WW2 USMC Hospital Corpsmans Knife

[EBS]

 

These bolo style knives were issued to navy corpsmen serving with US marines in ww2. They were also issued to one marine in every fire team. This example is salty, but it was my latest acquisition so that's why I'm making a quick post about it. The scabbard is an early example, marked "US" and dated 1942. After 1942 Boyt started marking these with "USMC" instead. The scabbard also has 2 brass rivets at the throat, which is slightly more desirable than the later 3 rivet ones. This blade has some old sharpening with a lot of patina. It has 4 small steel rivets in the handle and there is a crack down the middle of one of the wooden grips. The manufacture is Chatillon, which made 3 of the 10 variants of these knives. Not too much more to say about this, they are pretty simple knives, but each variant has a lot of slight differences, so they can be fun to collect. 

[mikedon]

They are an impressive knife.

[Doctorofwar]

I also have a Chatillon in a “US 42” sheath. I agree they are an impressive blade. 
I have heard some speculation that in 1942 the sheaths were only marked US instead of USMC because there was some consideration for these to become an issue item to other services.  Does anyone have any further on this theory?  

[EBS]

12 minutes ago, Doctorofwar said:

I also have a Chatillon in a “US 42” sheath. I agree they are an impressive blade. 
I have heard some speculation that in 1942 the sheaths were only marked US instead of USMC because there was some consideration for these to become an issue item to other services.  Does anyone have any further on this theory?  

Its possible but I would think if that was the case then they would have marked the blades with US as well during 1942? 

[Doctorofwar]

3 minutes ago, EBS said:

Its possible but I would think if that was the case then they would have marked the blades with US as well during 1942? 

That is a hood point that I have wondered about, however the sheath maker was different than the blade maker so it they would have been presumably different contracts. Also, although uncommon, I read some were made with unmarked blades- not sure at point in production they were turned out.  
 

Ancillary theory that just dawned on me, could the sheaths have been considered as a substitute replacement for 1917CT bolos that were being reissued early in WW2?  Sheaths and scabbards often wore out prior to the blades and often replacements were needed- such as M1917 bayonet scabbards being issued for M1905 bayonets in WW2.  I just tried a M1917 bolo in my Boyt 42 scabbard and it’s an acceptable fit. (Pic attached)

 

[EBS]

1 hour ago, Doctorofwar said:

That is a hood point that I have wondered about, however the sheath maker was different than the blade maker so it they would have been presumably different contracts. Also, although uncommon, I read some were made with unmarked blades- not sure at point in production they were turned out.  

Thats a good point about the different contracts! I think that the unmarked ones were late war, I think they were the second to last variation. 

1 hour ago, Doctorofwar said:

 

Ancillary theory that just dawned on me, could the sheaths have been considered as a substitute replacement for 1917CT bolos that were being reissued early in WW2?  Sheaths and scabbards often wore out prior to the blades and often replacements were needed- such as M1917 bayonet scabbards being issued for M1905 bayonets in WW2.  I just tried a M1917 bolo in my Boyt 42 scabbard and it’s an acceptable fit. (Pic attached)

 

Thats a good theory! The 1917CT bolos would have been issued during early ww2 and replacement sheaths would have been eventually needed for some of them, by then being in the time frame that the new sheaths were being issued. I guess that means that a 1917CT bolo with a scabbard for the ww2 hospital corpsmans bolo would be a plausible original pair! 

[mikedon]

16 hours ago, Doctorofwar said:

I also have a Chatillon in a “US 42” sheath. I agree they are an impressive blade. 
I have heard some speculation that in 1942 the sheaths were only marked US instead of USMC because there was some consideration for these to become an issue item to other services.  Does anyone have any further on this theory?  

A couple of sentences from a Frank Trzaska June 2003 Knife World article:

"The scabbards were all marked on the back with “Boyt” and the date of manufacture; 42, 43, 44, or 45. The 42-manufactured piece did not have the USMC over Boyt marking, but did have “US / Boyt / 42.” Why the Marines did­n’t catch that earlier is a mystery."