Chief of Naval Operations South Vietnam Navy - S&W Model 48 / Browning Hi-Power

[Targets Guy]

Thanks for this thread. Brought back some memories when I saw the Hi-Power. I was the war trophy authenticator for my fighter wing at Phan Rang AB in 1970-71.


US forces rotating back to CONUS from Phan Rang had to bring any non-issued weapons they had acquired in country to me for a certification so they could ship their weapons home with them. I saw many Hi-Powers that year. The Browning and SKS's were by far the most frequent weapons I saw.

 

[Old_Cop]

True Again

Great pictures and history. Glad you and your family made it out. This date has significance.

In 1974, in the aftermath of Watergate, Democrats were elected in a landslide and the new Congress violated America's promise by cutting off funding for South Vietnam's self-defense. Then when the Communists attacked South Vietnam in massive force, Congress refused to honor America's pledge to come to their aid. The left's view seems to be North Vietnam's conquest had the happy result of reunification. Senator J. William Fulbright, who provided the forum for that spectacular liar John Kerry, said about the fall of Saigon that he was ". . . no more depressed than I would be about Arkansas losing a football game to Texas."

Trivializing the human cost of Communist victory, the Left ignores tens of thousands of executions, the million or so sent to brutal re-education camps, the panicked populace fleeing in rickety overpacked boats and dying by the tens of thousands. They neglect North Vietnam's obscene practice of bulldozing South Vietnamese graves, and the influx of North Vietnamese to take over the best farms, businesses, homes and jobs in South Vietnam. And they sweep under the rug America's shame, the betrayal of our ally, never mind the genocide by Communists as they murdered two million in Cambodia next door.

The legacy of these disastrous decisions haunts US policy today, heartening our enemies while making our friends nervous.

1. Every jihadi has learned Ho Chi Minh's lesson: To defeat the United States it is not necessary to beat their military on the battlefield, merely to outlast their feckless politicians.

2. The world has learned what an American promise to an ally is really worth.

Prophetic observation.

 

[Kinman]

As a Vietnam Vet (70-71) and of a differing opinion of that posted above I will bring up the fact that as someone who has been warned about items that are considered taboo and even done time in detention: I will bring up that it seems as if the political view is supported by the Moderators it gets by without so much as a by your leave...Should it just happen to rub someone the wrong way BANG...Detention or the threat.
Fair is fair...

 

[6917sctygrp]

You Hit The Nail On the Head!

Great pictures and history. Glad you and your family made it out. This date has significance.

In 1974, in the aftermath of Watergate, Democrats were elected in a landslide and the new Congress violated America's promise by cutting off funding for South Vietnam's self-defense. Then when the Communists attacked South Vietnam in massive force, Congress refused to honor America's pledge to come to their aid. The left's view seems to be North Vietnam's conquest had the happy result of reunification. Senator J. William Fulbright, who provided the forum for that spectacular liar John Kerry, said about the fall of Saigon that he was ". . . no more depressed than I would be about Arkansas losing a football game to Texas."

Trivializing the human cost of Communist victory, the Left ignores tens of thousands of executions, the million or so sent to brutal re-education camps, the panicked populace fleeing in rickety overpacked boats and dying by the tens of thousands. They neglect North Vietnam's obscene practice of bulldozing South Vietnamese graves, and the influx of North Vietnamese to take over the best farms, businesses, homes and jobs in South Vietnam. And they sweep under the rug America's shame, the betrayal of our ally, never mind the genocide by Communists as they murdered two million in Cambodia next door.

The legacy of these disastrous decisions haunts US policy today, heartening our enemies while making our friends nervous.

1. Every jihadi has learned Ho Chi Minh's lesson: To defeat the United States it is not necessary to beat their military on the battlefield, merely to outlast their feckless politicians.

2. The world has learned what an American promise to an ally is really worth.

You Sir are spot on. Kerry is still there and we still have the feckless politicians who care more for their position than for the lives of our military or our allies or America's honor.

 

[ARPC-Ops]

A bit more on the negative. Class III is correct about the positioning of the notches relative to the emulsion side of the sheet of film. I would observe that this is what we call a "copy neg" meaning that it was produced by a camera in a copying setup wherein they took a picture of a print, transparency or even another color negative. The shaded areas on the negative around the actual image are what shows it was a copy.

The other indication of it being a copy is the resolution shown in the print. If it had been shot on a 4x5 camera such as the Speed Graphic, it would have far greater clarity. This process is somewhat akin to making Xerox copies of Xerox copies - for every generation you move away from the original, image quality degrades somewhat.

All that said, the photo and negative are still absolute treasures, especially as part of this collection of history. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

 

[CMudrock]

Gotta love a 2 gun, swashbuckling Admiral. Wonder if WE have any of those these days ?

 

[Bookmaker]

Swashbucklers in our Military?

The swashbucklers are there in all the services, but they're biding their time given the nature of the current presidency and the political generals and admirals on top.

General George Marshall's brother, General S.L.A. Marshall told me that it was the same before WWII. But Omar Bradley had created a list of warrior Colonels. After we got involved, every general in the Army except for MacArthur, Ike, and Patton was sidelined and replaced by newly-minted Brigadier Generals. One hopes someone in each of the services is doing the same today.

Interestingly, "Slam" also said he and Bradley attended the film "Patton" together and said George Scott's portrayal was perfect ... they felt they were "there" again.

 

[bph9]

The T series High Power

The T series High Power was one of the best production High Powers ever made. It was made of all forging with no castings being used. Trigger pulls after the magazine safety often ran 3lbs or even lighter. Accuracy was outstanding. It was back in the days when you could actually buy a quality made handgun and they were very affordable. I paid $104.00 for mine with two free boxes of ammo and it was brand new in 1968. It was during the "golden age" of gun collecting.