Jason_Hardy Posted June 27, 2020 Share #1 Posted June 27, 2020 Some ten years ago I contacted the veteran John Gunnison in reference to his time on a Recon Team (RT Sickle) out of Command and Control South (CCS). The veteran had confirmed his time on the team and verified that RT Sickle was in fact comprised of Chinese Nungs. He went on to inform me that after US led teams were forbidden to enter Cambodia in June 1970 he was transferred to Command and Control Central (CCC), Recon Company, and reformed Recon Team Iowa using his former RT Sickle indigenous personnel. John went on to confirm the team created a patch shortly afterwords explained its meaning and provided a scan of a patch for the book. The patch provided was a nice Taiwanese machine embroidered piece that we used in my books: MAC V SOG: Team History of a Clandestine Army, Volume II and US Army Special Forces Insignia Of The Vietnam War, The MAC V SOG Recon Teams. Last month his widow contacted me to advise that John Gunnison had passed away on March 21, 2020 and that she had sent me a parcel. In the box was his memorabilia from his time in the service to include a Vietnamese hand embroidered Recon Team Iowa patch that was probably used to have the Taiwanese versions manufactured (and Yes I paid the widow for the items). Moral to the story, although he was involved in the creation of the insignia, to a vet a patch is a patch and I never asked if he had any others. It is us as collectors / historians who get into these details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kammo-man Posted June 28, 2020 Share #2 Posted June 28, 2020 A work of artOwen Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted June 28, 2020 Share #3 Posted June 28, 2020 Beautiful patch and thanks for the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOG RT Mamba Posted August 26, 2020 Share #4 Posted August 26, 2020 Thanks Jason, for sharing the Story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcollector Posted August 30, 2020 Share #5 Posted August 30, 2020 A premium example of patch porn. Thank you Jason for posting it. That’s one of the things I love about this hobby – an item that can be tied to a specific historical time and place, and when it is identified to an individual that’s first class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Hardy Posted August 31, 2020 Author Share #6 Posted August 31, 2020 I have always enjoyed the back story to the pieces. If not for us historians so much history would be lost. Jason Hardy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tspike Posted March 16, 2021 Share #7 Posted March 16, 2021 Thank you so much for sharing a piece of my uncle John's history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Hardy Posted March 16, 2021 Author Share #8 Posted March 16, 2021 John was a great guy, I interviewed him years ago for a publication I wrote. I am glad I was able to purchase his grouping. Jason Hardy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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