Hello, guys.   I know that you have come with military versions of Western Cutlery CO, I also have the Western G46-8 in mint conditions, but I would like to share with you a commercial small Western knife (not mine), which accordingly with the ricasso stamp is it a later version (after 1977). What's interesting is that on the sheath is written '' 1940 Artur N K'', but I do believe that it was done on purpose to be sold as WW2 period.   What do you think about that?

Hello, I am known on the internet as ataru0000. I collect anything Tiger Stripe as long as the camouflage is from Vietnam era. I may showcase mine here soon, but for now I am looking to buy some tailor-made pieces. See you guys around.

Beautiful set that you don't come across very often. Made in Japan, isn’t it?    Did you know that it is a copy of a real fighting knife that was made in the 1950s, by the Indonesians, and later used by Indonesian paratroopers in Papua New Guinea against the Dutch? Papua New Guinea being a kind of Vietnam avant la lettre…   Unfortunately for those pitiful bas…, we were supported by the local population of Papua New Guinea. Their male soldiers formed the PVK (Papua Volunteer Corps) and were worth their weight in gold in the jungle. They were able (assisted by Dutch Royal Marines) to neutralize virtually all Indonesian paratroopers. They didn't stand a chance. That's why the joke is made that there are now more of these FS knives in the Netherlands than in Indonesia. But to be clear : I have seen far more first model Fairbairn Sykes knives (in the last forty five years) than this one. Second and third model FS I won’t even mention.    Beyond extremely rare and highly sought after. 

As far as I have seen far now (but I could be wrong), the bayonets done for Europe had all cross guard welded. I've had an US-M4  (A.E.P Italy 1965) which has the guard welded, but the handle parts (some sort of brown plastic ) were fit just to the guard (so no loose space or something else for quick inspection). See below picture, not mine but I had a similar one.

Dear Mr. Trzaska,   Really appreciate your well documented answer, an honour for me to be in contact with someone who gained so much experience and knowledges on this particular military branch. One year ago I was a noob into the US military knives, but thanks to this forum and people like you (and many others here) who take their time to respond to any kind of ''silly questions'', I was able to learn a lot. Meantime, my small knife collection grown, and I am really grateful that I am now a small part of this brotherhood.   Keep it up! 

I'll take this opportunity here to point out to anyone newer to this hobby that welded knives and bayonets are not compliant with U.S. Government specifications. I agree with Collector2 that being able to inspect the way the parts are attached as well as other details is helpful.

Are there some other letters that you didnt show? In the posted letter he says the hole is the size of a silver dollar, but he doesnt say anything about the size of the fragment. I think it is a bullet because if you look at the actual entry point, the hole seems very regular, as you see with bullet hits, and it also seems to be the right size. The much larger hole we see further on was caused by the metal being bent back, it doesnt correspond to the size of the projectile. In any case, the projectile continued  forward, tried unsuccessfully to exit the helmet, then travelled between the shell and liner, and exited at the front of the liner. Since the projectile followed this course, it could not have caused a wound to the soldier's scalp at the area of the entry hole. These are just my observations.

Incredible find, and with the combination of laundry number and officer rank, it should be researchable. 

Here's a vet owned bring back I saw on Facebook years ago. He wore grenade rings in his helmet band.   

Here's another GI armed with the FN FAL Rifle, here while trialing the de Lackner HZ-1 Aerocycle.