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“Secret Weapon” cards


Brian Keith
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Brian Keith

 This “Aces of Spades” deck of cards was specially produced by the U. S. Playing Card Company of Cincinnati, OH., and sent to U. S. forces fighting in Vietnam. My buddie has had these for many years.

From the USPC website: “The Ace of Spades served a famous purpose in the war in Vietnam. In February, 1966, two lieutenants of Company "C," Second Battalion, 35th Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, wrote The United States Playing Card Company and requested decks containing nothing but the Bicycle® Ace of Spades. The cards were useful in psychological warfare. The Viet Cong were very superstitious and highly frightened by this Ace. The French previously had occupied Indo-China, and in French fortunetelling with cards, the Spades predicted death and suffering. The Viet Cong even regarded lady liberty as a goddess of death. USPC shipped thousands of the requested decks gratis to our troops in Vietnam. These decks were housed in plain white tuck cases, inscribed "Bicycle® Secret Weapon." The cards were deliberately scattered in the jungle and in hostile villages during raids. The very sight of the Bicycle® Ace card was said to cause many Viet Cong to flee.”

The use of the “Death Card” became widespread during the war and many units printed their own. Army PSYOPS (Psychological Operations) studied the theory of the enemy being afraid of the card and could find no evidence to back up the claim.

          From a Vietnam Veterans web site, we find this: “So why was the ace of spades so popular that some individuals or units actually ordered them from playing card manufacturers to place on the bodies of dead Viet Cong and NVA? The answer seems to be, because the American troops just loved them. Although the cards were allegedly anti-Communist PSYOP, in fact they were really pro-American PSYOP. U.S. troops got a kick out of them and loved the idea of leaving them on bodies. Like wolves, it was a way to mark their territory. It proclaimed them the biggest and “baddest” varmints in the valley of death. The cards motivated and encouraged American troops far more than they terrified the enemy.”

I see you can buy fakes of these from China, be aware.

Thanks for looking.

BKW

 

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Doctorofwar

Hadn’t thought of how they got so many Ace of Spades cards over there- makes sense to have a whole deck full.  PSYOPs works both ways- if it raised American morale it’s still a win!

Thanks for the background and bring this to my attention.  

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Brian Keith

Glad you enjoyed the post! We often know about something, but lack background details. One of the reasons I look at a lot of the various topics here. Like Forrest Gump says, You never know what you are going to get!

Also, the U. S. Playing Card Company also made these during Desert Storm and are so marked at the bottom of the cards.

Regards,

BKW 

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Rakkasan187

Brian,

 

Great information and post.. I seem to recall a topic about the "Death Cards" and if I recall the conversation some believe they were not used in Vietnam but this validates the use of them..

 

Very informative.. thank you

 

Best regards,, stay safe..

 

Leigh

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Brian Keith

Thanks for your comments Leigh,

There is lots of VN war photographic evidence of the Ace of Spades being carried, some on enemy KIA's. Less known is the reasoning behind it. With todays internet resources, it is quite a bit simpler to chase down some information.

Regards,

BKW

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USMarineCorps

Very cool! I would love to have a thread dedicated to kill cards. I have one that was used by the CNTT in Afghanistan.

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