At one time I had a bugle banner for the 1st Engineer Regiment, however, it is now part of the Corps of Engineers at Fort Leonard Wood.  It was the first and only bugle banner I have seen.  

There are several threads here on the wing forum that discusses the use of a master die/hub to make production dies. I believe this is the case with the “Form Offical Die” tooling sent out by the U.S. Mint to various manufacturers.   These appear to fit the description a master hub.    

Thanks to my ZIP-V (instead of MACV) advisors on this one, Cobra and Yoko!!! (wink)   Thanks so much for the AWESOME insights on life on the Hump Cobra!!

Here’s the unofficial site for MACV Advisory Teams:  https://macvteams.org   Perhaps there will be more information on this individual.

Top level score, mtnman! A couple of comments on the narrative from Don Cordless that show how different units would operate:   1. He carried 8 to 10 quarts of water. Each quart (32 ounces) weighs 2 pounds. The area that I was in had access to rivers, streams, and mud puddles. Personally I never carried more than four canteens, but I also used my water purification tabs a lot and drank many a mud puddle (strained through a piece of cloth).   2. He mentioned that his unit would stay on the “actual ridge itself” to have the high ground. My unit would stay on what is known as the “military crest” which was actually down just a bit from the actual crest. The big reason was if you are on the actual crest you are “backlighted” by the sky. So, different units; different methods.   3. He had an incident where after a “firefight” the enemy body count was “one dead monkey”. Funny story. We never had it happen that way, but we worked with Cambodians that had come over to our side. They were constantly killing monkeys, snakes, turtles, and dogs to augment their C rations.   4. He stated that his M-16 “never failed him”. I had the same experience: every time I went “click”, my M-16 went “boom”! Keep in mind however that early on in the War the M-16 had a host of problems, but by the time I got there they’d been resolved by chrome-lining the bore, getting rid of the open face flash suppressor by replacing it with a closed “bird cage” style one, improving the ammo used, adding a forward assist in case a round didn’t fully seat, and so on.   Anyway, just some observations. Again on the lighter: top score.  

Very Little bit goo be gone on a rag 

Marty, I have noticed of the last 10 years or so that a crop of NS Meyer restrikes does not have the NS Meyer hallmark. There are some restrikes where the reproduction artists tried to grind down the hallmark. Oftentimes, this left some tell-tale indications of alterations, depending on the skill.  Some were done (probably) with a Dremel tool and maybe some sandpaper, while others were more skillfully done. Oftentimes you will find the non-NS-Meyer hallmarked restrikes with a fantasy hallmark (like AECo) that has been added in its stead.  Other times (like these) there will be no obvious signs of a ground down hallmark.  I suspect that whoever commissioned the NS Meyer wings-- and there have been many waves of these over the decades-- simply asked that they not be hallmarked.  It is just my guess.   HeWhoShallNotBeNamed once told me that NS Meyer did not actually manufacture its wings but rather had multiple wholesale "jobbers" make them. The hallmarks were added at various times and in different configurations during the manufacturing/retail processes, which is why there are so many variations in the hallmarks. I have no idea if that is true or not, but it seems reasonable.   Ironically, I suspect that in about 100 years or so, many of these reproductions will be collectible in their own right!

Wow that is great! Congratulations!

Just what you want to see nice fat 2 its a text book example.

Thanks for that additional information!