Vietnam Ribbon Bars

[Brig]

Couple of US Army Vietnam ribbons I picked up, both have their own weird characteristics. Are these theater made?

 

Top one, faded, has the '60-' bar, but the rear has a weird 2 pin safety type device. I've heard these might be French made? any ideas?

 

Bottom, very plastic coated, with a few of its own abnormalities. First, the date bar is '68-69'. I thought all bars were 60-?? Maybe this man's tour year? The rear, standard pins, but instead of clutches it has rubber plungers. Any ideas? I heard these might be Vietnamese made?

[36-tex]

I believe they could get bars with their year of service on them. Most likely in Asia somewhere. Here are two I have.

[JBFloyd]

The pin-back device is Vietnamese-made. They copied the French design.

 

The odd-year bars were sold by just about every tailor, drug store and knick-knack shop in Vietnam. I was able to buy a variety of year bars in Saigon. The seller thought I was crazy, but was happy with the 100 piastres (about 25 cents) I paid for a small pile of them (all gone now, unfortunately).

[Brig]

The pin-back device is Vietnamese-made. They copied the French design.

 

The odd-year bars were sold by just about every tailor, drug store and knick-knack shop in Vietnam. I was able to buy a variety of year bars in Saigon. The seller thought I was crazy, but was happy with the 100 piastres (about 25 cents) I paid for a small pile of them (all gone now, unfortunately).

 

Vietnamese made. Why were they selling ribbons in Vietnam? Were dress uniforms worn?

 

is the bottom one theater made too?

[JBFloyd]

Lots of in-country folks wore uniforms other than jungle fatigues and many chose to wear ribbons. Plus, many stocked up on cheap ribbon bars for going home or on R&R.

 

The bottom set looks Vietnamese-made as well. The big platic clutches were commonly used on Vietnamese-made insignia.

[Jason G]

About 70 percent (or perhaps more) of the guys who served in Vietnam never saw the field. Consequently, many of them wore the regular khaki service uniforms to work, thus the need for ribbons and whatnot.

[jjdevi1]

Brig,

 

You could have custom made just about any sort of uniform combination made up in Saigon that you wanted. Being an 11B, I didn't have time for it, but did get a class A jacket made up in Thailand, with the ribbons made in a block and sewn onto the tunic. Got back to the world (If Bragg can be called that!) and the SGM saw the class A jacket, told me to chuck it, so I did! LOL Wish I'd of kept it! As stated above, only about 30% of the guys served in the field, at a firebase, or in a forward operating area.

 

John

[JBFloyd]

On the Air Force side, my unit wore jungle fatigues most of the time, but we had to have a set of khaki uniforms (1505s) ready for various official functions. Most of us had our rank and qualification badges embroidered on the shirts but, as most of the officers in my squadron were first lieutenants, that didn't last long back in the World. If we had Thai-made uniforms, you could generally get away with wearing those for about a year (or until you put back on the weight you lost in SEA).

 

I never had any ribbon sets put together, as I never liked the Vietnamese-made ribbons and we rarely wore ribbons anyway.

[GLM]

Brig,

 

A couple more Vietnamese ribbon bars. One thing I've noticed about them is they aren't colorfast, so will bleed colors if gotten wet. They also have a very big row weave, whereas US ribbons are small with many more rows. They do look crude, don't they?

 

Both of these were found in the parking lot of McDonalds Drive In in Pueblo, CO when I worked there my senior year in high school, circa 1968. Many of the soldiers returning from Vietnam who were stationed at Fort Carson didn't want to mess with the roving MP patrols in Colorado Springs, so they would drive the 38 miles to Pueblo for drinking and carousing. One of my jobs, other than burgers, shakes and fries was to hose and sweep down the parking lot of trash, broken beer bottles and such at closing time. At one time, I had a pretty good collection of Vietnamese made ribbon bars, PUC's, MUC's and CIB's that either fell off or were pulled off of uniforms in that parking lot, but like Jeff mentioned, it was our era and our war, so we weren't interested in this stuff and either gave or traded most of it away.

 

Take my advise and next deployment, invest a little of your pay in theater made patches or prayer rugs that you'll be able to make a nice profit on down the road in a few years.

 

I was in Vietnam in 70-71, so if you ever decide to sell or trade off that scroll, keep me in mind. It would look real nice on my own ribbon rack!

 

Gary

[11-Bull]

Here is a set of Vietnamese made ribbons from a 101st AB trooper. The date bar is 69-70. Note wide weave and off color silkscreening typical of in country made ribbons. The draftee who earned these said he bought them just before rotating home. He wore them to PO the NCO lifers he knew he would have to put up with back in the world who had never served in VN.

[retnypdcapt]

as i recall, actual medals,as opposed to ribbons, were not as common in those years. a decoration or gcm would be presented to the awardee, but service medals had to be obtained from the military itself. no civillian sources like we have now, such as "medals of america" or "sgt. grit". (of course, there weren't NEARLY as many different ones back then, but that's another story) anyway, copies of most of the then current service medals were sold by the shops in rvn - afxm, vsm, vcm, ndsm, etc. you can identify them by their cheap appearance, and especially by the ribbons, which have the appeaance of crepe paper.

[BOB K. RKSS]

About 70 percent (or perhaps more) of the guys who served in Vietnam never saw the field. Consequently, many of them wore the regular khaki service uniforms to work, thus the need for ribbons and whatnot.

This 70% statement IS NOT TRUE; at least in the Central Highlands, & north to the DMZ: Everyone wore Fatigues, or Jungle uniforms. Maybe they wore ribbons in Saigon, or Long Bien, but otherwise only worn when going on R&R, or Home to the States.