This coming weekend!

Bevo style, maybe german made and surely Post war   Dominique

A fun find!

Scratch that, 1 M56 first aid pouch and 1 ALICE first aid pouch rather than 2 ALICE first aid pouches.    Wade

This 2nd Cav is a Black back thoughts?

SonofNamVet, one more thing: the 25th Infantry Division wasn’t based in or assigned to Okinawa during the Vietnam War. As you probably know, instead, it was originally based in Hawaii, then deployed to VIetnam in 1966, setting up its basecamp in Cu Chi. So this lighter doesn’t have the strongest connection to Vietnam. However, believe it or not, it was occasionally selected as an R&R destination instead of Tokyo.   I can personally vouch for the fact that troops in Vietnam went to Okinawa since I took a 7-day leave there in 1968. Unfortunately for me, having done zero research, I arrived in winter! My first thing after I got off the airfield was to find a shop and buy gloves, a wool hat, and a heavy sweater.   The interesting thing about Okinawa was that from the end of WWII until 1972 it was a US Protectorate. So when I went there in 1968 it wasn’t even considered Japan.   Summary: Again, this lighter doesn’t have the strongest connection to Vietnam, but there’s a possibility that a GI took R&R or leave there and purchased it. Equally probable is that one of the thousands of GI’s actually stationed in Okinawa purchased it after his Vietnam service with the 25th Infantry Division and his during his new deployment to Okinawa. There is also the possibility that, as yokota57 noted, the Sangwoo Company was clearly selling these through the Military Exchange system (heck, it even says it on the lighter!), so perhaps these lighters were not only stocked in Exchanges in Okinawa, but also in the ones in Vietnam.      

I was fortunate to obtain the scrap book for the squadron commander at the time. As you can in the attached photo, he cites the aviator as Ens. Ruben Jones, VF4B, USS Randolph, 22 February 1947.    

And another, note sheen on jacket. It seems brand new.

Another cool pic, note flag and bell.

Thanks Johan, no rush at all. I'm mostly amazed so many of those stakes are still in place. As I said, they started clearing the dunes here right after the Liberation but since this area is heavily populated that is no surprise.         I'm aware the ones with the ground plate would be buried up to 1/3 to 1/2 of their length, I also know the shorter ones so I guess they were made this way? Maybe intended to be poured into a concrete foot, who knows?