Vietnamese Marine Corps Tigerstripe

[River Patrol]

Worn by American Advisors in the early years of the Vietnam war, and described in Johnson's book as Vietnamese Marine Experimental, these super rare tigers are not often seen. Outside of the tigerstripe book, I've only seen 3 other jackets - and of those, only mine has been of an "American" size. Most tigerstripes are not really rare - except this pattern, and it is distinctly different from the second Vietnamese Marine pattern. I hope you enjoy this tiger!

Steve

[PvtTamura]

I'm gonna try and keep it from getting wet!

 

:jeal0001: :jeal0001: :jeal0001: :jeal0001: :jeal0001: :jeal0001:

[kammo-man]

RP ,

killer shirt .

I had one so that makes 4 , plus I also had the trousers and hat !!!

But that all went to the biggest USMC collector in the US .

He has several sets so it is floating around.

It is without a doubt very hard to find , one was on ebay last week but the auction got bombed .......I just hope the seller was not undersold.

The fabric is smooth poplin, on a first pattern tiger the fabric is thicker and coarse to the touch.

RJ missed the point on this pattern a bit however but thats another story.

Thanks for showing .

owen

[River Patrol]

Hey Owen

Yes. It's a smooth poplin material. I didn't know about the other coarse version. There are other details about this pattern that RJ missed. I was surprised by this, but he was only looking at 2 jackets.

You were lucky to have the pants and the cap! I don't have those. I'm sure DW appreciated the additions to his collection. No doubt this pattern is out there, just tough to track down.

Steve

[kammo-man]

S ,

The exact time line on this stuff has still to be correctly nailed down completely.

Missing some points has to be expected as its a tough job that can only be covered when looking at many many pieces.

I had 2 shirts that were very close but different , one exact same as yours and one with the shoulder patch pieces,the pattern was crisp on one with very fine pattern ,slightly rough but I suspect it had never been washed and this was the ink print?

Here is the first tiger print on some pants , sorry its all I have at hand to show the first strike of the pattern ,but you will notice its large blacks , fine greens ,browns and sharpness of the print .

This has never been washed but due to the crappy print job this would fade quickly much like old walmart printed woodland from the 80s .

Oh well one day the complete picture will emerge .

owen

[kammo-man]

Here is the first pattern shirt , this is a 1950s print NOT a 60s version.

Note the pattern next door is also a VNMC print , this one is a 66 date .

owen

[panzerwerk]

Very cool Owen , they look even better in person !!!

[kammo-man]

You know it PW .

[River Patrol]

Good stuff owen...any photos of the hat?

[beogam]

HI ALL

I AGREE WITH OWEN !!!

OWEN IF YOU CAN TAKE ONE PIC OF BACK OF YOUR VNMC SHIRT AND FRENCH 47/52 CHOCOLATE SMOOK TO SEE THE SIMILAR DESIGN

CHEERS YOUR FRENCH BASTARD

[kammo-man]

I do , but its on a old style photo so it would need to be scanned , and I have to find it , somewhere in the old tiger thread I showed it Steve so if you have a full lazy day you may find it somewhere .

owen

[beogam]

I KNOW IS NOT EASY TO GET OUT CLOTHES ON MANNEQUINS BUT Baby, take off your coat, real slow.

Baby, take off your shoes. I'll help you take off your shoes.

Baby, take off your dress. Yes, yes, yes.

MAYBE THIS CAN HELP YOU !!!!!!

A+J

[River Patrol]

The tiger in my collection came indirectly to me from an American Advisor.

[Bombe_Atomique]

so this wasn't an experimental pattern, emerged from the French lizzard pattern, but an issued or the first issued tiger pattern?

[kammo-man]

Its just an old French pattern reworked by the Vietnamese and then brought up to date by the USAF today !!!!

[River Patrol]

so this wasn't an experimental pattern, emerged from the French lizzard pattern, but an issued or the first issued tiger pattern?

 

While tigerstripes were not a new idea in the late 1950s, tigers were "new" to the U.S. Marine Corps, and this was their first pattern used in the field, albeit temporarily, until a pattern could be massed produced (at which time the pattern lost some of its crisp details).

 

This pattern was issued on an ad hoc basis. I'm not sure where the pattern was printed, but it was assembled and tailored in Vietnam.

 

Steve

[Bombe_Atomique]

thanks, Steve.

Which tigerstripe patterns pre-date this one?

[kammo-man]

Post # 5 and post #6 is considered first print .

[River Patrol]

thanks, Steve.

Which tigerstripe patterns pre-date this one?

 

As far as tigerstripes purchased by the U.S. Armed Forces, this is the first pattern and the earliest date I've seen is 1958 (from Johnson's tigerstripe tome). Prior to that, the French produced material but I have none of this in my collection.

[Bombe_Atomique]

ok

would you guys draw a barrier between the French lizzard patterns and the Vietnamese / US tiger patterns, or consider it more as a fluent evolution from one pattern into the other?

[River Patrol]

It's an evolution which did not stray far from the original.

[Soar]

 

This is the very early first pattern suit that was available from The Dog Tag a while back. $3.5k if I remember.

[Soar]

This suit was very interesting. I purchased it a few years ago. It was listed as first pattern Marine Corps and looked like it in the pics. When I received it, it was in fact a variant of John Wayne Sparse/CIA pattern. It was printed onto the normal windproof poplin of early Marine Corps pattern, and the cut was almost identical. There was no QM stamp. Soon after I got the suit, another shirt of the same pattern printed onto windproof poplin turned up on ebay. Then doing a bit of research, I found a picture of a Viet Marine wearing this pattern in Paul Miraldi's Advisor book. So clearly this was in use somewhat. More images in a minute.

 

[Soar]

[Soar]