From the day that the country was created in 1955, the USA had supported the South Vietnamese government, which it saw as a bulwark to the communist government of the North. In time this included thousands of American individuals, including many service personnel as military advisors, but a major escalation came on 8th March 1965, when the first US combat troops were landed with the task of defending the base at Da Nang, and in June of the same year they were authorised to engage in ‘offensive patrolling’, meaning to seek out and confront the enemy. Those very first troops were Marines, and their numbers rapidly increased, quickly making Vietnam the major overseas commitment for the USMC in the late 1960s.
Military operations in Vietnam took many forms, including patrols, base defence, anti-guerilla sweeps and, later, full-scale engagements with regular North Vietnamese forces. However for many the iconic image of the war is of US soldiers patrolling through dense jungle, and for us this set seems to reflect this particularly well. Quite a few of the poses are simply walking forward or dropped to one knee, which really works for a group on patrol. There are of course also some men firing or running, which are more general combat poses, so there are various uses for these figures, but we still think of these as mainly on patrol, for reasons that will become clear shortly. All of the poses are nicely done, and we thought all were well chosen for the assumed role. The kneeling firing figure in the top row is strange in that he supports his rifle by holding the magazine, which seems like an unlikely thing to do for several reasons, but otherwise we really liked all of the poses here, and thought them very natural.
The first Marines wore utilities which are largely hidden on these figures, but what can be seen looks authentic, so for example there are no thigh pockets on the trousers, which is correct for the early war period. There are different methods of handling the trouser bottoms (tucked into boots, rolled up above them, loose over the boots), all of which reflects the considerable latitude the men were often given in terms of their appearance, particularly when away from base, though this did depend on the local commander to a great extent. A common feature is the M41 helmet everyone wears, all of which have a cover, as they should. None of these figures have the elastic strap round the crown into which foliage (and much more besides) might be tucked, but sources disagree completely as to how common this practice was in the Marines specifically, so this absence seems to present no problem (and can easily be painted on if necessary). Every man here wears a flak jacket, probably the M55, with two external pockets on the chest that do not slant at the top.
Specifications
- Contents: 44 figures
- Poses: 14 poses
- Material: Plastic (Medium Consistency)
