Can you identify this 1967 bayonet?

[Roc.Chester]

Hello everyone,

 

On this 1967 picture, we can see a protester facing soldiers in Washington. I would like to know what rifle these were, and more specifically which bayonets are on them.

It seems to me the bayonets have their sheaths on, so the blade is covered.

 

Can anyone confirm that?

 

[atb]

M6 Bayonet since it's mounted to an M14 Rifle.

[The Rooster]

Oh the commies just loved pictures like this one above......

Helped them defeat the war effort here at home.

[Roc.Chester]

49 minutes ago, atb said:

M6 Bayonet since it's mounted to an M14 Rifle.

 

Can you tell if the blade is covered by a sheath?

[Roc.Chester]

I told a friend it' obviously covered, I just want confirmation, having never seen personally one of these blades.

[Roc.Chester]

Thank you for your keen eye, atb. 

 

What would have been the troops? National Guards?

[atb]

1 hour ago, Roc.Chester said:

 

Can you tell if the blade is covered by a sheath?

Yes, it is its M8 scabbard. It's quite possible those are National Guard soldiers.

[The Rooster]

2 hours ago, Roc.Chester said:

Thank you for your keen eye, atb. 

 

What would have been the troops? National Guards?

I would go with Regular Army.

The guard was equipped with M1 Garands back then

[SKIPH]

The 2nd soldier behind the "flower child" is in dress green uniform.  May be a demonstration in DC back in the late 60s. SKIP

[Misfit 45]

6 hours ago, The Rooster said:

I would go with Regular Army.

The guard was equipped with M1 Garands back then

Hi Folks,

I was in Junior high back then, so I was not in to anything military.  That said, I can't imagine that US Army troops would have been assigned to crowd control duty.  The National Guard was certainly the dominate force back then, for that purpose. I'm not sure you can identify any uniforms in this picture, but the M14s were out in force.

Marv

[The Rooster]

48 minutes ago, Misfit 45 said:

Hi Folks,

I was in Junior high back then, so I was not in to anything military.  That said, I can't imagine that US Army troops would have been assigned to crowd control duty.  The National Guard was certainly the dominate force back then, for that purpose. I'm not sure you can identify any uniforms in this picture, but the M14s were out in force.

Marv

I beg to differ.

Here we see ILARNG Troops in Chicago 1968 riots.... 33rd Infantry Brigade.

And they are not equipped with the M14. They have the M1.

The picture you posted, I believe are reg army MP's and they were called out in the 60's for civil disturbances.

I think the guard went from the M1 to the M16. Also had the M60 through the 80's and 90's. and the saw was introduced late 80's early 90's...  In 18 years, I never saw an M14.. 81-99 saw some grease guns no 14's.

The M14 was retired from the regulars in around 1967... The guard is always years behind in equipment. All through the 1980's we carried the M16A1 in the guard and the .45 until mid 80's.

We had the M16a1s all the way through the late 90's but they put the A2 hand guards on them.

I believe but not certain, the M14 skipped the Guard.

Guard troops at Kent State... carried the M1.

And the guard was not a dominate force back then. People joined it to stay out of Vietnam..

I think only two guard units were deployed to vietnam. Back then instead of a reg haircut, the guardsman could wear5 a short hair wig.

They were ate up. Look at them and compare to the MP's....

I knew some of the 33rd guardsman who were at the riots in 68...

To quote one of them..

"We got our asses kicked"

[The Rooster]

The guard was revitalised in the 80's under Ronald Reagans Policies along with the rest of the military and transformed into

the effective deploy-able force it is today.

[Misfit 45]

The Rooster,

I gladly yield to your better judgment.  I know bayonets....but not much about the things you explained so well.

Marv

[The Rooster]

32 minutes ago, Misfit 45 said:

The Rooster,

I gladly yield to your better judgment.  I know bayonets....but not much about the things you explained so well.

Marv

Thank you kindly Marv, but Im not 100% on that... just reasonably sure.

Dave

[Roc.Chester]

Interesting. On Misfit 45's picture, the bayonets are unsheathed, there is no scabbard, making it much more accident-prone if one of the students was getting too close, or pushed by the crowd. That is escalating a situation. They seem way too close for safety. Flower girl actually touched the bayonet with her hand, in another picture from the same film roll, but the scabbard was on. OICs obviously had very different ideas in each of these crowd control situations. 

[j. t. thompson]

15 hours ago, Roc.Chester said:

Hello everyone,

 

On this 1967 picture, we can see a protester facing soldiers in Washington. I would like to know what rifle these were, and more specifically which bayonets are on them.

It seems to me the bayonets have their sheaths on, so the blade is covered.

 

Can anyone confirm that?

 

 

October 21, 1967 100,000 demonstrators attended the March on the Pentagon - one of the most massive demonstrations of the Vietnam war. A 17 year old high school girl named Jan Rose Kasmir walked up to arow of soldiers. The image, The Flower Girl, became an iconic photo of the Vietnam War era.

 

 

Here's another image that shows the soldiers more clearly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[atb]

As to the Regular Army's weapons, I was stationed at Ft. MacArthur, CA in May 1970. While I had an M16 in basic training earlier that year, my assigned weapon at Ft. Mac was an M14. No M16s yet, there. Later that summer once. I went overseas, I once again had an M16.

[Rhscott]

It seems NC Guard also went from the M1 direct to the M16 and the only time Soldiers used the M14 was at basic training.  The M14 had the shortest active service span of any primary US issue weapon.  By 1970 most had been crated and stored.

[DD937]

3 hours ago, Rhscott said:

It seems NC Guard also went from the M1 direct to the M16 and the only time Soldiers used the M14 was at basic training.  The M14 had the shortest active service span of any primary US issue weapon.  By 1970 most had been crated and stored.

Except for the M14 s who's service life was extended into at least the 90's by the Navy. Just did not seem like a suitable weapon for the internal passageways of a Destroyer or Frigate. Or for that matter a few of the exterior areas.

[The Rooster]

9 hours ago, Roc.Chester said:

Interesting. On Misfit 45's picture, the bayonets are unsheathed, there is no scabbard, making it much more accident-prone if one of the students was getting too close, or pushed by the crowd. That is escalating a situation. They seem way too close for safety. Flower girl actually touched the bayonet with her hand, in another picture from the same film roll, but the scabbard was on. OICs obviously had very different ideas in each of these crowd control situations. 

"Accident Prone" lol...

That was the entire "point" of utilizing un sheathed bayonets....

They were not playing around.

[VNAMVET70]

5 hours ago, Rhscott said:

It seems NC Guard also went from the M1 direct to the M16 and the only time Soldiers used the M14 was at basic training.  The M14 had the shortest active service span of any primary US issue weapon.  By 1970 most had been crated and stored.

In 1970, on the Kent State campus the Ohio National Guard killed four Vietnam War protesters with M-1s, and wounded nine others.

[atb]

10 minutes ago, VNAMVET70 said:

In 1970, on the Kent State campus the Ohio National Guard killed four Vietnam War protesters with M-1s, and wounded nine others.

Weren't some just watching and not actively protesting? It's a bit hazy to me now, being 55 years ago.

[VNAMVET70]

1 hour ago, atb said:

Weren't some just watching and not actively protesting? It's a bit hazy to me now, being 55 years ago.

I was stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, at the time. I recall there were several hundred students who had gathered and were just bystanders there out of curiosity, and maybe 45-70 active protesters...no exact numbers reported.

[atb]

21 minutes ago, VNAMVET70 said:

I was stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, at the time. I recall there were several hundred students who had gathered and were just bystanders there out of curiosity, and maybe 45-70 active protesters...no exact numbers reported.

I was stationed at Ft. MacArthur, CA (a small base in San Pedro near Long Beach). I was a draftsman in the Post Engineers office. As far as I remember the troops there were the post garrison, an air defense group HQ, and probably a small MP detachment. Soon after Kent State, we marched in the Armed Forces Day parade in Torrance, CA. Then, we were told of student anti-war protests at Long Beach State University for which we might be needed. Luckily, both for them and us we weren't. We would have been more of a danger to ourselves, I think.

[Roc.Chester]

13 hours ago, atb said:

Weren't some just watching and not actively protesting? 

 

Not that it would make a big difference, using that blade on either peaceful students protesting or on non-participating bystanders would be quite a departure from any military code of conduct either way.