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Vietnam Pocket Hangers


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Rakkasan187

I was surprised to see up to this point there are no medical unit pocket hangers. These 3 came from a grouping that belonged to a nurse in Vietnam. She retired as a Colonel and lives in El Paso, Texas. These patches were saved from a local thrift shop. I will be posting a larger thread on this grouping, but first the pocket hangers...

 

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3rd Field Hospital

 

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155th Med Detachment

 

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Back of 3rd Field Hospital. Note the Oriental Characters, Not sure if it is Vietnamese made or Thialand, or Japan or Korea...

 

More pictures to follow, sorry about the glare. To see better pics of the pocket patches I will be starting a new thread on the Vietnam Nurse grouping soon..

 

Leigh...

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Rakkasan187

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Back of 155th Med Det

 

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44th Medical Brigade front

 

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44th Medical Brigade Back

 

Make sure to check out the posting on the Vietnam Nurses Grouping..

 

Leigh...

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Two more out of ordinary pocket hangers. One is a printed on fabric Kit Carson Scout from the 4th Infantry Division and the other is for the Signal Security Force Vietnam. There was an organization known as the Signal Support Agency located at three stations through out Vietnam but as yet, I can't link this patch/organization to a parent organization. Kit Carson Scouts were VC or NVA soldiers who were captured but agreed to "turn" on the communist forces and they acted as spies turning intel back to the Allied forces of the US, ARVN and Australia.

 

IH

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I don't know how being "spies" part was part of the program. ..."The basic idea was to recruit former VC to act as scouts for U.S. units. In most cases, the socuts were recruited from Chieu Hoi (Open Arms) program, which attempted to persuade VC and NVA to defect, or return to the South Vietnamese government side. Those who did return were called Hoi Chanh (returnees) and went thru a re-indoctrination program and then sent home. Some were recruited into the KCS and worked for U.S. units"....© 2002 ASMIC, used w/ permission. The article depicted several KCS patches, incl one pockethanger.

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I don't know how being "spies" part was part of the program. ..."The basic idea was to recruit former VC to act as scouts for U.S. units. In most cases, the socuts were recruited from Chieu Hoi (Open Arms) program, which attempted to persuade VC and NVA to defect, or return to the South Vietnamese government side. Those who did return were called Hoi Chanh (returnees) and went thru a re-indoctrination program and then sent home. Some were recruited into the KCS and worked for U.S. units"....© 2002 ASMIC, used w/ permission. The article depicted several KCS patches, incl one pockethanger.

While "spies" may not sound right when reviewing something like an ASMIC article a more in depth look at the full spectrum of KCS activities pretty well reveals that immersion back into suspect communities to sort out the "bad guys" was a common practice. The KCS participants were adept at this and returned reconnaissance and evaluation that was of the most professional level. Yes they came out of the Chieu Hoi program and yes they went through re-indoctrination just like those internees who elected to return to non combatant status.

The badge I pictured was given to me by a Vietnamese Restaurant owner I came to be friendly with. He was a specialist in "infiltrating" a targeted hamlet for performing evaluations of the threat that was posed by the village and it's inhabitants. Maybe that doesn't qualify as spying, but to me it seems like it.

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Dang it...

 

I sure wish I still had mine.

 

By now it would be in horrible condition, but still.

 

Thanks for this wonderful trip down memory lane.

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  • 7 months later...

And the back view, I'm a bit new to forums so I accidentally already posted this item without finding this thread first. but I believe it has found its home.

Thanks

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seanmc1114

I don't have any examples in my collection, but here is a picture of an 82nd Airborne pocket patch being worn in Vietnam.

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172nd PMU's veterinarian CPT Tom Hargas with Chris Bowdoin, Head of New Zealand Red Cross team.

(Tranquilized) swayback piglet would be given to Montagnards so they could learn to raise animals.

From Armed Forces Pest Management Board's photostream on Flickr.com

 

Anyone has this hanger in his collection ?

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post-467-1310379550.jpg

 

172nd PMU's veterinarian CPT Tom Hargas with Chris Bowdoin, Head of New Zealand Red Cross team.

(Tranquilized) swayback piglet would be given to Montagnards so they could learn to raise animals.

From Armed Forces Pest Management Board's photostream on Flickr.com

 

Anyone has this hanger in his collection ?

 

A paratrooper veterinarian, no there's a Hard Corps officer, COOL !

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