US Army Vietnam 1965 issue pocket knife | ||
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Posted 6 years ago
flashlarue
(272 items)
This is an US Army issue pocket knife made by Camillus in 1965. The knife has never been used and is still coated with the factory grease. There is no rust or staining to the knife just dirt stuck to the grease.
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That cosmoline will keep it perfect for centuries. Nice item.
These knives were issued to soldiers in the Army, Navy and Air Force around the world. The marines also had the same knife, but it was marked USMC, not US. Based on the date,, it would be more accurate to call it a Vietnam Era knife. I have one of these somewhere, but really don't remember if it was issued to me when I served in Vietnam or Thailand. Even so, I wouldn't call it Vietnam issue even if I remembered where I was when it was issued to me, as it's issue wasn't limited soldiers serving in any one country. Mine is considerably more beat up than your is. Nice knife! I carried a Gerber MKII, also, but it wasn't issued to me, I bought that in the PX at Ft. Devens, MA.
If you notice I listed it as a 1965 issue knife not a Vietnam issue knife.
Toward the end of WWII the US military developed this all-metal knife to replace the "engineer's knife" and several other folding knives then in service. The Marine Corp knife was stamped "U. S. Marine Corps" on its side. After the war the services all got the same knife with simply "U.S." stamped on the side. Knives of this type with U.S.M.C., U.S.N., or U.S.A.F., "have no real military affiliation"* and were made and sold by companies which did not supply the military.
* "Pocket Knives of the United States Military" by Michael W Silvey, 2002.
M. H. Cole states in his "US Military Knives Book III" (1979) that these knives continue (at that time) to be produced by some of the firms which supplied the military but they are "commercial" knives, i.e. for retail sale and not supplied to the military.
Dennis Ellingson (probably the foremost authority on the "utility pattern" which includes "scout" knives and the MIL-K knives discussed here), in consultation with Tom Williams of Camillus Cutlery, writes in "Military Knives - a reference book" published by Knife World Magazine (2001), that
"As to the fantasy knives, I am fairly certain that the Marines never specified a stainless (i.e. post-1958) utility knife, but yet knives appear that read USMC. No, they do not read "U.S. Marine Corps" as they did with the WWII brass lined utility knives that were for the Marines. Rumor has it that these were introduced by a hardware company in 1971, 1975, and 1978."
My understanding the Marines could by one at the exchange and maybe the Air Force and Navy. I know the Army was still issuing them in 1991 because I was issued one in Saudi during Desert Sheild which I carried through Desert Storm.