quickly and I told him that Buck, and he carried one for the rest of his tour. John
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All I have to say John is a Solingen Randall 14 or 15 would have been just as easy to get in Viet Nam. The PX system offered us next to nothing so if you wanted a knife you ordered it from stateside civilian sources.
 
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