While working for 5th SF Group in 1969 I had landed in a clearing near a Montagnard village that was being relocated. The SF Captain went through the woods into the village while my crew and I waited with an ARVN guard. While hanging out, this guy came walking into the clearing wearing nothing but a loin cloth and a wicker type back pack. He didn't pay much attention to us but what got my attention was his long handled knife balanced on his shoulder and the blade pictured below, which was in the rope holding up his loin cloth. I called him over to get a closer look, then tried to negotiate for his knives with the help of the ARVN. No way was he going to give up the big blade (similar in design to the smaller one but larger with a 3 foot handle) but he agreed to sell me the small one. I pulled out a five dollar MPC note and he motioned No No. As luck would have it the ARVN guard traded me 500 piaster for the MPC and the deal was struck.

I've had this for over 50 years now and it is displayed over our fire place. These hunter/gatherer tribesmen were fierce and loyal fighters when properly trained and led buy SF Advisors. This group was relocated to a new "fighting village" accompanied by their families, chickens, dogs and all.

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I'll never have anything even close to that! Thanks for sharing! Cool AF!

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When we lived in El Paso, I picked up this Special Forces Bowie knife at a gun show. I was showing it to an El Paso friend who served in 'Nam, and he exclaimed ."That's my knife!" He explained that he had brought it back from in country and that the special way the lanyard was secured was his doing. A Special Forces captain was handing them out, and he got one to bring back. He had traded it off and regretted doing it.

The coincidence was amazing. I promised him that if I ever wanted to sell it, he would have have the right of first refusal.

We were visiting him and and his wife in El Paso a few years ago, and I was admiring a gun in his collection, a S&W Model 1 2nd issue. I knew that the knife was worth serious money, as it's a rare collectible. I really wanted him to have it back, and I offered him a straight trade for the little S&W. He agreed, and gave me the gun. As soon as I got back to Phoenix, I mailed him the knife. I think we were both happy with the deal. Yes, I'm missing this knife from my collection of military knives and bayonets, but I am really happy my friend has been re-united with a memento of his Vietnam service.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Nice looking fixed blade PALADIN85020.

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Life is short,live it fully.

Those were some bad little dudes . My uncle , a SF Capt , worked with them on two tours . He said they were fiercely loyal to people they considered friends or family .

I still remember a National Geographic from back in the early 60's . They did a story on some EF soldiers living with the montagnards . They went native , running around in loin clothes . It really stunk what we did to them at the end of the war .

I have a similar knife that was made from what looks like a leaf spring for the blade , and also a bowie type with KON- TUM on the blade .

Yes, the Yards were good fighters, but were not considered Vietnamese by the RSVN Government. They really took it in the shorts when we left.

I didn't keep a knife souvenir from VN, but I did keep some from the Philippines, Central America and Thailand. I had an old Sergeant Major tell me once that the further from the trail you get, the bigger knife you need. That was some sage advice.

Top to bottom:
El Sal small machete
Thai bamboo knife
Negrito machete

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Keep your powder dry.

The low land Vietnamese considered the yards second class citizens.

I bought this Gerber at the Ft. Rucker PX in 79 and carried it for nine years. Every time I put my flight suit on it went into the inside of my left boot. The leather contoured to my ankle after a while.

I got to thinking and it was 13 years I carried that thing in my boot. The blade started cutting through the sheath so I retired it.

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Re post no. 7, does the Salvadoran machete say, Corneta with a cornet logo and is the blade marked as model 127?

Looks just like mine! A very handy item, a copy of the old Collins Model 127, which came in several blade lengths.

Really liking that bottom Negrito machete. Not sure exactly why but it really speaks to me.

Here’s my Negrito Bolo.
One more time!
Bought it from at Clark at the Jungle Survival School snack bar.

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Pilgrim:

Clark Air Base was about the best US Air Force base after Rhein-Main and Ramstein air bases in Germany. I always liked to transit through Clark. Mount Pinatubo put an end to it when it blew and the Air Force abandoned it. The last time I was there (2005) it had been rebuilt as an international commerce zone. It's again very nice.

Texas Star:

It's marked "Imacasa-Made in El Salvador-No 27"

I had a longer one that I used in the bush back in the day, but my son managed to loose it in the woods behind our house in his youth.

John:

We bought those little machetes from the Negrito Tribe on Luzon. Carried them all over the PI. They were an SF favorite. The handle is water buffalo horn. I stuck the original water buffalo leather sheath into an old M16 bipod case so that I could carry it on my web gear.

Retired W4:

I bought mine at the SF book store on Smoke Bomb Hill at Fort Bragg. It fits an M8 Bayonet sheath for cary on the old pistol belts.

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Keep your powder dry.

Nice two-tone handle. Never thought about using the M8A1. Wouldn't be to comfortable in a boot though. That's why I took the web gear hangar off mine.

Yes, very different carry modes between an aviator and a ground guy.

A quick addendum:

My most used knives over my army SF career:

A Ka Bar and a Demo Knife.

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Keep your powder dry.

What? No Randalls? Seriously, I suspect most SF men do use less expensive knives, as do most aircrew.

The Negritos are very cool and honest people, they had a Queen "Queen Mary" just after Japanese time iirc, and later a King "King Alphonso" in the 70's early 80's.

They had a stand just down the hill from the Clark hospital and had dang near any type of knife you could imagine they could also make blades to order I bought a lot of blades from them and gave most of them away thinking I could go back to Clark later and get more, Pinatubo put the cabosh on that- I still have a few Negrito knives, the steel was old jeep spring steel later from any type of car..

At their stand they would demonstrate blow guns, throwing knives, cross bows, and long bows. They had salvage rights to the base in return for the service they gave us during the war. They would pick up old sheet steel and take it to their village not far from Clark for building material.

We would sometimes ask them to catch a snake for us- they would bring a Cobra back in a sack and put it on the basket ball court outside the barracks scary damn things. lol

I liked them a lot if they told you something it was true, if they said they would do something it would happen.

They did in a lot of Imperial Army Troopers in their own barracks so the story goes.

OP thanks for posting and thank you for your service.

The little folder was always in our survival vest. Every thing else was up to the individual. Lots of great knives here. Just a few more of mine.

Columbian Galivan w/ Panamanian sheath (the kind you get at the tourista shop).
Pacific island (my friend who grew up in the Philippines as a Navy brat thinks it's Moro) w/bark sheath.
Handle custom carved by a previous owner (USMC).
U.S. Ontario (para chord wrap is mine).

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