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USMC NAM Camo Poplin Shirt


72newport
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Picked this up at the salvation army today. I know nothing about USMC stuff and usually don't collect it, but grabbed this and an OD 107 utility shirt (both USMC) Is this collectible or just run of the mill? Thanks folks! Mark think.gif

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bravo_2_zero

what you have there is a 1969 made ERDL shirt from the Vietnam War period. It's lime based and worth around $40 (on eBay) in the condition it is in.

 

as for collector , it's pretty run of the mill in that condition unless in a large or x-large regular size.

 

Eric

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what you have there is a 1969 made ERDL shirt from the Vietnam War period. It's lime based and worth around $40 (on eBay) in the condition it is in.

 

as for collector , it's pretty run of the mill in that condition unless in a large or x-large regular size.

 

Eric

Thanks! Nope..small regular.
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I have only seen one picture of troops in Vietnam with ERDL shirts with the USMC logo on the packet, The USMC stamp is post war. but the shirt is not! for all we know that shirt could have seen action in Nam and then reused later,

 

Great find!

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EGA & USMC stencils are usually post Vietnam. Or very late war period.

 

Why would the Marines have not stenciled them? They had been putting EGA's on all of their utilities for a long time - why would it be any different with ERDL? I checked the photos of ERDL shirts I've found the past few years (I live next to Camp Pendleton) and I found one without an EGA - it was dated 1969 but I also had some 1969 ones with the EGA (I have not yet found a 1968 dated ERDL shirt). Does anyone know when they Marines started wearing ERDL in Vietnam? The last Marine ground units left in April 1971 so I would imagine that most Marine wear of ERDL in Vietnam was late war.

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Why would the Marines have not stenciled them? They had been putting EGA's on all of their utilities for a long time - why would it be any different with ERDL? I checked the photos of ERDL shirts I've found the past few years (I live next to Camp Pendleton) and I found one without an EGA - it was dated 1969 but I also had some 1969 ones with the EGA (I have not yet found a 1968 dated ERDL shirt). Does anyone know when they Marines started wearing ERDL in Vietnam? The last Marine ground units left in April 1971 so I would imagine that most Marine wear of ERDL in Vietnam was late war.

 

 

A friend of mine served with a USMC helicopter/aviation unit.I will check with him I believe he was in Viet Nam 1970-71 period and was issued the ERDLs.He still has some mint sets.

 

RON

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Why would the Marines have not stenciled them? They had been putting EGA's on all of their utilities for a long time - why would it be any different with ERDL? I checked the photos of ERDL shirts I've found the past few years (I live next to Camp Pendleton) and I found one without an EGA - it was dated 1969 but I also had some 1969 ones with the EGA (I have not yet found a 1968 dated ERDL shirt). Does anyone know when they Marines started wearing ERDL in Vietnam? The last Marine ground units left in April 1971 so I would imagine that most Marine wear of ERDL in Vietnam was late war.

 

 

That a very good question, but I have to agree with Andrei.

 

He is basing his statment on the avaliable photographic evidence.

 

As for myself I have yet to see a picture of a Marine in Vietnam with a USMC Stencil on their ERDLs.

Buy the way I'd love to see a picture of it, so guys, if you have any pics please post them. thumbsup.gif

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All of mine are marked. Including the one I got from a USN corpsman.. It's make sense as my utilities all have the same stencil..My complete set came from a friend's X father in law.. He was only in during Nam, 69-70..Don't know why he'd not have had it on before he came back..

 

Fins.

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one reason I think the MARINES didnt usually stencil their uniform with the globe and anchor in VN is probably because they used field depot facilities for laundry and by not marking them with a USMC stencil they could use any uniform from the field depot laundry.

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one reason I think the MARINES didnt usually stencil their uniform with the globe and anchor in VN is probably because they used field depot facilities for laundry and by not marking them with a USMC stencil they could use any uniform at the field depot laundry.

 

I have purchased OD utilities and green tropical combat shirts direct from Marine Vietnam veterans (and these were uniforms that had been to war) and they always had the EGA on them. It's just hard to imagine why - after putting EGA's on all their combat utlitilies dating back to HBT's, they would not do it for ERDL's.

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Check the pics mates. Stencils are on OGs and jungle greens at the beginning of the war and they disappear on the ERDLs.

I must have somewhere one pic of a Marine wearing an ERDL set with stencils by 1972 in Vietnam.

I am sure that our Devil Dogs will have the answer.

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Perhaps those stencils were only applied just before or after a marine returned to the US, when he was likely to stay with that particular sets of fatigues?

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

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I can't speak to Vietnam, but I was issued those ERDL utility uniforms on Okinawa in 1976. The uniforms NEVER came with the EGA, we had to apply them ourselves. We had to buy the iron ons in the PX, cut them up in to 3 pieces and then iron them on ourselves.

 

I think, the reason why you might see the EGAs on the early OG uniforms is because early on, Marines going to Vietnam stopped in Okinawa and got thier Vietnam issue and orientation there. After a few days there, they were then sent off to Vietnam. This few days before deployment gave them time to attend to their gear and the little details like ironing on the EGAs.

 

I understand that later on in the war guys went directly to Vietnam and as the new Cammo uniforms came in they were issued in Vietnam. I don't think they had a lot of time in country to bother tracking down a PX that had the iron ons, then looking for an iron and somewhere to plug it in. I think the just wore them as issued.

 

Just my 2 cents

 

Dennis

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Guys, I have to agree with Andrei and Mr X, I have owned several photo albums from Marines based in Vietnam, and have looked at hundreds of pics. These stenciled ERDLs never appear on photos. The pic above, from a Combined Action Platoon, is the only one I have ever seen with a stencilled ERDL worn in Vietnam. And I have been interested in this question for 15 years! The stencil shown above seems to be privately applied.

It seems that the Corps stopped using these stencils on the jungle jackets (both OD and ERDL) in Vietnam, but for some reason continued to apply them on OG107s. I guess this policy changed after the war, and all the remaining ERDL stocks were added stencils, probably around 1977. The late 70's pics show these stencilled ERDLs worn in large quantities by the Corps.

Anyway, all these USMC ERDL jackets you see on ebay have modified post-war. If you want a good ERDL jacket for a Vietnam Marine impression, you have to go for the non-stencilled ones, which are much rarer indeed.

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ERDL Camo was First issued (in Vietnam in mid-1968), & those first ERDL were for AIR FORCE Security Air Base Guards, & Dog Handlers. Next shipment: ARMY Infantry & Air Cav.. Since earliest ERDL Marine issue are Dated 1969 > that's probably the first year issued to U.S.M.C.. Also, OD & ERDL Jungle uniforms were ONLY for wear IN Vietnam (nowhere else).

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It's the name of a green turtle in a children's story... ERDL the Turtle!

 

Sorry, couldn't resist!

 

It stands for US Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory.

 

According to Shelby Stanton's US Army Uniforms of the Vietnam War, the pattern was actually introduced as early as 1948.

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teufelhunde.ret
I think, the reason why you might see the EGAs on the early OG uniforms is because early on, Marines going to Vietnam stopped in Okinawa and got their Vietnam issue and orientation there. After a few days there, they were then sent off to Vietnam. This few days before deployment gave them time to attend to their gear and the little details like ironing on the EGAs.

 

Dennis

 

Exactly, anyone who went thru staging in late 69 were issued these, as supplies of sateens were dried up they went to FMF forces and finally garrison and recruit depot. And by the way they were crappy, quality control issues, often ill-fitting and you seldom got more than a years worth of wear as they frayed horribly around the collar and pocket flaps and holes would develop out of nowhere.

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  • 4 months later...

Hello, I find two images about the use of USMC stamps:

1.- From the book Warriors of the Sea : Marines of the Second Indochina War. Pag 48. In the right Brigadier General E.J.Miller Commanding General,9th Marine Amphibious Brigade, June 1972. Hue. Sorry for the bad image.

86960494.jpg

 

 

2.-I don´t know where i found this image, I am not sure if the guy on the right have an ERDL or post-war shirt...

hatten2.jpg

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