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vietnam era glasses


agate hunter
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agate hunter

picked these up for $10 the other day. are they vietnam era? on the bottom of the box with the green label it says 12/81. that may be the date, but i don't know. any information would be appreciated.

 

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"12"=Dec and "81"=1981. My analysis of the numbers.

They were still issuing these black glasses well into the 1980's, but I remember seeing the only slightly less hideous brown glasses beginning around 1990. However, they're great for display and are probably identical to Vietnam issue.

 

The paper insert in the first picture is describing goggles with an elastic strap, so I think these glasses just got stuck in that box. Sometime in the mid to late 80's they started issuing eyeglasses without legs, just a wraparound black elastic strap attached to a black frame. I think initially they were issued to Rangers, Airborne, and the like, but eventually the Army figured out they could double as protective mask inserts and allowed anyone to order a pair. (This was in addition to a pair of the more traditional eyeglasses with black or brown plastic frame.) They were mostly worn in the field, or as mentioned, as mask inserts.

 

Bill

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They look exactly like the glasses my dad was issued in 62. Wore them home when discharged in 64. He wore those ugly things until about 1987!

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picked these up for $10 the other day. are they vietnam era? on the bottom of the box with the green label it says 12/81. that may be the date, but i don't know. any information would be appreciated.

 

That green label appears to be a postal service customs form, so I doubt the date on it has any bearing on anything. As was already pointed out, the instructions inside the box don't seem to be describing the spectacles you have, therefore the box probably isn't for those spectacles.

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New Romantic

Here are a pair of Vietnam era issue glasses made from gray transparent plastic. I have these for sale in the For Sale section.

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some people look cool with those glasses especially with a retro hair style

 

but they look terrible on the female recruits! that were also required to wear these

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I was issued them up until 88 or 89 and like them a LOT better than the uncomfortable brown things. The ones we were issued for working the flightline were sunglasses so they became the "in style" when the "wayfarers" came into being.

 

Scott

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  • 1 year later...

I noticed the old GI style eye glasses like they wore in Vietnam and later are actually very popular , trendy, even the most expensive optical shops with designer frames make retro BC /birth control glasses these days

 

Ive been seeing lots of people wear this style , even young women are wearing them now

 

I just ordered a pair from the optometrist office for my new glasses

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... "Birth Control" glasses. They were just plain ugly, but functional. SKIP

The ca. 1963 USAF version was grayish, and not quite so heavy.

 

I'll never forget my pair - they arrived with the ocular measurement marking paint still on the lens.

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They were standard issue in the 70s. I had heard that they were non-conductive and ideal for wear on the flightline. When I met my wife, she said that they guys on the flightline sometimes called them "Oscar Goldmans" after the character in the 6 million dollar man. When I finally had to wear glasses in 1977, I took the pair I was issued and put them in a drawer somewhere, never to bee seen again except for my emergency mobility pack, right next to my perscription lenses for my gas mask. I still have the mask lenses but thankfully, the goldmans have vanished.

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I got them in Jan 80, at Fort Jackson, I only wore them when I went to the range, or when I watched T.V. or went to the movie theater, as you can tell I am Nearsighted. One thing I remember about these was even in the late 70s early 80s these GI glasses had GLASS lenses still, since I wore them everytime I went to the range, no matter what weapon that was to be fired, I seen after nearly 3 years the upper right corner of the right lens had a shattered effect, it was the damnedest thing, this had to be caused by the blow back/concusion of firing M16 rifles and M60 Machine Guns, I can see no other reason than this as the right side of the face rests on the trigger hand, this was especialy true in firing live rounds with the M60. I actually used these glasses on and off for a few years as a spare for my civvie glasses after I got out, but unfortunately threw them away sometime in the 90s, SOULDN"T have done that :(

 

BTW These types started to be the standard issue type sometime in the mid 50s.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 years later...

A MEMO

 

This from the Army Digest of May 1971.

 

I Quote

 

Washington, D.C.-- In January the Army will begin issuing eyeglasses with a

modern, black plastic frame. Eliminated will be the standard Army-gray

frames which have caused off-duty soldiers to be recognized as such even

when wearing civilian clothes. A recent Army-wide survey showed 68 percent

of all EM preferred black frames.

 

(My note: That January date we can assume will mean January of 1972, pretty sure though that stocks of the soon to be superseded gray frames continued to be used a bit more)

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  • 1 year later...
RustyCanteen

I tried to find any clue to when they were first introduced without success. In the 1950s they show up as "Frame, Spectacle (Zylonite)" specification number MIL-F-15075A, with a notation of stock numbers "14-405-020 thru 14-405-068". The spec date is given as "8 May 52". You can google 'Index of Specifications' and find a 1950s or 1960s edition in one of the online libraries.

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