Original Vietnam Special Forces 1st Pattern Jungle Jacket w/ LLDB Pocket Hanger

An original 1963 dated 1st pattern jungle jacket w/ Special Forces and 25th Infantry insignia, CIB (Combat Infantry Badge), South Vietnamese and US Airborne Jump Wings, and LLDB pocket hanger. Almost all theater-made insignia.

Part of a video series, where I share inspiration pieces at ARTIFACT, including: ephemera, vintage clothing, workwear, and militaria from my personal collection.

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Transcript:
Hey everyone. It's chris from ARTIFACT. This is part of a video series
where we take a look at pieces in my
personal collection that I use for design
inspiration over at ARTIFACT, with other
projects. They could be vintage apparel,
workwear, denim, military,
skateboard, band t-shirts... things that I
think are cool, and I squirrel away
that have inspired me in one way or another.
So, let's take a look at what's in the
bag today. This is a Vietnam jungle
jacket. These have been pretty hot
for several years in street style. They're a
really comfortable jacket. They're cool. Even cooler when they have historical significance.
This is one I've had
for years. I got it from a guy who
was a picker. He would pick rag mills. I don't know if this one came from
a rag mill but he sold it to me... I want to say the sometime
in the late 1990s. It's just really cool and I'll explain why.
First off, it's badged. He's got a
combat patch for 25th Infantry. I'm
guessing he was in Korea
because his combat infantry badge has a
star to denote that he was involved in
two conflicts.
He's got paratrooper jump wings. Theater
embroidered army tape I love how these
early ones were done on kind of a khaki
twill. Then sun and
laundering would bleach them out to
this white color. This one sewn really cool...
the way they just tucked the wings up
underneath the tape and in the CIB.
Whoever sewed this - they
were very very quick and valued
their time. The back side. Give you a little peak here.
You got some business here that I'll explain in a second. this jungle jacket was
well-loved. This pocket flap is actually not
even original to the jacket. The
other had been torn off and they just
fabricated another one to sew on here.
They did a really nice job, especially
with the backtack here for the pen
holder. Whoever did the tailoring
did a really nice job. Another
interesting element to this is the
original owner had completely worn
through the collar, and the tailor sewed this.
You see this periodically
because this is a really thin poplin. A
a real thin material but the wearer will blow through the collar, and then they'll
remove the collar, flip it inside out, and
then sew it back on. That's what you
see here. This soldier didn't want
to get rid of his jacket. A lot of
times when guys were wearing these in
country in Vietnam they come new a much
darker shade. They wanted to show
that they weren't like an FNG,
so they they would want this look.
In looking further, you've got his
name tape and then you've got a
Vietnamese made BeVo woven South
Vietnamese jump wing. Since this guy
was Special Forces, and an advisor, they
would oftentimes wear Vietnamese
insignia as well. Over here you've got a
theater-made Special Forces insignia and
look at how it's kind of wonky here. It's
not symmetrical. I love this kind of the
folk art quality of these theater made
pieces even the airborne arc is
Vietnamese done as well. Pretty good job
though. If you've ever sewn I mean it.
It's not easy to make this stuff. These
Staff Sergeant Chevron's these are hand
embroidered. What's cool about
these is they're on a sateen cloth like
what the u.s. utility fatigues were made from - a bit heavier cloth, and what they
did is they would fold newspaper to
create these chevron arcs. Then they
would do their hand embroidery work. When I got this jacket, I remember years ago
there was just a little piece of newspaper
hanging out and I couldn't resist. I just
I pulled it out and it was all yellowed.
When I unfolded, it was Vietnamese newspaper,
which was just super cool.
Moving on, there's a matching chevron on this side, and this is
an LLDB (Vietnamese Special Forces) pocket patch. Like I was saying,
this this is South Vietnamese Special
Forces. He was an advisor - probably was on an A-Team or something, and what you're
seeing here is BeVo woven.
They wanted it worn as a pocket patch. You'll see these were often sewn
directly to the pocket, where they'd even
remove the pocket, so as not so sew through the pocket.
This one was sewn on a pocket hanger that's actually made out