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Starting Over- My small but growing Special Forces collection


37thguy
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Oh man i love those spot camo caps!...what are they called exactly?..of course the tiger caps are nice too but the spot camos are ultra cool...mike

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Beau-Brummel

Hey Mike, glad you like them.

 

This particular type is the Beo Gam. (Or tiger) ‘patrol cap’, seen in wear by indigenous personnel and US SF early on in the war.

 

Yours, Guy.

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Beau-Brummel

The caps are the child of the Japanese WW2 combat cap and the US KW era cap.

 

 

Guy !!!

2 mate 2 !!

U dog.

 

 

Thanks O ?

 

 

 

owen

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  • 4 weeks later...

My latest on line buy. Dress Greens IDd to Lt. Colonel Walter Nelms. Bought it stripped except for the sewn on patches. Came right from the Estate Sale at his home, in Hopewell, VA. There are two interviews with him on line. One is a written account, the other a nice audio one. he mentions that when he got home, he took everything off the uniform and put everything in a case.

 

I have put on a few things that I know it would have had, and still looking for a few other things I know he wore. Needs ARVN, Lao, and Thai jump wings yet. Big problem is finding out the correct ribbons he wore. The son is on FB and Ive contacted him a few times but I get no response. Im sure he has a photo or the awards case that has all of his fathers insignia/awards/ribbons. Sure wish he'd contact me.

 

He retired a Lt Col. but I'm restoring this to when he was a Major. He served with the 5th, 7th, 8th, and 46th Special Forces at various times. He served in the States, Thailand, Laos, SVN, and I believe Cambodia? He enlisted in 1948, and presumably retired in the mid 70s? I know he was in Thailand until spring of '73 as he was with the 46th then.

 

Im very happy to have this and hope that one day I can fully restore it to its previous look.

 

If anyone can help with the info Im searching for it would be greatly appreciated.

 

PS the beret is NOT his.

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Interestingly enough, the Ebay seller contacted me about 3 weeks after selling this and had run down more of his military stuff. Turns out there was a lot of stuff being offered at the Estate Sale that he missed.

 

This included some Green Beret mags from the 60s, various books/booklets photos, and supposedly some of his fatigues/ Jungle jackets etc. The sign pictured above was offered to me and then the picture of it in front of him was found a few days later. It is so cool to have both the sign AND a pic of it on his desk in Thailand. (see the close up of the beret painting below)

 

If anyone in the Richmond Va area knows of or sees anything related to Nelms being sold, please dont hesitate to contact me via PM. Id like to get everything of his back together.

 

Heres another pic of him riding in a chopper. This was the pic used in his Obit.

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From the obit:

 

 

He began his military career in 1948 with the Army National Guard while in college. From there, he went on to become a Ranger, Master Parachutist, and a proud member of the U.S. Army Special Forces. Known throughout the Special Forces as a "soldier's soldier," he served four tours of duty in Southeast Asia (Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand) during the Vietnam War. He was awarded two Bronze Star Medals, a Meritorious Service Medal, an Air Medal, and numerous other awards and commendations.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 5 months later...

Another new Green Beret for me. Picked it up last night at a collectors show. It was arranged for pick up having seen it 2 weeks ago at a prior show. Didnt buy it then, but then I started thinking about it and decided to take a chance on it. I bought the beret, not "the story" or rather "paid" for the beret not "the story". Here though is the story......

At the SOS this past February, a woman walked in with this beret and was offering it for sale as her Uncles beret. She even had a few pages downloaded off of the internet to show provenance. She claimed that it was her Uncles, 1st Lt. Paul D Potter, the only Officer to be KIA during that terrible raid 23 August, 1968 at FOB #4, where 17 SF soldiers were KIA.
While I am a trusting soul, one always wonders if the story is indeed true? I'm into it for what this beret would cost "as is" so I won't be out anything if I cannot prove this story. From the seller I found out that he believed that both Bob Chatt & Jason Hardy both looked this over. I believe at the time she was just asking more than they wanted to pay. Perhaps again the price was to too high based on trying to prove the story. By the time the Niece left the show it sounds as if she was a bit disgruntled and ended up selling it to the guy I bought it from and a considerable reduction. The buyer did not get any info from the Niece other than the paperwork/research she had downloaded. He did say that she mentioned driving 45 minutes to get to the show, that she was probably in her early to mid 50s, and seemed genuine. These are the only things I have to start my research on finding her. If I can prove indeed that this was Lieutenant Potters Beret, it would be a great addition to my collection and I would be honored to be its current caretaker.
I will start by looking up the US Census records to find out Potters siblings. Obviously if he had a niece he had a sibling. The strikes are against me though as there are three choices for names as I see it:
1- She still carries the name Potter. ( I may have a chance)
2- She has her mothers married name (Slim chance)
3- She's married and has a different name (Almost no
chance)
If anyone happens to know, has stayed in touch with Potters family I would love to hear from you. Also anyone who could help me in the research and finding of the Niece that too would be of great help. This beret and Lt Potters memory deserve to live on and what a great way to honor him by having and revering his beret.
Also I have a question regarding the Lt bar. It appears to be to be a "sta-brite" style insignia? Can anyone tell me when these started showing up? The Lt bar is missing the clutches but there were some on there as they left the circular marks. The beret itself is dated '67 so that jibes as well since he was KIA in '68.
Until then, I will "attribute" this to him. If nothing more ever gets discovered so be it, I will still be happy to have it.
Here ae a few pics:

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 5 months later...

This arrived yesterday. I know Field Jackets aren't a big deal to most collectors, nor to me either, unless nicely made and ID'd, but as I have had an SF Enlistedmans M-51 for awhile I've had hopes of pairing that up one day with a nice Officers jacket. That opportunity came last Sunday on the 'Make a Deal' FB page. I made a few offers and was accepted. Whilst going back and forth on that, I decided to post his name on one of the Vietnam vets sites I belong to. Guys that were there and may have served with him. Not only did several guys there know and serve with him, but he was a member of the site as well. With-in 20 minutes of buying the jacket I was talking to the original wearer, Colonel (Ret), then 1st Lt., John Erskine, 5th SF. Two tours in Vietnam, first as a 1st Lt., (this jacket) 1st Gp, then as a Capt. in the 5th Gp. As you might imagine he was flabbergasted to see this from out of the blue from over 50 years ago. He was even more surprised to find outfit had journeyed all the way to NJ. When I asked if he could confirm it was indeed his, he told me what size it should be, which, the seller confirmed. I was a bit concerned that it was new looking and was still a 1st Looeys rank. He explained that when leaving Okinawa someone had stolen it.

So I present to you the Field Jacket of then, 1st Lt, John Erskine, 1st Special Forces Group.

BTW... He sent me several digital pics of him in country, training, etc. One of those is his final qualifying jump for his wings.....in this very jacket!

Here is his quote to me via Email....."I did find one photo of me wearing the field jacket and you can clearly see the name tag. It was taken after my final qualifying jump in jump school on Okinawa. LTCOL Dawson, Dep CDR, 1st SF Gp, is congratulating me and pinned on my wings. Oki was the only place it got cold enough to wear a field jacket, I guess. Not wearing one in any of my Viet Nam photos! "

 

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