Vietnam Vets:What knife or knives did you carry in Vietnam?

RickJ said:
I am a vet from Iraq and Afghanistan, and just so the Vietnam vets know, I spent 4 years doing POW/MIA Search and Recovery in Vietnam from 1992-1996 with the Central Identification Lab out of Hawaii. I have always thought about what the guys would have carried to Vietnam back then.

. Last, I want to say a big thanks to the Vietnam Vets for all they did for us.
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I was not there, nor, was anyone in my family, that's still alive today to ask. I had a Korean War Vet Uncle, he carried a Kabar.

I just wanted to pop in and tell ya, Thank you for your service, and if you're ever in East Tenn, look me up. I owe ya a beer.

Moose
 
My best friend was in Vietnam from the beginning to the end, and he carried a John Ek Model 6. He gave it to me a few years ago, blood stains and all.
 
jbmonkey said:
i was too young to know much about this war, it was my father's era......but i see sog and boker throw out a ref, to a legendary vietnam era bowie knife, on a couple of their current models in their marketing? what was the actual vietnam bowie knife, these companies today are referrencing?

also did any vets, actual carry or issued this "bowie" knife? or was it only a small group of special forces guys? thanks in advance.
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I happen to have that story loaded up on google documents. Link.
 
moosez45 said:
I was not there, nor, was anyone in my family, that's still alive today to ask. I had a Korean War Vet Uncle, he carried a Kabar.

I just wanted to pop in and tell ya, Thank you for your service, and if you're ever in East Tenn, look me up. I owe ya a beer.

Moose
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Moose,

I am from the Oak Ridge area, I joined out of the Knoxville Meps! Thanks for the kind words.
 
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Col Defender said:
And I used it for everything. From cutting string, to opening cans, cutting food, buttering bread and even (carefully) as a fork when nothing else was available. And happy that it remains in the family.

Steve
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Hey! Looks like Dad popped in to say hello. Cool. Thanks for your service. :thumbup:
 
Served in the 39th Combat Engineer batt. from Feb 1967 to March 1968. I had a Victorinox sak I picked up when I was stationed in Germany, prior to going to Vietnam. While there, I bought a Buck stockman at the PX for something like 12 dollars. Buck's were sold at cheap prices at the PX's. Lot's of people had a 110 on their belt in the black pouch. None of my friends serving with me carried a large knife, just no need on a job site. My friend Paul carried an old Case three bladed stockman, and some of the others had issue TL-29's and stainless MLK knives. The supply room had lots on hand of each, but the TL-29's were more popular as they were a better knife. Most of them were made by Camillus.

Each squad tool chest had two 18 inch Ontario machete's and an ax. Most of the time our days were the same as any construction site, and a pocket knife was handy. We had some Camillus MK 2's issued out, but they just got shoved down in the duffle bag. My oldest boy has it now, and loves the thing.
 
i asked my oldman this question some years ago ,an i remember some items he brought back from the war,it was a kabar,a trench knife the one that looks like a bayonet but without the lugs,an his 30 carbine,we use to use it when hog hunting,but lost it all in a house fire in 1978..i have a deep respect for vietnam vets,growing up in a house with one i seen the toll the war took on a loved one,the stories i could tell,,40 years later my father will still not talk about it,only on special occasions...GOD BLESS all our vets...
 
ron mathews said:
I was there from 12/67 to 12/68. Always carried a knife since I was old enough to wear long pants. Knew about Randalls because my Dad bought a 3-6 in 1945, but didn't want to lose it or mess it up and couldn't afford a new one at the time. I bought and carried a Schrade 150T.
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Ron, I hope you don't mind me linking this. (I remember the conversation evolved into a treatise on hair loss. :p)

Here's thread from about three years ago, with a pic of a Schrade 15OT being carried in Viet Nam. I'd heard of a lot of Buck 119's going over there, but this was the first time I'd heard of a Schrade brand being used.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/593882-Carried-piece?highlight=15OT

Thanks to all of you folks who served over there. I've been watching Viet Nam in HD on the History Channel, and it's amazing to see that war with such clarity.

~Chris
 
Hi Chris,

I don't mind at all. The photo sure brought back memories when I ran across it, both good and bad. I never saw another Schrade nor did I see any Randalls, although there were quite a few that I know went over there. The conclusion I came to is that most of us guys who were drafted either never knew about them or couldn't afford one.

Best,
 
I was on a destroyer during the war, only a few months of my 4 years in the Tonkin Gulf, but i our shop everybody had the standard TL-29 or the 4 blade boy scout folder of one brand or another, usually Case or Camillus. I can't remember ever seeing an actual Victorinox SAK. Some of the younger BM's carried either Buck 110's or big Case or Queen folders. No fixed blade knives carried on my ship.
 
My dad carried a Randall Model 1 in Viet Nam. His best friend has it now, and will be sending me some pics soon...his dad was a knife collector and WW II Vet, so he had some knowledge going in about what he wanted...
 
I am Not a vet, but my dad and uncle both were drafted then, they carried the M7. My dad says that's the only knife he had for 6yrs. I think he was kidding? My older uncle carried a ka-bar in WWII and Korea. He was a marine the others were army.
 
Hey JB, I'm way too young to have gone but my dad did and many of my uncles, etc and the only 'knife' my dad had been issued was a standard machete. I am a huge Viet Nam afficianado, I won't say fan, but I read and watch every book/documentary I come across, especially about SOG and they claim to have carried either Gerber MKII, Randall model-1's, and I've seen pic in a book of an unidentified knife that does resemble the SOG super bowie that someone carried. Also some of the guys said they had WWII F-S daggers too.
That is a war that every american should know, respect, and mourn. We lost 58,000+ of the best men this country had to offer seeing as how they either volunteered selflessly or got drafted and still did their job to the best of their abilities. I believe though that most of the troops that carried knives were SF as they had to buy them themselves and the average grunts couldn't afford 'custom' knives so unless they brought one from home they went without.

Much love and undying respect goes out to all the troops of the VietNam war who served, died, or never returned...Never Forget the POW/MIA's still out there, dead or alive.
also did any vets, actual carry or issued this "bowie" knife? or was it only a small group of special forces guys? thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]
 
brewcitymike said:
Hey JB, I'm way too young to have gone but my dad did and many of my uncles, etc and the only 'knife' my dad had been issued was a standard machete. I am a huge Viet Nam afficianado, I won't say fan, but I read and watch every book/documentary I come across, especially about SOG and they claim to have carried either Gerber MKII, Randall model-1's, and I've seen pic in a book of an unidentified knife that does resemble the SOG super bowie that someone carried. Also some of the guys said they had WWII F-S daggers too.
That is a war that every american should know, respect, and mourn. We lost 58,000+ of the best men this country had to offer seeing as how they either volunteered selflessly or got drafted and still did their job to the best of their abilities. I believe though that most of the troops that carried knives were SF as they had to buy them themselves and the average grunts couldn't afford 'custom' knives so unless they brought one from home they went without.

Much love and undying respect goes out to all the troops of the VietNam war who served, died, or never returned...Never Forget the POW/MIA's still out there, dead or alive.
also did any vets, actual carry or issued this "bowie" knife? or was it only a small group of special forces guys? thanks in advance.
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[/QUOTE]

sorry, poorly worded post. i know a good amount about the war from books and such, nothing from personal experience and very little from firsthand accounts. mostly due to the folks i knew and still know who were there, didn't/don't want to talk about it and understandably so. i was alive before saigon fell, but just a little kid pretty much. thanks for the info.
 
I had a good friend and patron that served 1.5 tours in the highlands. He said he carried a Gerber(did not specify model) and always had a machete but just picked them up locally when he wanted one and gave them away in villages or lost them. He spent alot of time in small unit maneuvers.

Bill
 
A bud of mine was Special Forces and was “collocated” in the mountains with the montagnards. Back then Special Forces was very elite, very picky: at the time you had to have a college degree to be in Special Forces. There was even a hit song at the time about Special Forces, I have buds who joined just because of that song.

This is his seven inch recon knife. It is actually the second, the first broke its tip chopping saw grass in the high lands. Bud got this replacement but never really liked the thing.

Notice, it is unmarked.

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You can find more information on real SOG knives here

http://www.militaryfightingknives.com/collection.html

So what did fire eating Bud carry most of the time?, this commercial knife made by Kabar.

Bud said, it cut the bread in the can well. That is why he carried it. He also said it would put a real hurt on someone, but I did not follow up to find out that meant.

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I always find it funny to see the short swords and pry bars that some folks proclaim they need, and then think of Bud's bread cutting knife that he carried under fire for some part of the three tours he spent in Vietnam.
 
USAF, '72-'73. Not a grunt so didn't need a fighting knife but carried a M-7 bayonet sometimes. I had a USAF survival knife and a pilot's switchblade, but they were even more cheaply made than the M-7 so never did carry them. Junk. Quality knives were not sold in the BX/PX during that era. It wasn't until the late '70s or so that good stuff like the Gerber Mark 1 started appearing in the exchanges. (note: The exchanges in Vietnam had a paucity of merchandise. At any rate, the "thing" in those days was cameras and stereos. Shipped home if you were mobile.)
 
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