VN Correspondent

[Pfc-Grunt]

I am 50 years old ihis June and maybe getting a little bit long in the tooth for a grunt. And I do not think portraying a senior officer is for me............................................Soooo I thought that I could put together a `war correspondent` look.

Photo`s please of patches and other items that I would need to achieve the look and where to get the items. I already have the `combat` kit including webbing.

Thanks.

[willysmb44]

The problem with a VN era correspondent impression is that they didn't stick out like the WW2 ones did. Hardly any of them wore any insignia to show who they were, most just carried civilian stuff and many weren't armed (although a lot more of them were armed than the ones in WW2 were) because everyone pretty much accepted that Charlie wasn't going to take their "non-combatant" status into account if they got close enough...

So a correspondent in many cases would look like a grunt.

[Pfc-Grunt]

Okay,

But how about name tags Would they have worn correspondent or similar instead of U.S. ARMY?

[Corpl. Cleaver]

Hey,

 

My brother was fortunate to be introduced online to Stanton Pratt, who was an Army Signal Corps combat photographer. Here is a copy of two emails my brother sent and Stanton's replies.

 

"Mine was an interesting tour as I arrived there just prior to the big build up. As I arrived in country the only Army combat force in the country was the 173rd Abn. Bde soon to be followed by the 101 in Brigade strength and then the 1st Calv and the 1st and 4th., Infantry Divisions and oh yes, I forgot the 25th Division. Anyway at the time of my arrival my unit supplied photo coverage and support for all Army operations in the theater of operations. This gave all photographers priority flight orders that would take us any where in country and bump nearly anyone else from a seat to make that happen. Our operations included everything from awards ceremonies to ground combat coverage and a whole lot in between. During my tour I did a little of each ranging from combat missions with the 173rd, 101st, 5th group, and an assortment foreign units including Koreans, New Zealanders and Australians and also the Vietnamese. Other assignments included Bob Hope, John Wayne, Jo Collins and other celebrity tours. Even photographed a wedding between senior officers. When in the field we wore no rank insignia. Uniform was fatigues or jungle fatigues if we had them and either a steel pot or a bush hat. As to a firearm, that ran the range of things as well. At fires we were issued speed graphics and M-14's. This did not last long we were soon issued .45's and 120 Yashica Mat's. I carried an M-1 Carbine for much of my tour in addition to the .45, later replacing it with an M16.

What dates were you in-country, and did you do more than one tour? June 65 June 66

 

What unit were you in (what photo unit)? 593rd Signal Photo

 

You said you didn't wear insignia, but did you wear a unit shoulder patch? Did you have the colorful insignia, or the subdued patches? What was your rank? I was a PFC when I arrived in country and a SP4 when I left. We usually wore the MACV patch and at that time most were colored. I was attached to both the 101 and the 173rd and during those times wore their patches and am authorized their patches

 

What type of paperwork/ID/passes did you have to carry? We all carried an ID card from Department of the Army as well as the 593rd identifying us as military photographers and requesting that all agencies cooperate in the performance of our duty. Most also stated that nothing we were doing was a violation of security. All of those of us who were there early also carried priority flight orders good to take us anywhere in country we wished to go with an AAA1 priority. This priority would bump almost anyone below the rank of Brigadier who was not traveling on a like priority or higher. They did work.

 

Where did you wear your dog tags? around your neck? on your boots? Did the Army use your SSN or your tag, or were you given an Army service number? (I believe there was a switch from ASN to SSN sometime during the war, and i am curious) Dog tags were worn around our neck and RA 13-835-548 was my number. Believe that the switch to SSN came in the 70's

 

You said you either wore fatigues or jungle fatigues... did your unit require any particular uniform, or were you free to wear whatever you preferred? It was more of what we had. Often they were mixed which caused problems some times in rear areas.

 

Were you able to get much from PX's or private purchase to wear, or did you ever barter around units you were with to get something you wanted? or was it strictly what you were issued? When in an area with a PX many things were available though I was only in one about 6 times during my tour. You could buy on the local economy at times and barter was always an option. We usually had surplus film and that was a great barter item.

 

Did you wear the black leather boots, or the jungle boots with the spike-protectant inserts? Black leather most of the time about half way through or a little later I finally got jungle boots with the spike protection.

 

When you were out in the field, what type of web gear did you wear? I would assume it was the standard M56 canvas webbing... did you wear a "butt pack" or rucksack? Standard pack along with Pistol Belt, two canteens and a number of M-14 ammo pouches which we loaded with film

 

Did you carry any particular bags with you to store your film and camera supplies? Above

 

Did you ever process your own film, or was it sent to labs in the rear? Both. We had a lab in Nha Trang where we would often go to process and proof film which was then sent on to Saigon after we had transcribed our captions

 

Did you have your own vehicle, or did you hitch rides depending on the circumstances? [i]Seldom had our own, usually hitched a ride or walk with the unit we were with. [/i]

[willysmb44]

But how about name tags Would they have worn correspondent or similar instead of U.S. ARMY?

Cleaver's post was about a military correspondent (and had some great info on that subject, BTW). Most correspondents were civilians, so I guess you'd need to think on which you want to portray. I have read that Dan Rather wore CBS news name tapes, but I've yet to confirm that. Honestly, my focus is on WW2 so I'm not very well-versed on VN-era stuff. This link off eBay has some pretty good stuff for insignia for correspondents, and has plenty of VN patches including nametapes for various new organizations. If I ever decide to build up a VN re-enacting impression, this is where I'd get my patches!

[NobleLoyalGSD]

Cleaver's post was about a military correspondent (and had some great info on that subject, BTW). Most correspondents were civilians, so I guess you'd need to think on which you want to portray. I have read that Dan Rather wore CBS news name tapes, but I've yet to confirm that. Honestly, my focus is on WW2 so I'm not very well-versed on VN-era stuff. This link off eBay has some pretty good stuff for insignia for correspondents, and has plenty of VN patches including nametapes for various new organizations. If I ever decide to build up a VN re-enacting impression, this is where I'd get my patches!

 

www.In-CountryPatches.com

This isn't a bad place to get replica 'Nam patches either

[gwb123]

www.In-CountryPatches.com

This isn't a bad place to get replica 'Nam patches either

 

Jeff is too modest to promote himself. His reproductions are of excellent quality.

[gwb123]

As stated above we have to distinguish between combat cameramen and military journalists in uniform vs. civilian correspondents. The first group were of military age, and typically wore service uniforms. I don't think this is who you intended to portray.

 

As for civilian correspondents, quite a few of them that were running around in the combat zones were also quite young. But I suppose a fit 50 year old would not be out of the question.

 

As far as what they wore, here's the good news... apparently anything they wanted to. From what I have seen it has ranged from standard issue jungle fatigues, to civvies, to exotic camo like Beo-gam (leopard spot).

 

Here's a couple of examples. These photos were all recovered from the flea markets of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the mid 1990's. I have no identifications on these people.

 

In the first one we see a group relaxing with some Coca Cola and what looks like Budwieser. The woman appears to be wearing standard jungle fatigues. I looked all over this photograph with a magifying glass, but there is no evidence of a bit of insignia, so I ruled her out. She might be a US Government civilian, but that would have been unusual.

 

We have more luck with the gentleman with the beard. The tape on his ERDL fatigues clearly says "BAO CHI" (if youi could see the original), which is Vietnamese for correspondent. The man sitting next to him is also wearing ERDL, but does not look quite military in appearance. I am guessing all three are correspondents.

 

What is a mystery to me is the Asian gentleman sitting in the background with a large poured glass of Coke. I may be mistaken, but the shirt he is wearing looks to be cut from an NVA pattern. I'd love to know the full background on this one.

[gwb123]

If you are going to pull off a photo journalist, then you need to accessorize. From what I read, most correspondents of the time carried more than one camera at all times.

 

This first one is intriguing in that he is wearing a heavy cotton shirt with an early ARVN camo pattern, another option for your wardrobe.

 

Our next individual is shown here in his civilian clothes, which would have been appropriate for Saigon or major headquarters.

[gwb123]

If you GOOGLE "Vietnam correspondent" and select images, you will find a number of photos. This came off the UPI site

 

http://www.downhold.org/lowry/upiimages.html

 

This is a 1975 photo of Bill Reilly and Leon Daniel two weeks before the fall of Saigon. Note the helmet, the four pocket jacket on the first individual, and the second wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a flak jacket.

 

One other note is that correspondents sometimes had their field wear custom made. That might explain the four pocket jacket.

[gwb123]

And not that I think you will be cross dressing anytime soon, but here are a couple photos featured in Elaine Shephard's early Vietnam era book "Doom Pussy"... Note the Tiger Stripe outfit, and the bush hat...

[NobleLoyalGSD]

Of course there were many journalists covering the war but here are just a few names to google and find a wealth of information: Horst Faas, Henri Huet, Larry Burrows, and David Halberstam.

 

Photo of Larry Burrows, 1971

[NobleLoyalGSD]

Horst Faas

[Pfc-Grunt]

Thank you all for the information and the links. I was thinking of renacting a civilian correspondent, that way the age would be more acceptable.

[Abby K-9]

If I might recommend a book, check out "Requiem: By the Photographers who died in Vietnam". While this is primarily a book showing their photographs, it does include information about the journalists themselves as well as a fair number of photographs showing them at work and in country that might be interesting to you for reference. I purchased a copy of this when it very first became available, I believe that was in 1998, and it's well worth getting, both for the information on photographers as well as for the photos themselves, not to mention for image research for the reenactor or historian.

 

Insignia on civilian journalists uniforms in Vietnam vary quite a bit, from what I can tell. Wearing none at all would certainly be appropriate if you wanted to go that route. Other options are UPI or Associated Press, your affiliation. And don't forget, there were journalists from various news outlets, such as Denby Fawcett, who was a journalist from the Honolulu Adviser / Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which is what her name tape says.

[Copran]

Very nice pics Gil, thanks a lot for sharing

 

 

And not that I think you will be cross dressing anytime soon, but here are a couple photos featured in Elaine Shephard's early Vietnam era book "Doom Pussy"... Note the Tiger Stripe outfit, and the bush hat...

[Bsquirrely]

www.In-CountryPatches.com

This isn't a bad place to get replica 'Nam patches either

One more time, the best patches made by Heidi not Jeff.

[Copran]

Hello,

 

Here is my Press Correspondent "party suit", there is direct embroided name and NBC News. This jacket was found in the flea market long tiem ago, then it made its way to Europe passing through several collectors ....

 

Otherwise, you can reenact with just name tape and the tape of the newspaper name. You can alos a tape of BAO CHI

 

Hope that helps

[jgawne]

Friend of mine was an actual Army EM photographer 68-69. He said when he went into the field he did everything possible look like everyone else - to include carrying an M16, as the enemy was always looking for someone that stood out as 'different' assuming they were an officer, or RTO or something - who were the first to get shot at.

 

He only carried one camera, but the reasons the real pros had more than one was to either carry different size format film, color vs. B+W film, or mainly for different lenses so they didn't have to switch them out.

[none]

If you are looking for WWII Metal insignia please go to www.1903.com I have several War Correspondent items.

[USMCRECON]

Cleaver's post was about a military correspondent (and had some great info on that subject, BTW). Most correspondents were civilians, so I guess you'd need to think on which you want to portray. I have read that Dan Rather wore CBS news name tapes, but I've yet to confirm that. Honestly, my focus is on WW2 so I'm not very well-versed on VN-era stuff. This link off eBay has some pretty good stuff for insignia for correspondents, and has plenty of VN patches including nametapes for various new organizations. If I ever decide to build up a VN re-enacting impression, this is where I'd get my patches!

 

A good friend of mine (and brother-in-law of one of my closest Marine buddies, is Frank Tomlinson.

Frank covered the White House and the Pentagon for ABC News in the 60s. He also did a tour in Vietnam as a correspondent for ABC.

 

He told me a couple years ago when we were talking about his time as a correspondent in Vietnam. If my memory serves me correctly, he said the sought-after "uniform" for male correspondents in Vietnam, particularly in the early years, was a khaki "bush" jacket (preferably with epaulets) and matching trousers. Sometimes a similar color shirt or, for the most manly of them, no shirt at all, under the jacket. He said it was what the people back home expected the news correspondents to look like and the outfit looked good in front of a camera. I think he said that he and Rather got theirs at the same Vietnamese tailor shop in Saigon.

 

Of course this would likely have been worn in the field but most of the really "big name" reporters didn't spend all that much time filming firefights. Most (not all but most) of their TV reporting was done from Saigon, Dang, or one of the other more comfortable cities.

 

The only time I saw Morley Safer in the field he was wearing standard jungle utilities with no markings at all. I don't remember him wearing a hat/cover so couldn't comment on that. Next time I talk with Frank I will ask him the specific question again and will provide whatever specifics he relates.

[Abby K-9]

Speaking of what to wear as a correspondent, there's a famous photo of Robert Capa covering Indochina in 1954, wearing an M42 jump jacket.