One for Buck historians.

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JD Mandrell

JD Mandrell

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Over the years, I've seen a few references to Buck 119s being an "issue knife for pilots" during Vietnam.

I've talked to a lot of veterans, and seen some pictures of 119's & 110's being carried in Vietnam, and some guys say they were available to buy in military base stores back then, but I can't seem to find any official record of 119s being issued to pilots or anyone else in the military.

Any sources that can verify that claim?
 
No. I've never seen any reason to believe such a thing happened and I'm a Vietnam Era Vet and retired AF MSgt.

I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possibility, but I'm sure doubting it.

This is the standard. (And that's not me......just an internet picture.)

post-70-1327775703.jpg
 
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Pretty sure both Camillus and Ontario made "Pilot Survival" knives during the Vietnam era.

My brother's HS buddy carried a Buck 120 in Vietnam, but it was a personal knife (gifted to him by my brother). My brother related to me years later his friend used that knife to free himself from a downed helicopter.

Previous discussions along this line indicated Buck knives were readily available at base stores and 110's were more commonly seen.
 
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It's likely that Andrew Jackson encouraged men to come to the Battle of New Orleans with their own long rifle, and George Patton carried his own ivory handled Colt Single Action instead of the government issue Colt 1911. (He was a great military politician and knew a photo-op when he saw one.). But Eli Whitney (the cotton gin man) campaigned strongly for firearms with interchangeable parts. By the time of Vietnam, official government issues of weapons was pretty well documented. Proving a negative is hard, but I don't think there is any evidence that the 119 was an official issue during Vietnam. Of course there is important information from ebay sellers talking about "Vietnam Era Fighting Knives"

Bert
 
VorpalRain said:
No. I've never seen any reason to believe such a thing happened and I'm a Vietnam Era Vet and retired AF MSgt.

I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possibility, but I'm sure doubting it.

This is the standard. (And that's not me......just an internet picture.)

post-70-1327775703.jpg
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Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Over the years, I've seen a few references to Buck 119s being an "issue knife for pilots" during Vietnam.

I've talked to a lot of veterans, and seen some pictures of 119's & 110's being carried in Vietnam, and some guys say they were available to buy in military base stores back then, but I can't seem to find any official record of 119s being issued to pilots or anyone else in the military.

Any sources that can verify that claim?
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You probably won't find it in any form of print but Buck made knives for soldiers in WWII. So why not Viet-Nam? Also, Vorpil not everyone in Viet-Nam was a Jet Pilot so they wouldn't have been issued a Jet Pilot survival knife...
 
Correct me if I m wrong
But the only buck involvement
For a government contract
Would be for the m9 bayonet?
And that buck knives was a small workshop
Operation back In the 'nam era?
And Hence would have surely faced difficulties
In fulfilling the numbers required
In a government contract.
Just my two cents...
 
sassafrassdogs3 said:
You probably won't find it in any form of print but Buck made knives for soldiers in WWII. So why not Viet-Nam? Also, Vorpil not everyone in Viet-Nam was a Jet Pilot so they wouldn't have been issued a Jet Pilot survival knife...
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If you peruse the OP you'll see that the question was about "Buck 119s being an "issue knife for pilots" during Vietnam."
 
GIRLYmann said:
Correct me if I m wrong
But the only buck involvement
For a government contract
Would be for the m9 bayonet?
And that buck knives was a small workshop
Operation back In the 'nam era?
And Hence would have surely faced difficulties
In fulfilling the numbers required
In a government contract.
Just my two cents...
Click to expand...

In WWII Buck made knives for soldiers just like EK's knives. No contract issued! Buck made 2500 M9's for field trials. Although the troops and commanders loved the Buck version due to the Quality. For some reason, I read somewhere it was trivial, they weren't issued the contract for the thousands that were made...
 
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DeSotoSky said:
Pretty sure both Camillus and Ontario made "Pilot Survival" knives during the Vietnam era.

My brother's HS buddy carried a Buck 120 in Vietnam, but it was a personal knife (gifted to him by my brother). My brother related to me years later his friend used that knife to free himself from a downed helicopter.

Previous discussions along this line indicated Buck knives were readily available at base stores and 110's were more commonly seen.
Click to expand...

You're right about the Jet Pilot's survival knife Roger, here are some other manufacturer's; Camillus, Ontario, Marble's, Milpar...
 
sassafrassdogs3 said:
You probably won't find it in any form of print but Buck made knives for soldiers in WWII. ....
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To the contrary, it is well documented that Hoyt Buck, as a private citizen, made and donated knives to the local soldiers heading off. There was a shortage of knives to supply the soldiers and the government issued a call for citizens to donate. Hoyt did not have any to donate but knew how to make them, setting up his anvil in the basement of his church. This led to his going into the knife making business with his son Al immediately after WWII.
 
DeSotoSky said:
To the contrary, it is well documented that Hoyt Buck, as a private citizen, made and donated knives to the local soldiers heading off. There was a shortage of knives to supply the soldiers and the government issued a call for citizens to donate. Hoyt did not have any to donate but knew how to make them, setting up his anvil in the basement of his church. This led to his going into the knife making business with his son Al immediately after WWII.
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Thank You, Roger. I knew someone would come up with the story...I couldn't find anything to prove what I was saying...The knives he donated, from what I understand, were the original 119's? Roger? You may know different, I don't know...Hence the 75th anniversary of the 119? Which put's it's beginning around 1942...

Don
 
I know their were private purchase 119s in Vietnam, I've just never seen evidence of official issuing of them.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
I know their were private purchase 119s in Vietnam, I've just never seen evidence of official issuing of them.
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Besides the 2500 for field trials, I don't think Buck was involved in Any Officilal Issues? Maybe Roger can chime in about that? I had read unofficially Buck was reluctant to put their name on a fighting tool due to their Religious Convictions? Which I don't have a problem with that...

Don
 
Yeah I've never heard of this, and don't find it likely at all.

Now if you've seen any of the Buck story video's for the 75th anniversary 119, there's one with a guy who was given a 119 special after graduating jump-master school.
He was not all that old though so I'm assuming late 90's to early 2000's.

Maybe this is could be where the claim they were issued to pilots comes from.
 
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sassafrassdogs3 said:
I had read unofficially Buck was reluctant to put their name on a fighting tool due to their Religious Convictions? Which I don't have a problem with that...
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Page 13 of the Buck history by Ables says Hoyt made knives in his church basement for WWII servicemen to defend Christianity, so he doesn't sound like he had pacifist religious convictions. More like a crusader.
;)
 
VorpalRain said:
Page 13 of the Buck history by Ables says Hoyt made knives in his church basement for WWII servicemen to defend Christianity, so he doesn't sound like he had pacifist religious convictions. More like a crusader.
;)
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Ok, then why didn't Buck try to get any Military contracts? Except for the M9...
 
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