ALL ITEMS CAME FROM THIS RUCK, CAPTURED BY THOMAS M GROLL
Captured around duc pho in July 1967, while he as assigned to the 327th infantry, 101st airborne. mr Groll was wounded during his tour and went home only to recover and complete the special forces training and went back to Vietnam to work with Mac v sog in cross border missions. items came from Jason hardy at the dogtag.com
This is a rare item, looks to be a nva copy of a jap ww2 hat. This is the only one I have every found or seen looks like a nva issue hat with tails added. Its kaki in color
Found in the ruck at time of capture is a bar of soap, two north Vietnamese lighters, a Chinese store brought razor and a small shaving razor in a case marked hai phong, Vietnamese made and a game wrapped in an old sock. Game is some sort of checkers , and the book of documentation with all the vets paper work and dd214 , Mac v , and 101st paper work
UPDATE
I have been contacted by an expert named Lily, who plays this game and is an expert in the history. This is not a checker game, its a very complicated Chinese chess game, played in china and Vietnam
2. Unique gas mask, very simple , looks like a shower cap modified with a plastic mouth piece and gauze for a filter and a plastic drain, very similer to the one in emmerings book
One of the coolest items ever, vc captured gas mask with belt pouch with extra filters in there own pockets in the pouch, looks to be a jungle workshop item
It looks to be one of the ones made by the antvci war folks in California during the war and sent to the north, made out of shower Curtin fabric and gauze but it could be vc made I have view some like this over the years of collecting
1. Made from a blue cloth with a white cotton backing typical material used by the vc druing the war , gauze is missing on the front , strings are there to tie one to the front
2. Field expedient type, made from the same material, this one has the pocket for gauze and ties made of a light plastic
Inside of bag of north Vietnam issued Russian gas mask, you can see it was fitted with compartments of a black cloth, original Russian bags had divisions of the same material as the bag
1. Most rare nva uniform I have is this camouflage set of pants and shirts . vet bring back from 1972.
I believe they call this dac cong. ( special forces) there is only one know color picture of this camo that I know of, life magazine 1972 taken in Laos of a dead nva solider wearing this same camo
2. Close up of nva camo , note all the items I have are reversible with a dark brown side opposite the camo side
3. Reverse of the dac cong shirt showing the brown side of the garment
One very cool Viet cong main force uniform, original captured item. Check out the whistle on the lanyard, ever see one like this? The finest uniform I have ever seen or owned.
1. Vietcong main force captured uniform. don't get any better than this for original captured uniforms
2. Captured shirt with documentation, vc main force collared shirt from the estate of 1st lieutenant Paul wunch, served with the 2nd corp. Mike force in 1968 letter from Jason Hardy
3. Captured nva medical officers uniform
from john 0Conner
1. It shows much use and has original boonie with heavy plastic liner, web gear is dated 64. the rice tube is original and is maker marked. this is from the Rogers collection. All items were taken from same prisoner after capture
2. Close up of the 100% original rice tube with maker label
3. Original black vc top and sks chest rig, brought back and purchased from sgt Marvin meadows from john coroners personal collection, Marvin meadows was with the 5th special forces in 1968. His picture is shown in a page from the green beret magazine of 1968.
I have used these for research over the years and every time I found one I purchased it, they were like life magazine for Vietnam. they are dated from 1963 to 1977. the late ones have great pictures of war torn Vietnam and show the damage of war in north and south. outstanding pictures I will be selling these one at a time soon
I purchased this from matt siler, I have added a few things to the group that I felt belonged with this. The war dog pictured was kia during this raid on an airbase. I have looked up the dogs that were kia at air bases and only one was kia, his name was king, the pictures show the nva that tried to get on to the base and there demise. The scorpion is original, the receiver was cut diagonally to make it legal and bonded back together for display. The group comes with the scorpion, the holster, the pictures of the kia , king and the nva, A war dog collar and us dog coat dated 67.
Contact me if you have an interest in this group
2. Close up of pictures, this is the only grouping of a war dog that I have ever located
3. Close up of the diagonal cut recover, the magazine is not removable any longer item is for display only, the gun was cut to be able to bring it back from vietnam
note: this piece is diagnial cut in three places per atf and bondo was used to make the reciver this piece can never be made to work ever
VC made copy of a us huey, ( vc target model) made for showing how to track a helicopter to shoot it down with small arms. This was brought back by 4th div vet, Dave henkles, 1 st if the 22nd inf. vc target model
A very rare item, vc sandal repair kit, and a roll of rubber for straps, there are two kits here, one is just the tool for replacing the straps, the other has a knife, tongs, and metal piece to pull the straps thru the old tire sandals, there is also a Chinese made lighter attached to the lanyard and is marked 555
Personal items taken off kia vc, plastic wallet, document pouch with rice ration receipts, pictures of vc and others, a letter with Vietnamese writing, and a vc book dated 1965 to 1966 items are original as captured
1. Captured vs. medical bag, found in a tunnel and sent back to the US, there is a letter with the bag describing the item and how it was found, it was sent back to the us by Robby dunn, dated august 23 1968, u.s. Navy, navsupact, nhabe/us navy medical, Vietnam
2. Interior of bag showing compartments
3. Front of bag, BS is for Bac Si, stands for medic in Vietnamese, not sure were this came from, could be soviet block or Chinese has wood toggles on the side, leather straps on the front
