Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 270:
Description
RARE Vietnam 1st Pattern Jungle Jacket, Exposed Bu. U.S. 1st Pattern OG-107 Tropical Combat Coat (MIL-C-43199), Exposed-Button ‘Jungle Jacket, ‘ circa 1963-1964, Vietnam War Advisor/Special Forces Issue, Collar Marked ‘5011’ and Numbered Patch ’19’ Offered is a scarce example of the U.S. military’s 1st Pattern Tropical Combat Coat, the earliest and most sought-after of the Vietnam-era jungle fatigue jackets, distinguished throughout by its exposed pocket-flap buttons, shoulder epaulets, side waist-adjustment tabs, and lightweight olive-drab cotton poplin construction. No individual recipient biography accompanies the jacket; its story rests in its physical construction and the field-applied laundry markings – a handwritten ‘5011’ inked across the interior collar and a small sewn cloth patch numbered ’19’ stitched below it – consistent with unit laundry or supply-room inventory practice rather than any personal identification. Introduced in 1963 as American advisors and early Special Forces detachments required more practical clothing for the punishing heat and humidity of Southeast Asia, the 1st Pattern jungle coat marks the opening chapter of a distinctive Vietnam-era uniform lineage. Its four capacious bellows pockets offered ready storage, while the slanted upper pockets could be reached beneath web gear. The exposed buttons that make this pattern immediately recognizable, however, proved a liability in the field, snagging repeatedly on dense jungle vegetation; the Army corrected the flaw within roughly two years, adopting covered pocket flaps for the 2nd Pattern by 1965 and rendering the original exposed-button configuration a short-lived production anomaly worn only in the earliest, most fluid years of American involvement in Vietnam – a transitional design now prized by collectors of early Vietnam War tropical uniforms. The jacket retains its four front bellows pockets, each closed by two exposed buttons, along with its front button closure, pointed collar, shoulder epaulets, adjustable button cuffs, and buttoned waist-adjustment tabs at the rear. The interior collar bears the handwritten ‘5011’ and the sewn ’19’ numbered patch noted above; original contractor and size tags are faded and largely illegible from wear and laundering. Ghosting and residual threads are visible on the left chest and left sleeve, marking the former positions of a removed pocket name/branch tape and shoulder sleeve insignia, both since taken off; their original wording cannot be determined from the coat. A genuinely scarce exposed-button 1st Pattern jungle jacket – the short-lived, quickly superseded design that stands among the true prize pieces of early Vietnam War tropical uniform collecting.
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