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Republic of Vietnam War Trophy Certificate and MAS 36 Rifle


Rakkasan187
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Rakkasan187

A unique grouping that I have had for several years that belonged to a 3 War Sergeant Major. He saw action in WW2, Korea and Vietnam. This was one of many items that I purchased at his estate sale years ago. I purchased several of his uniforms, trunks full of documents and other military items to include a double decal Luftwaffe helmet and single decal Heer helmet. This was among the paperwork that I sorted out after going through everything. I thought just purchasing the MAS 36 rifle was nice, but this certificate was a definite bonus.

 

I have never seen or heard of these certificates being given to our Soldiers when they left Vietnam.

 

Going through the Sergeant Major's Items I do believe he was a logistics SGM on the Joint General Staff and hence his Vietnamese counterpart or someone he worked with gave him this certificate and weapon.

 

The certificate is hard card stock and printed in English and Vietnamese. The English translation reads as follows:

 

CERTIFICATE AWARD OF WARTROPHY WEAPON:

 

The Joint General Staff Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces awards to: Thuoc Bo TTM/P1 (Which I am in the process of translating but imagine it is Sergeant Major) a weapon, model MAS-36 made by Communist Block; for a souvenir of your tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. It is dated 03/1971.

 

In the top right corner is the South Vietnamese Flag and Republic of Vietnam, Ministry of Defense, Joint General Staff RVNAF, Central Logistics Command.

 

What is ironic is that the MAS 36 rifle was made by France but they list it as a Communist Block weapon. This was a French weapon, obviously captured by the Viet Minh (Viet Cong), pressed into service with the VC and then captured by RVN or US Forces.

 

The rifle is in very good condition, and I am assuming that sometime after the SGM left Vietnam he had the weapon restored. It looks reblued and the wood was revarnished. It has all matching serial numbers and the spike bayonet is also included. It also came with several rounds. I took a picture of the primer end and could make out one number 35. Not sure if this is the date of the ammo or not.

 

A rather unique war trophy with an even rarer certificate to accompany it.

 

Leigh

 

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Rakkasan187

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Comments welcome and if you should have similar certificates from Vietnam for war trophy's, please feel free to post them here.

 

Thanks

 

Leigh

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Rear echelon soldiers in the Saigon area, mostly higher ranking officers and NCO's, had no easy means to get a captured weapon to bring home. They were able to apply to get a weapon from one of the two Saigon area arms warehouses that kept stores of weapons just for this purpose. These weapons were mostly 98k's and MAS 36's, but sometimes other types were available. These weapons were issued with full sets of capture papers and certificates such as you have, and were a Vietnamese way of saying "thanks for your service to our country".

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Rakkasan187

Rear echelon soldiers in the Saigon area, mostly higher ranking officers and NCO's, had no easy means to get a captured weapon to bring home. They were able to apply to get a weapon from one of the two Saigon area arms warehouses that kept stores of weapons just for this purpose. These weapons were mostly 98k's and MAS 36's, but sometimes other types were available. These weapons were issued with full sets of capture papers and certificates such as you have, and were a Vietnamese way of saying "thanks for your service to our country".

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Leigh

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Very Cool Leigh and thanks for posting

 

Thanks Badash for the addition info as well.

 

I agree its had a bit of a restore job but not uncommon.I have a Type 53 carbine w/capture papers from the 101st.It had a bit of grenade-mortar-bullet damage to it.The vet filled the holes and varnishe the areas and hung it above his mantle for display.The MAS I have and other items typically have little to no finnish or varnish on the wood.My MAS 36 has a nice trophy tag from the 4th ID.The vet had removed it at one time for some reason then replaced it prior to my obtaining the rifle.

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I agree, many vets did "restore" their bringback weapons. I have several, among them an RPG-2 from a USMC vet and a luger from an Air Force vet. The Marine brought back a plethora of items, and on the RPG he sanded the bamboo and covered it with shellac, and then painted the metallic parts. It is still beautiful and I love it. The luger was unfortunately refinished and pimp shined. A lot of the combat character was lost

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  • 5 years later...

Not to hijack this thread...but curious for your opinions....

 

I came across a Nam vet who has a battle damaged SKS...it has two or three shrapnel dings in the stock, and one glancing hit on the barrel. Hypothetically, still a functional weapon with a cool look. He had his dogtags looped around the trigger guard...and the whole thing was eye-appealing.

 

He claimed he had talked to folks previously about selling it...and he wanted around 1K for it. Seemed high to me...but still definitely cool. Curious what you guys think....

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Not to hijack this thread...but curious for your opinions....

 

I came across a Nam vet who has a battle damaged SKS...it has two or three shrapnel dings in the stock, and one glancing hit on the barrel. Hypothetically, still a functional weapon with a cool look. He had his dogtags looped around the trigger guard...and the whole thing was eye-appealing.

 

He claimed he had talked to folks previously about selling it...and he wanted around 1K for it. Seemed high to me...but still definitely cool. Curious what you guys think....

 

$1k is a bit tall for this (esp if it doesn't have docs) but in an overall collection of VN weapons it is nice to have a battle damaged example. If he's stuck on that price I'd try to get some throw ins - a true description of the action, a photo of him in country, a patch or jungle jacket, etc.

 

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I would have to agree that 1,000 is a little steep. I would be more in the 500 price range without papers or proof..

 

Leigh

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