TM US Personal Items – Rolling Thunder

During public open show hours when on display or in the arena, Rolling Thunder members will have to adhere to our uniform and equipment guidelines.

PERSONAL APPEARANCE

Glasses

If you are wearing correction glasses, go for the civilian 50’s, 60’s or NHS/ Grannie/John Lennon” style.
They can can now be easily purchased from eBay or from specialist websites.
Genuine US Army issue ones are hard to get.
*
60’s sunglasses are easy to find as for the moment the retro look is in fashion
the most encountered type in Vietnam was the Ray Ban style!

ROSSBOY 524 style NHS 60’S glasses

*
* RAY BAN look like 60’s style prescription
sun glasses
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* US ARMY issue genuine glasses issued in 1976

The specs were new when I got them in the late 90’s and are the same as pre 1974 ie Vietnam issue specs.
The prescription lenses were added later on for re-enacting.

If your looking for a pair: the 46 is the width of the lenses,
46 being small and 50 being large;
24 is the size on the nose bridge,
20 being small and 24 being large.
These numbers can be found on the right side of the frame
or on the packet. (sizing info thanks to Luke Stevens)

The military issue specs were produced in gray cellulose acetate until 1968 then in black.
A lot individuals used their own private purchase frames,
brown were also popular in the 60’s.

The “Grannie – John Lennon round glasses were also often seen.

GLASSES, SUN HGU-4/P

Genuine US Army Aviator sunglasses
(hard piece of kit to get issued even for fliers, often sported by REMF in Saigon as available on the Black Market)

This type of sun glasses were often worn by MP’s in Vietnam.

GLASSES, SUN HGU-4/P

Modern RAY BAN style cheap sun glasses

US ARMY ISSUE sun glasses, dated 1972

Sunglasses were generally not worn by line infantry in the field or the jungle as they made booby traps and concealed enemies hard to spot,
but you do see them being worn in the Delta in open paddy fields where the water did reflect the light badly. They were commonly worn by flying crews, drivers,
MPs, Navy and in bases and camps or in town.

The “Old Timer” says

The wearing of sunglasses was discouraged on patrol because they hindered spotting of booby traps, trip wires,
tilt stick and punji stakes.
*
Ok to use on “base camp” but try to stay away
from the late Aviator Ray-Ban type (which was used) as they give that Hollywood look. Fine if you are a pilot of MP or represent late war.

Vietnam issue Sun,Wind & Dust goggles in the original box and with additional sun lens dated 1968.

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The “Old Timer” says

The designed remained the same from WWII until 1974, ie straps going trough the lenses and they are the only ones acceptable for Rolling Thunder.

The post war ones have the strap going through little mounting on the side of the rubber frame.

WATCHES

Another item easy to get right,
e-bay is full of civilians watches and some military ones,
but watch out for fake US Army Vietnam ones.

Seiko are easy to date and were used a lot by US troops in Vietnam,
this is the Seiko production date calculator link:
http://www.csce.uark.edu/~jgauch/photos/seiko/

First two are genuine US ARMY issue watches

All civilian Seiko watches,
Seiko Bell-matic August 1975
Seiko 5 August 76
Seiko 5 Sportmatic September 1967
Seiko 6105-8009 Diver watch, June 1970

from left to right

US Army issue, plastic case dated 1966
US Army issue, metal case dated 1968
Timex 90’s copy

Seiko 5 Sportmatic September 1967
Seiko 6105-8009 Diver watch, June 1970

There is no written record of Seiko’s ever being issued during
the Vietnam war but a lot were bought at base exchanges
and on R&R in Japan. Dozens of models of 5’s were worn by American soldiers. The model most connected with SF/SEALS were the Seiko divers watch 6105-8000 series . This was the watch worn by Capt. Willard (Martin Sheene) in Apocalypse Now. 🙂

Another one often associated with SF/SOG is the black face
Seiko 5 Sportmatic, very reliable watch and easy for Indigenous troop to read.

Seiko 6105-8009 – 0685030 Diver watch, June 1970

VIETNAM DOG TAGS

The Army Service Number was 8 digits and had one of the following prefixes: RA (Regular Army, volunteer enlisted), US (an enlisted draftee), NG (National Guard), ER (Enlisted Reserve), O (Officer). The Army used the Army Serial Number exclusively until the end of 1967 when the use of Social Security Numbers (9 digits) was introduced.
From this time until June 1969, many dog tags used both numbers.
After this date the Social Security Number was used exclusively. For Vietnam Era tags, you also see the use of the “broad” religions such as Catholic, Protestant, Hebrew fully spelled out as opposed to the first letter on WWII tags. You also see many tags with specific main stream denominations such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc. During this time, if you have no religious preference, the tags are typically stamped “NO PREFERENCE” or left blank.

1965-1969 Vietnam Era Dog Tag – hole to the right/left	1969 on Vietnam Era Dog Tag hole to the left , edges rolled upwards (MOST COMMON)
Last Name	Last Name
First Name, MI	First Name, MI
Service Pre-Fix, Army Service Number	Social Security Number
Blood Type (with rhesus + or -)	Blood Type (with rhesus + or -)
Religious Preference	Religious Preference

Above are a set of USMC dog tags (I think post Vietnam war, but the stamping remained the same

The second set is my own set that I have used in my 25 years of Vietnam Living History,
a Christian Cross is also inserted in the correct green tape holding the dog tags together

USMC

Last Name

First Initial & Middle Initial or First Name and Middle Initial

Service Number (or Social Security), Blood Type

USMC followed by Gas Mask Size

Religious Preference

DOG TAG SILENCERS

Despite the fact that they were produced since WWII, they did not see extensive used until after the Vietnam war. For front line troops and mainly Infantry, the need to disguise the noise made by the two tags became evident. The silencers where never fully available during the war and many just used elastic band, black or green tape to secure them. Some other decided to attach one of their dog tag to the laces on their jungle boot.

The Vietnam era silencers are rubberized black one, but some earlier flesh colour ones may also have been issued in very small quantity.

Veterans and dog tags ( Information courtesy of the Gia-vuc website)

I came in-country January of 1969. I went through BCT at Ft. Polk in January 1967. I had an RA service number as an enlisted man (RA18!!!!!!) then somewhere between the start of BCT and the end of LPC at Ft. Lewis, I was changed over to my SSAN.
When I was commissioned at Ft. Benning, they gave me O53!!!!!. So Sam gave me three service numbers.

I bought the black rubber silencers at Polk and used them until I separated. 1Lt W. M. Treadway, Army

***

My dog tags, SVN 70-71 were coated in clear plastic as well as the chain. They made no noise but had a greenish crud inside from all the moisture. Cpt D.S.Mudd, Army

***

I was issued my oval shaped enlisted tag issued 1950 boot camp. In Korea not taped. Two hung separately around my neck on a chain. Really enforced to wear.

New tag issued 1963. Had to get rid of the old and replaced by new as per regs. That enlisted tag was replaced when I discovered I had wrong blood type. Tag has one notch.

First tour 65 –66 we taped them, Second tour in the rear with MPs as an officer taped no issued silencer

I have my officer tag issued 66 no notch but has gas mask size. All tags had service numbers. Cpt E. Garr, USMC

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I don’t recall being issued the hard rubber silencer. I saw them in Vietnam and most tags I saw were laced up on the boots. You did not need the silencer if tag was on the boot. No way to make a noise because most all used only one of the two tags issued.

My tag shows USNR. I was in the Reserves. Also the S. Baptist stands for Southern Baptist. I got my tags in 1967 when I joined the Reserves. Naval Reservist had to serve two years of active duty. I went active duty in January 69 and was in Vietnam that spring. P03 R. Holmes, Seabee

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I seem to remember using good old Army “green tape” to silence the two tags around my neck. Never put them on my boots. The boot thing was pushed by the regular units.

Also in hindsight, after being in country for a while, I realized that there was no such thing as silence when moving with the PFs, but the tape kept the dog tags from annoying me. Cpt P. Tompkins. Army

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Mine were issued 22 June 1968, we were told, ” one around the neck one on your jungle boot, in case your head was cut off!” When I went ” Over the fence,” I was told, no dog tags, no combat boots, no ID!” The other tag around you neck was to go on your teeth if you had a mouth. 1Lt W. Pearson, Army

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I was in Vietnam in 1969-70. My dog tags were issued in 1968. My silencers were black and were the only kind I ever saw or have ever seen. My dog tags had no “tooth” notch. I don’t know if it was true, but the notch on the old style tags was said to be for propping a deceased soldier’s dog tag (the one to remain with the body) in his mouth. I’m not sure that’s true because it doesn’t seem to be a reliable way to achieve the result and the result doesn’t seem to me to be necessary, anyway.

My silencers were private purchase. I did not tape mine together, I and all my team mates, if I recall correctly, put them in our boot laces. We each had two pairs of boots, so one dog tag went with each pair. Since we were out by ourselves, the idea was to make it difficult for anyone to easily take the dog tags from our bodies, if we were killed, and to maximize the chance of the identification to be found if we were blasted to bits in an explosion. I attach a photo of my “working” dog tags, the ones that were on my boots, which you can tell because a little Mekong mud is still on them. For some reason, I had two pairs of dog tags, so once I returned from VN I wore the other set and put these back on their chain. 1Lt T. Turner Army

(numbers have been changed)

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No silencers issued or used. In fact, I was told not to wear dog tags or rings and carry no ID when on patrol. In some cases these ‘vanilla’ patrols did not carry M-16s, but used other weapons that did not tie patrol/mission to US Army. The M-16 silhouette was quite noticeable and made identification of US personnel easy – like when you were crossing a river. VC then knew who to shoot first. I didn’t wear dog tags at all in RVN. Sgt G. Bowes USSF

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As I recall I had at least one dog tag and probably both affixed through my boot laces. I was in Quang Ngai Prov and home to the U.S. Amercal Div and where I got the notion to stick them in my boots. Given the number of booby traps in that AO, in hindsight it may not have been such a hot idea. As I recall the Americal troops had them in both their boots and around their necks.

I definitely did not have any commercially made “silencers,” especially the black rubber type that bordered around the tags. I used that device years later. I don’t recall if those type silencers existed back then or not.

I think I started out with both tags either taped together or silenced with a small rubber band around my neck. Cpt R. Hensler, Army

The information published is to our best knowledge and may be altered if new information is uncovered.
All photos are from our collection and nothing should be re-use without our prior consent! please contact us first.
Uniform and Equipment Standards Team (Alex, Jean-Luc, Jack, Paul )