Vietnam Bringback NVA Pith Helmet

[KingsMountainTigers]

I recently acquired this NVA pith helmet and was interested in any opinions or comments regarding this particular helmet. Unfortunately I do not have the name of the veteran that brought it back, but inscribed on the inside of the helmet is the original owner's name as well as what appears to be some type of unit designation. I figured this would be a good post considering that it may be a good research project given the inscriptions. It appears to read: "?ninh Quang Vinh  5058-B-APnam". All comments welcomed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KingsMountainTigers]

After looking at the Vietnamese alphabet it appears this soldier's name was Trinh Quang Vinh.

[doyler]

Great helmet and nice to see an original. 

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

Very nice helmet. "Ấp Nam" means "Nam hamlet". Between an address and a rare family name like Trinh it may be possible to identify the original owner. But 5058 is unusual for an address, typically they would be 3 digits or less, and it can't be postal code as those are 5 digits. 

[KingsMountainTigers]

11 hours ago, Cap Camouflage Pattern I said:

Very nice helmet. "Ấp Nam" means "Nam hamlet". Between an address and a rare family name like Trinh it may be possible to identify the original owner. But 5058 is unusual for an address, typically they would be 3 digits or less, and it can't be postal code as those are 5 digits. 

 

Thanks for the info! That's very interesting. There are a few addresses like that in Vietnam, for example "5058 ấp Nam Lân, Bà Điểm, Hóc Môn, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam", but not sure if that applies. The helmet also has a "-B" and I'm not sure what significance that would have. I wanted to try to research this soldier but I'm not sure if any North Vietnamese KIA rosters exist, if he indeed died in the war. It would be really cool to find his name in a roster somewhere, but I could not find anything online.

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

My friend Nam (who also provided me with the previous info) has gotten back to me with an update after doing more research and asking others for help, including PAVN/VC veterans. 

 

5058B is actually his unit's address in the military postal system, not his home address, which explains why it is 4 digits and also clears up "ấp Nam" (as "ấp" is a southern name for hamlet which isn't common in the North). Ironically using a US intelligence report from the Captured Documents Exploitation Center they found two very close addresses "5055 ấp Nam" for the PAVN 2nd division's engineer battalion and "5062 ấp Nam C" for the 2nd division's transportation battalion. No specific unit for 5058 yet, but it's safe to assume it's part of the 2nd division. 

 

There was one soldier named Trinh Quang Vinh in the 2nd division; he was born in 1950 in Nghĩa Hương commune, Quốc Oai district, Hà Tây province (right outside Hà Nội). In December 1967 he enlisted in the 2nd Company, 1st Battalion (an independent battalion, not part of any regiment), 2nd Division. He died of malaria at field hospital 18 on June 12th 1969. 

 

The 2nd Division operated in the B1 front, which spanned the costal provinces from Quảng Nam to Khánh Hòa, in much of the same area as the RVN/US's II Corps, but starting and stopping a bit farther north than II Corps and excluding the Central Highlands. 

 

With him not being killed or captured by a US unit how exactly it made its way to you is a bit unclear and could use further research. 

[KingsMountainTigers]

31 minutes ago, Cap Camouflage Pattern I said:

My friend Nam (who also provided me with the previous info) has gotten back to me with an update after doing more research and asking others for help, including PAVN/VC veterans. 

 

5058B is actually his unit's address in the military postal system, not his home address, which explains why it is 4 digits and also clears up "ấp Nam" (as "ấp" is a southern name for hamlet which isn't common in the North). Ironically using a US intelligence report from the Captured Documents Exploitation Center they found two very close addresses "5055 ấp Nam" for the PAVN 2nd division's engineer battalion and "5062 ấp Nam C" for the 2nd division's transportation battalion. No specific unit for 5058 yet, but it's safe to assume it's part of the 2nd division. 

 

There was one soldier named Trinh Quang Vinh in the 2nd division; he was born in 1950 in Nghĩa Hương commune, Quốc Oai district, Hà Tây province (right outside Hà Nội). In December 1967 he enlisted in the 2nd Company, 1st Battalion (an independent battalion, not part of any regiment), 2nd Division. He died of malaria at field hospital 18 on June 12th 1969. 

 

The 2nd Division operated in the B1 front, which spanned the costal provinces from Quảng Nam to Khánh Hòa, in much of the same area as the RVN/US's II Corps, but starting and stopping a bit farther north than II Corps and excluding the Central Highlands. 

 

With him not being killed or captured by a US unit how exactly it made its way to you is a bit unclear and could use further research. 

 

That is absolutely incredible! I can't believe that you and Nam were able to find so much information. With that research, this just became the most amazing artifact in my collection. Are there any documents that you can send me pictures of with this information regarding the US intelligence report and the information on Trinh Quang Vinh? I can't tell you how excited I am right now. Thank you so much. Amazing!!!

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

2 hours ago, KingsMountainTigers said:

 

That is absolutely incredible! I can't believe that you and Nam were able to find so much information. With that research, this just became the most amazing artifact in my collection. Are there any documents that you can send me pictures of with this information regarding the US intelligence report and the information on Trinh Quang Vinh? I can't tell you how excited I am right now. Thank you so much. Amazing!!!

 

I'm glad to help, but I can't take any credit, I just knew who to ask. 

 

I did do a little research of my own and found a different CDEC list of addresses that specifically lists 5058 ap Nam. It belongs to the GK33 mortar battalion, which fits nicely as it was a unit of the 2nd Division. 

 

The information on Trịnh Quang Vinh, and I should apologize as I previously omitted the accent mark, came from http://www.nguoiduado.vn/liet-si-theo-don-vi/trinh-quang-vinh-312631.html

The translation is:

Corps: Military Region 5

Unit: 2nd Division

Name: Trịnh Quang Vinh

Birth Year: 1950

Hometown: Nghĩa hưng, Quốc oai, Hà Tây

Date of enlistment: 12/1967

Rank: Corporal 

Unit of enlistment: c2d12f2 (the PAVN method of abbreviating units is A for squad, B for platoon, C for company, and so on, so this is 2nd Company, 12th Battalion [which I'll address after], no regiment, 2nd Division)

Date of death: 12/06/1969 (note that Vietnam, like most of the world, writes dates day/month/year, not month/day/year as we do in the US, so this is 12 June 1969)

Cause of death/Location of burial: Malaria, burial place T18 f2 (T18 f2 means 18th field hospital, 2nd division) 

Relatives: Unknown 

Current burial location: still searching

 

I initially said he was part of the 1st Battalion, as that's what Hai Du Nong, a veteran who helped research this, said. But the website lists his unit as the 12th battalion, which must be a typo as there was no 12th battalion in the 2nd Division. I'm not exactly sure how Nong came to his conclusion, and it may be correct, but after discovering that the postal number is for GK33, another possibility emerges; In order to confuse US intelligence, the PAVN uses a plethora of cover designations, and one of the alternatives for GK33 was 512th battalion. So the typo may have been that the 5 was dropped from the front. Alternatively soldiers were transferred between units for a variety of reasons. 

 

Now one caveat with all this is that like with US soldiers in Vietnam, it is only possible to comprehensively search the names of those who died, not those who lived, so this identification is based on the assumption that the original owner of this helmet was killed, and didn't just lose it somewhere or was captured alive. However I am still fairly confident that this is correct, as Trịnh is a very uncommon surname, for example if you search the site there are only 3 other soldiers named Trịnh Quang Vinh. So to have a matching name, in the same division, and in a timeframe that fits, it's very probably that he is the correct match.

 

It's definitely a very poignant artifact, he would have been only 19 when he died, and doubly so as his remains haven't been recovered, so this may very well be the last physical reminder of his life. The US has 1,584 still MIA, the PAVN/VC have at least 300,000. This massive number is due to a number of factors including the much greater casualties they took, the fact that that they were buried near where they died, either by their fellow soldiers who may have themselves been killed or forgotten the location or buried by the enemy, and the fact they they didn't have dogtags or any other official method of identification. There have been been efforts by US veterans to locate the graves the US dug or to return artifacts like this to their families to bring a sense of closure in place of finding their remains. But neither of these seem applicable in your case with the US veteran unknown and Vinh's relatives being unknown. So just remember to treat it with the upmost respect.   

[KingsMountainTigers]

4 hours ago, Cap Camouflage Pattern I said:

 

I'm glad to help, but I can't take any credit, I just knew who to ask. 

 

I did do a little research of my own and found a different CDEC list of addresses that specifically lists 5058 ap Nam. It belongs to the GK33 mortar battalion, which fits nicely as it was a unit of the 2nd Division. 

 

The information on Trịnh Quang Vinh, and I should apologize as I previously omitted the accent mark, came from http://www.nguoiduado.vn/liet-si-theo-don-vi/trinh-quang-vinh-312631.html

The translation is:

Corps: Military Region 5

Unit: 2nd Division

Name: Trịnh Quang Vinh

Birth Year: 1950

Hometown: Nghĩa hưng, Quốc oai, Hà Tây

Date of enlistment: 12/1967

Rank: Corporal 

Unit of enlistment: c2d12f2 (the PAVN method of abbreviating units is A for squad, B for platoon, C for company, and so on, so this is 2nd Company, 12th Battalion [which I'll address after], no regiment, 2nd Division)

Date of death: 12/06/1969 (note that Vietnam, like most of the world, writes dates day/month/year, not month/day/year as we do in the US, so this is 12 June 1969)

Cause of death/Location of burial: Malaria, burial place T18 f2 (T18 f2 means 18th field hospital, 2nd division) 

Relatives: Unknown 

Current burial location: still searching

 

I initially said he was part of the 1st Battalion, as that's what Hai Du Nong, a veteran who helped research this, said. But the website lists his unit as the 12th battalion, which must be a typo as there was no 12th battalion in the 2nd Division. I'm not exactly sure how Nong came to his conclusion, and it may be correct, but after discovering that the postal number is for GK33, another possibility emerges; In order to confuse US intelligence, the PAVN uses a plethora of cover designations, and one of the alternatives for GK33 was 512th battalion. So the typo may have been that the 5 was dropped from the front. Alternatively soldiers were transferred between units for a variety of reasons. 

 

Now one caveat with all this is that like with US soldiers in Vietnam, it is only possible to comprehensively search the names of those who died, not those who lived, so this identification is based on the assumption that the original owner of this helmet was killed, and didn't just lose it somewhere or was captured alive. However I am still fairly confident that this is correct, as Trịnh is a very uncommon surname, for example if you search the site there are only 3 other soldiers named Trịnh Quang Vinh. So to have a matching name, in the same division, and in a timeframe that fits, it's very probably that he is the correct match.

 

It's definitely a very poignant artifact, he would have been only 19 when he died, and doubly so as his remains haven't been recovered, so this may very well be the last physical reminder of his life. The US has 1,584 still MIA, the PAVN/VC have at least 300,000. This massive number is due to a number of factors including the much greater casualties they took, the fact that that they were buried near where they died, either by their fellow soldiers who may have themselves been killed or forgotten the location or buried by the enemy, and the fact they they didn't have dogtags or any other official method of identification. There have been been efforts by US veterans to locate the graves the US dug or to return artifacts like this to their families to bring a sense of closure in place of finding their remains. But neither of these seem applicable in your case with the US veteran unknown and Vinh's relatives being unknown. So just remember to treat it with the upmost respect.   

 

Thank you so much for your help and for contacting others to discover this soldier's service history. I would never have even dreamed of finding the original owner, but with a team effort the impossible happened. I will definitely treat this helmet with respect and preserve it's history. I plan on framing all this information and making a display specifically on this artifact. As I mentioned, this is now the most incredible item in my collection. 

[KingsMountainTigers]

I have printed out all the information I could gather including what the team gathered, which amounts to about 30+ pages. I'm going to try to do research on the 33rd Mortar BN, but so far I have been unable to find anything on that specific battalion. Here is the display I have made so far.