The following items are a collection of miscellaneous memorabilia from Vietnam:
Here is an Americal Division issued wallet. The wallet may have been issued to all soldiers, but almost everyone in the infantry received one. It is about 4 inches by 6 inches in size, with zip-locked pockets inside to keep the water out.
This AK-44 rifle was captured about April, 1971 near Ha Thanh, a village and Special Forces outpost near the Song Tra Khuc River west of the Horseshoe.
It was presented to Dave Eckberg by the district chief of Ha Thanh, Major Giang, as a gift for his efforts in setting up refugee villes, supplying clothing to the refugees, and performing weekly MEDCAP missions in the district for several months from about February to July 1971.
The rifle is an old bolt-action rifle with a bayonet attached to the barrel and is shown here with the bayonet extended. The rifle could be loaded with six rounds through the bottom of the trigger housing. The adjustable sights can be seen on the top. The round knob on the very right, barely visible, is the safety; it was pulled back and turned to prevent the rifle from being fired.
The enemy used a number of munitions against U.S. soldiers, some crude and some more sophisticated. Shown here is a homemade Chicom grenade. The grenade is made of a piece of pipe, which was scored to help it fragment upon explosion. The bottom was capped with some metal sheeting which was hammered on. The top is a piece of bamboo which was carved to fit the pipe. It has a hole drilled down the center through which a fuse ran. This grenade was thrown at one of the companies in the field in late 1970. When it hit the ground, the bamboo top came off, so the grenade did not explode.
Here is a pair of AK-47 rounds. U.S. soldiers faced this type of ammo daily. These rounds were taken from a cache of ammo and weapons captured near Ha Thanh in 1971.
Interestingly, when Dave returned to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1971, he walked through the airports with the captured AK-44, the Chicom grenade, and the AK-47 rounds. There were no metal detectors in use back then. Can you imagine going through an airport with these things today?
This warning was one of an identical pair that Gary found while walking point across the river from Hill 4-11. The warnings were posted on each side of the trail. Gary turned one in, as this was the policy, and mailed the other one home.
