Posted 11 years ago
PaperHoarder
(32 items)
I purchased this piece recently but can not find out much about it. According to the back it is from a sergeant with the 117th assault helicopter company. The writing on the back is with some kind of thick pencil. It says $10 was paid for the piece. The image is painted onto the wood. Any help with age or more info about sergeant Valliere is appreciated.
The saying was common during the Viet Nam era. I still have a jacket and a zippo lighter with it on them.
Just Google the unit and you will see when and where they were in Viet Nam. Your piece was probably made by the locals and sold to GI's to bring home. That doesn't devalue it, it just speaks for it.
Thanks I wasn't sure if it was something made as a momento later on or something actually from the war period.
Hard to tell, it could have been made for one of their reunions. Send them a picture at their web site and ask. I bet they will be more than happy to answer......a matter of pride.
Thanks. I haven't found their website yet but I'm looking.
Lots of links at the bottom here:
http://www.117thahc.org/
Thanks, I just emailed them.
The 8th Army shoulder patch, DMZ sign and Korean flag indicate Korean service, not Vietnam. The 117th Attack Helicopter Company stood down in in Vietnam in March 1972 and then was reactivated in Korea with the 8th Army, so this is after they moved.
The rest of it - the Huey, M-60 Machinegun over the shoulder, olive green utility uniform, PPSH-41 style machinegun (possible North Korean Type 49) on the ground all say to me that this is close to/during the Vietnam era, so I do think this is not long after ’72. The white name tag should have been green by then (like his undershirt, but I can’t recall when they made that change), but that that may have been left white to make his name clearer.