Dyed Black USMC Force Recon Pants (originally posted by nkomo)

These pants are in bad shape and have numerous tears/repairs, but they are one of my favorite pieces in my collection. There is a long story that goes along with this piece, but I will spare you the details. However, these pants belonged to a Force Recon Marine during the Viet-Nam conflict. They have been dyed black for operations (possible cross border). Hope you enjoy.

Hello,

as a fellow enthusiast of the conflict(s) i would very much like to hear the details if you can find the time?

Patrick.

Okay, SEVERAL years ago I met a military dealer in West Virginia who had just bought out a storage unit in the Charleston area. Most of the items that came out of the unit were of military in nature. There were these pants, a 2nd or 3rd Marine Division sweatshirt (Viet-Nam era) that was in tatters, and a TON of paper work that included medal certificates. The gentelman whom all this belonged to was named McVey. The guy who was trying to sell me the items said all this belonged to the father of Timothy McVeigh. I knew it was crap because the names were spelled differently. At the time, I was low on cash and couldn't afford the prices he was asking on the stuff. He was asking $30 for the paperwork, $12 for the sweatshirt, and $10 for the pants. I kind of figured the guy might have been USMC Force Recon because of the dyed black pants. I passed on everything!!!!

Fast forward two weeks, soemthing about the grouping kept bothering me and I kept getting this feeling that I should go back up and try to buy it. I made my way back up to the flea market and he had sold EVERYTHING! Needless to say, I was a little down-hearted. Soon after the sad news, I was reading a paperback book that dealt with the USMC Force Recon. In it, I found the exact name of the Marine whose grouping I had just passed up. Funny thing was I did a little more research and found that he was from or lived near Charleston, WV! Now, I was a VERY disheartened.

I kept going to this dealer and kept buying stuff from him. I'd go up to his booth every other Saturday or when time permitted. I bought several good Viet-Nam items off of him over the years including a 5th SF Group green beret that had the flash sewn on with old fishing line. One day, I walked in and saw an old pair of dyed black jungle pants that had been through Hell. I grabbed them and didn't let them go! Got them for $3. Dealer said he found them in an old junk pile in his booth. He said they must not have gotten sold when he sold the rest of the grouping. Needless to say, I was very pleased.

Kind of a boring and silly story I know. However, it just goes to show you that perserverence sometimes does pay off.
ARch

Actually,

neither boring nor silly!

It ties into the post-war history of an ARVN Ranger Advisor jacket i picked up at the SOS last week.

The jacket resided with the family for a number of years until they decided to dispose of it....it ended up in a rag mill in California where it was rescued from a pile of rags by an eagle eyed picker and sold to a local collector.

The jacket then stayed with him for over 2 decades until he came to dispose of his collection, this time the jacket went to a dealer,from where it made it's way to me after i had learned it had come up for sale.

From chatting to others it seems that during the 1980's large amounts of Vietnam era uniforms were disposed of this way, without care or interest....

Thankfully times have changed and the items and indeed the men that wore them are appreciated at last.

Patrick

Great trousers regardless of condition (adds to the interest as they are) and a wonderful story cheers

GR