Bob Hudson Posted May 18, 2012 Share #1 Posted May 18, 2012 Picked this up from the veteran who is shown in the photo below (actually a newspaper article sent to his hometown newspaper by the Air Force. He says the hat is the same one in the photo (minus the patches). I also have a framed copy of the art for the unit logo (I got the hat and article last week but got the art from him a couple months and need to remember where I put it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share #2 Posted May 18, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rr01 Posted May 18, 2012 Share #3 Posted May 18, 2012 Interesting, the "Made In USA" label must mean he was issued the hat prior to departure to Vietnam. Very good piece. I still have the early newspaper articles from when Air Force deaths in Vietnam were a very rare occurance. Might the vet be able to let you know if his pistol was a local acquisition or an issue item. Minor detail but still an interesting thing to know more about how things were then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted May 18, 2012 Share #4 Posted May 18, 2012 The Hat in the photo appears to be the general in country made type with the large aluminum vents and recessed crown.There is as distinctive ridge you can see.Crown is rounded on the pictured one and the patched one forms more of a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Signor Posted May 18, 2012 Share #5 Posted May 18, 2012 sorry but I think it's two distinctly different hats , the paper photo has a more "flat" top look than the one with the patches on it .......................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share #6 Posted May 18, 2012 sorry but I think it's two distinctly different hats , the paper photo has a more "flat" top look than the one with the patches on it .......................................... That has been my feeling too - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M60 Driver Posted May 18, 2012 Share #7 Posted May 18, 2012 Hat is a commercial product made by Broner, a hat company I still purchase from in my store for hats. Broner sells to many surplus stores. I use to sell the same hat in my own stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rr01 Posted May 18, 2012 Share #8 Posted May 18, 2012 It's still a very nice donation even if my first look was before I put on my glasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted May 18, 2012 Share #9 Posted May 18, 2012 The guy must be a member of "The Underage Veteran's Association" because he can't be more than 10 or 11 years old in this photo....looks like me when I use to dress up and play army as a kid!! Darby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted May 18, 2012 Share #10 Posted May 18, 2012 Also this is a perfect example of a Vet telling you one thing.....and that thing ain't right! And the Vet supplied the proof that it ain't right! Darby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rr01 Posted May 18, 2012 Share #11 Posted May 18, 2012 Also this is a perfect example of a Vet telling you one thing.....and that thing ain't right! And the Vet supplied the proof that it ain't right!Darby I'm personally okay with a 65 y/o guy having a lapse on something like this, heck it could have been me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted May 18, 2012 Share #12 Posted May 18, 2012 I agree its still a nice hat and I figure he wore it as a veterans hat.Placing all his insignias on it from his service.The closer I look at the photo Im thinking a camo ERDL pattern hat.I see some black/dark lines too.looks like he wearing an in country holster rig too which was popular to have made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st Sgt CES Posted May 18, 2012 Share #13 Posted May 18, 2012 After looking at the photo-his name tag is over the pocket-his US Air Force tag has something below it as it is not touching the top of the pocket -- not regulation---can anyone see what this is ? Looks like all patches are US made ---just my two cents--Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted May 19, 2012 Share #14 Posted May 19, 2012 Some may have a lapse of memory and some may not. Several years ago I was in the Officers Club at Memphis Naval Air Station....now the Navy Bureau of Personel or something like that. This guy had on a nice G-1 jacket and I commented that he should sell it to me. He said he couldn't sell the jacket because it was issued to him in 1942 when he was a crewman on a Navy PBY. The only problem was the jacket was a 1960's era jacket. I could tell that without him having to take it off. Well I didn't want to say anything but I did......I said it's a nice jacket but you didn't wear it in 1942.....43.......44...,...or 45. Of course he looked at me with the most startled look I had seen in a while. He asked me basically why I would say something like that and I told him. Even asked him to take the jacket off and I showed him the nomenclature tag. And the date and the other differences in a post war jacket and a WWII jacket. He argured for a while and I apologized to him. Said I was sorry but that jacket isn't WWII. He then admitted that sometime after the war he gave his jacket to his younger brother then some years later he decided he wanted it back.....so he said his brother gave it back. I explained that his brother had either sold the jacket or otherwise discarded it along the way and replaced it with this one when you asked for it back. "No" he said,"This is my jacket!" a month later I saw him again and that time he was prepared for me. He had photos of him in WWII with a G-1 on. He said look at these photos! This is me with my jacket on! I said nice pictures.....but that isn't the jacket you have on. Yeah I made an enemy. I didn't mean to but wanted to help him in case he gave it to a grandson or other family member.....donated it to a museum.....whatever. He needed to know what it was. That's my point with my remark above. Some cases have nothing to do with memory lapse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skio Posted May 19, 2012 Share #15 Posted May 19, 2012 The hat looks to be the one you can buy from the Air Commano Assn website. IMO this is one he wore at the reunions they have every year. The ACA patch is also available on the site as is the exact same tab. Did not see a 34th TG patch for sale but every period one I have seen is Viet hand made (not to say a emb one does not exist!). Another thing on the hat, my Father in Law had several of these in his effects when he passed away. All had the official govt tag in them. We even have some pictures of him modeling the hat and rip stop green fatigues for some high muckity mucks when they first came out. He doesn't look real happy in those photos. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted May 20, 2012 Share #16 Posted May 20, 2012 That 34 TG patch on the hat is a recent SEA copy. Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rr01 Posted May 20, 2012 Share #17 Posted May 20, 2012 That's my point with my remark above. Some cases have nothing to do with memory lapse. Well, there is memory lapse and then there is memory lapse. If it's his memory then it isn't really my place to make it any different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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