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Salty been to war uniforms


Bob Hudson
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I've had a lot of military utility uniforms pass through my hands, many of them the kinds of uniforms that GI's wore in combat, but very, very seldom did I ever think I had one which was actually worn in combat (with the exception of a few modern day ACU's, etc). Generally, stuff worn in combat in WWII and the Vietnam War seems to have ended up getting trashed at some point because of poor conditon.

 

But, this week I got a batch of stuff, based on the source and condition was likely worn in Vietnam. It is about half-a-dozen tropical combat trousers and one jungle jacket. These all came from the estate of a UDT/SEAL officer who brought home some things that didn't normally returned to the states and these uniform items seem to be among them.

 

One of the most telling points, I think, is the field repairs on some items. I have seen this on old Marine dungarees (HBT's) and it's the peculiar style of sewing where the serviceman keep stitching and stitching and stitching until it looks the clothing was repaired by a very drunk re-weaving specialist:

 

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Besides the field repair, these uniforms have a lot of soiling and I don't think it's from being worn while doing yardcare in the USA: these uniforms have been packed for something like 30 years.

 

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Small holes, apparently from snags, are pretty common on Vietnam era jungle fatigues and ERDL camo and these have them all over, some much larger than norm, including some that would have benefited from the mad stitcher's work:

 

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On this one, it looks like someone removed a pocket:

 

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This is the jungle jacket: it's in pretty good condition compared to the trousers.

 

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I got a few pair of the officers 1960's boots. They all have what may be the dirt of Danang. I know they did not pick up these from the beach at Coronado:

 

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These items were very inexpensive, which is why I bought them despite the poor condition (there were also some related real treasures that I picked up too from this estate).

 

These are ID'ed to different people, including the officer, and are different sizes, so clearly he didn't bring them home to wear. I did not look closely at them when I bought them and thought only that they seemed to be junk, but possibly there might one pair with potential. But, this afternoon I started sorting through them and saw the field repairs. That made me think that these were indeed "as is" from being worn in war. The provenance of them lends support to that theory.

 

Anyway, it's something to ponder and it's certainly different from tropical combat uniforms that normally come my way, the ones that might have small snag or two, but are generally in very clean condition and don't look like they worn for anything but garrison duty.

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In looking at this one pair of trousers I realized there's only one button on the pocket and it has a drain hole on the pocket plus a buckle on the waist adjusters. What pattern or model is this????

 

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In looking at this one pair of trousers I realized there's only one button on the pocket and it has a drain hole on the pocket plus a buckle on the waist adjusters. What pattern or model is this????

 

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BOB

These trousers appear to have the large leg pockets and flaps removed leaving the small left inner pocket intact.

He just modified these for some reason.

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Bob

I should add the trousers look like standard 3rd pattern trousers in rip stop material.

 

The small pocket was intended or designed to hold a survival kit and I have heard it also referred to as a bandage pouch.

 

As for the outer pockets being removed they may have been sewn to a jacket or vest to be used for any multitude of uses.Speaking with some vets it wasnt uncommon to modify a shirt by taking off the front lower pockets so the shirt could be tucked in.

 

I also know a SOG vet who took two sets of trousers to a Vietnamese tailor and had vest made utilizing the lower pockets and the smaller ones as well.The small ones even had side zippers installed when sewn to the front of the vest.

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Smell it Bob , it looks like some one just opened their Hold Baggage (sic) .It should have that in country smell. Musty sweet with a some mildew in it.Whats left of my gear is in a footlocker and every time I open it it's a trip back.Odors are a powerful memory trigger. Thanks for posting . Fraternally Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

As I wrote above, until recently these and an incredible bunch of patched UDT/SEAL uniforms were stashed away in, apparently, a crawl space at a home where he had not lived for 30 years: there were even two signs from a UDT base at Danang. I just happened to stumble across a final estate sale at the house where they had a few things that did not get grabbed up during the first sale. (Most of the sale was frilly tea sets and that sort of thing from the most recent owner of the house). One of our forum members had known about this stash for at least a decade but nothing was available until the sales this summer.

 

The provenance is such that we can be sure that these uniforms didn't get this way from someone wearing them for stateside garden work. :)

 

After Vietnam he was assigned as a senior instructor at BUD/S just a couple miles from the home where I bought these items. Here's his 1969-dated leather boots: I would guess these were worn at BUD/S.

 

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I ended up with most of the stuff from that estate sale. Bob Chatt was very instrumental in making this happen and I can't thank him enough! Like Bob Hudson said, I knew about this stash for at LEAST 10 years or more when I was in contact with the SEAL that all this stuff belonged to but the people who owned the house where that stuff was located were just not interested, God knows I tried to get it thru phone calls and letters over that time period. I even knew where in the the house everything was located. It's a long and drawn out story. Luckily I got most of the stuff that was Vietnam related. Basically all his paperwork, web gear, around 13 patched uniforms and misc uniforms and gear/rucksacks including a CISO rucksack with his name on it. A couple of uniforms and other gear had other guys names on them. He was with UDT13 at the time and was one of the last guys to operate at a place called Frogsville in Da Nang that was operational from 1966 until it closed down in Feb 1971. He was an officer and was one of the guys that operated from UDT Det Hotel in Da Nang. He brought the sign home. It seemed he brought home what was left there in Da Nang, that is probably where the stuff with other guys names come from.

 

He served in Vietnam with UDT 13 then went to SEAL Team One and was supposed to take a platoon, Lima, to Vietnam but after he and an enlisted man went over as an advance party they were sent home after less than a week and further SEAL platoon deployments were stopped. This was late 1971. Mike plt at Ben Luc ended up being the last direct action platoon to operate in VN. Lima was the next platoon slated to go over. He then went back over in 1972 as an LDNN advisor.

 

The sign was the most important thing for me as it was an important part of the UDT history in Vietnam.

 

Here is the sign....

 

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