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

My father was in the Sea Bees, and my Step dad was in the Rangers, my dad carried an MK1 and my step dad carried a Case hunter and a bayonet.
He lost the Case some years before I met him, but we went out and found the same knife..not the same though.
My dad told me his MK1's sheath got burnt and melted on the exhaust of a M113 troop transport, while he road on the top...crazy stories of his life there.
He said he carried it all marred up like that through out.
 
My uncle served in 'Nam and he brought a Bolo (Filipino machete) there among others. He volunteered to return two more times after his first deployment. He had some great stories, some were gruesome. He passed on but the Bolo is still at my cousin's house along with his other vintage blades. I'm sure I can have it but I'm not messing with it, it isn't "clean" if you know what I mean.
 
I did have an M-7 bayonet I carried from time to time, but just as a defense weapon carried in my belt, not as a bayonet per se. It was a pretty cheaply made piece of junk. I also had an issue Camillus electrician's knife that I still have. It was a little better than the bayonet but dulls spreading peanut butter. Also a Camillus pilot's survival knife. Not too bad, but I wouldn't pay a nickel for it.

Virtually all issue knives in that era were lowest bidder junk. The worst was the orange handled pilot's switch blade. Pure junk.

No, knives were not a "thing" for most of us back then. I know I focused on my guns. The hot setup for me was a 1911 and an M3A1. Neither were issued. The issue rifle at the time was the M-16, not then known for reliability. And the issue handgun was the S&W Mod. 15. Great gun, but with the issue puny 130 gr. FMJ ammo, hardly worthy of consideration.

I am heartened that issue weapons and knives are far superior nowadays.
 
Well it looks life has been brought back to life. I hunted with a Vietnam Vet and he carried the same knife he had in the war...a Buck 119.
 
I had 2 k-bars/1 for "dirty work" & 1 for all the other stuff/switch blade /a Camillus pocket knife . I have always had the sharp affliction/I usually always had some kind of blade on me. i also had a local make me a version of the S F tomahawk I still have all of them with me today. xcept the dirty work kbar/traded it on my way back to the world. sorry that I don't have any pictures/ but as I 'm a endangered species/ ( old grunt)I don't know how to post them
stay loose
thanks
K
 
I carried this one. It's a Camillus pilots survival knife. It's a little shorter than the regular Marine K-bar. Most of us were never issued a k-bar, so I "liberated" this from a remf who really had no need for it. The sheath is missing the small sharpening stone & holder.
 
Still get nightmares from that voice announcing the lottery numbers for the draft. Summer of 67 or 68??? In summer camp around 9 years old. All the counsellors, 18 or 19 years old, carried small transistor radios glued to their ears.
Scary stuff when people you look up to are scared silly.
Never forget that and a huge thank you to the vets.....it was THE war for me too.
Joe
 
KSAHN said:
I had 2 k-bars/1 for "dirty work" & 1 for all the other stuff/switch blade /a Camillus pocket knife . I have always had the sharp affliction/I usually always had some kind of blade on me. i also had a local make me a version of the S F tomahawk I still have all of them with me today. xcept the dirty work kbar/traded it on my way back to the world. sorry that I don't have any pictures/ but as I 'm a endangered species/ ( old grunt)I don't know how to post them
stay loose
thanks
K
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The Camillus pilot survival knife was standard issue in my LRP/Ranger company though occasionally they had Camillus kabar style knives in inventory. There was an M-7 bayonet in the supply room for every M-16 in the unit but seldom issued. Lots of guys carried private purchase knives of all descriptions. Buck 119's and Western W49's being very popular. We had a few of those guys that claimed there was no need for a knife in combat too. They were always the first to say "let me have your knife for second." And then usually proceed to break it.
 
My late dad was never in Vietnam, but a next door neighbor of ours back in the late 1970s through the 80s, a lady who was a cop, gave my dad one of those orange-handled Camillus military switchblades that also had a strap-cutting(?) blade at the opposite end. She gave it to him because by then his hands weren't working well enough to open a normal small pocketknife. As far as I know, he never actually carried it (too bulky), but I still have the knife.

At least one cousin of mine saw combat in the Vietnam war, but I would never ask him what knife he carried, because it's a period of his life he refuses to discuss with anyone.

Jim
 
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I was a parachute rigger with the 1st Cav in VN. Our unit didn't do any jumps over there but I had one of the orange switchbades that I think could have used the hooked end to cut lines if you got hung up in a tree although you could detach the risers without having to cut the lines. Originally, the static line was a single thickness strap but by the time I was in it was folded over and sewn and was probably too robust to cut with the switchblade
 
I did four tours in Vietnam with SF (24 years total in US Army SF) , and helobite you NEVER needed a college degree to be in SF. I was a knife nut even then, started out with a TL29 and a British F&S, bought a "Demo Knife" from a black market street vendor in Saigon (Could not get them issued, wonder why?). Next two tours a Ben Hibben Jungle Fighter and Demo knife, last tour a Randal Model 14 (stainless) and a Demo Knife. Had about three Demo Knives break their back springs, finally bought a SAK from Corrado Cutlery after seeing men from CCC, SOG carrying them. Saw lots of Buck 110's, as well as Buck fixed blades, some W-49's, a Drapper or two, even a Moran Bowie. I never saw an EK knife anywhere until about 1986 on Okinawa, had a man who used it to cut open his mail. I also took a John Nelson Cooper for Bianchi bowie and a Gerber MKII to Vietnam, but they rusted too easily so never carried them in the field. Pilot survival knives and KaBars were probably the most common knife I saw in country. John
 
First of all, Thank you all who served in this war...words are not enough.

My father was a door gunner in the war. I remember sitting cross-legged with my brother with great excitement every time my father decided to get out the "ol-bag of knives".. I remember one small metal handled folder that he said was one he carried in the war.
 
greetings all,
had a randall 14 [carbon] that turned into a rust-bucket. blued the thing and was better. too heavy to hump around so mostly, always, had my buck 110. still have the randall but the buck is long gone. best regards to all.
mike
 
brandoak, the door gunners were my heroes, anyone in the shit knows why. :thumbup: My knife, since I carried the XM-177, was not a bayonet; it was a ??? but seemed badass at the time. I believe it was homemade, given to me by a 3rd tour 3rd Ranger Div. who was one of the last of them to leave. Thank God I never had to use it on a human ,though, at the time, I wanted to. :(
 
Here is what the little one looked like....(pic from the web)


And here is another he had in his collection that I don't recall him talking about....but then again he didn't ever talk much about that subject. (pic from the web)
 
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