Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 269:
Description
Vietnam War USMC ERDL Lowland Ripstop Tropical Combat Coat, Stenciled EGA Pocket, X-Small Regular, circa 1968-1970 Offered is an original Vietnam War-era U.S. Marine Corps tropical combat coat in the ERDL "lowland" (green-dominant) camouflage pattern, a 4th/5th pattern jungle jacket cut from lightweight cotton ripstop poplin. The left chest pocket retains its black stenciled Eagle, Globe, and Anchor above the block letters "USMC, " confirming Marine Corps issue. No individual name, unit marking, or personal provenance accompanies the jacket; its story rests in the garment itself, the surviving stencil, and the woven size tag, and no separate biography has been located for this example. The ERDL pattern, developed by the U.S. Army’s Engineer Research and Development Laboratories, was trialed in limited numbers beginning in 1967 before wider issue from 1968 to reconnaissance teams, Special Forces detachments, and select Marine Corps units operating in the dense terrain of Vietnam. The four-pocket coat, lighter and quicker-drying than the solid olive-drab jungle utilities it supplemented, was prized by Marines on patrol in the heat and humidity of I Corps and beyond. The lowland, green-dominant colorway seen here reflects the pattern’s early adaptation for lowland jungle and rice-paddy environments, and USMC-stenciled examples are encountered less frequently than their Army counterparts from the same period. The coat is constructed of lightweight ripstop poplin with a notched collar and four bellows-style patch pockets, each closed by a scalloped, buttoned flap; button cuffs adjust at the sleeve ends. The left breast pocket bears the black stenciled "USMC" lettering beneath a worn Eagle, Globe, and Anchor device, the lettering more legible than the device itself. An interior woven label reads "X-Small Regular, " giving a chest range up to 33 inches and height up to 67 inches; the manufacturer/contract portion of the tag has washed out. An honestly worn, Marine-stenciled example of the scarcer ERDL lowland jungle jacket, its combat-honest ripstop and surviving EGA stencil offering tangible testimony to the Vietnam-era Leatherneck in the field.
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