Vietnam Named Theater Made Beret & Fatigue Shirt

Vietnam Special Forces Grouping to include 1) Theater Made Green Beret with a Theater Made 5th Group Flash and a yellow silk liner with a Command and Control South (CCS) RED BOMB BURST Theater Made Patch, sewn to the interior. 2) Named Lt. Fatigue Shirt that is nicely patched out with a Special Forces Shoulder Patch with Ranger and Airborne Rockers, Name Tape with the name Johnson. Shirt is excellent and is a size Small regular. Vietnam War: In 1961, President John F. Kennedy began activating special forces units, including 5th Special Forces Group, to fight the growing Viet Cong insurgency. The 5th SFG was first deployed as a battlefield advisory group for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). In 1964, the Group hired Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian producers to make fatigues, boonie hats, and other items of Tigerstripe fabric. By February 1965, the war was in full swing and the Group was deployed as a mainstay battle force using unconventional and conventional warfare.From 1961 to 1963, the group wore a black flash bordered in white, designed primarily to provide visibility against the Green Beret. The group's personnel in Vietnam adopted a variant flash, which added diagonal yellow stripe with three narrow red over-stripes to the existing black background and white border. This version was worn from 1963 to 1970. These colors symbolize the 1st and 7th SFG soldiers who served under 5th SFG during the Vietnam War. From 1970 to 1985, the variant flash was adopted by the entire Group, rather than just those serving in Vietnam. The unit's flash reverted to the plain black version on 16 January 1985. On 23 March 2016, the 5th Special Forces Group once more changed over to the Vietnam-era flash. The 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was unique in the Vietnam War for its heavy usage of watercraft, particularly Hurricane Aircat airboats. It launched a wide-ranging campaign against Viet Cong forces in the Mekong Delta in July 1967. Conducted with the South Vietnamese Army, civilian irregulars, and the U.S. Navy and Air Force, the campaign was built around the use of some 400 watercraft, including 84 airboats, as well as helicopters, Navy warships, and civilian vessels. The extensive naval operations required an overhaul in tactics to allow the 5th Special Forces Group to best employ the speed and firepower of the Aircat airboats. When used with armed helicopters, Patrol Air Cushion Vehicle hovercraft, and support from Air Force reconnaissance planes, Navy river patrol boats, and artillery, these watercraft enabled "telling victories over the Viet Cong" and turned the flood season into a tactical advantage for the United States. The use of watercraft, increases in troop strength, and introduction of other tactics—deploying more soldiers to Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) bases, distributing improved handbooks to commissioned and non-commissioned officers, etc.— allowed the 5th Special Warfare Group to take the fight to the enemy, capturing large swaths of territory in the Delta, making the 50 percent of the territory and CIDG bases that were previously too overrun with Viet Cong to enter safe enough to operate in, and mounting operations and establishing CIDG bases deep in Viet Cong territory. These gains were not without cost, however: 55 Special Forces and 1,654 Vietnamese were killed during 1967, as well as an estimated 7,000 Viet Cong. The June 1969 killing of suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen, and the attempt to cover it up, led to the arrest in July of seven officers and one non-commissioned officer of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) including the new commander, Colonel Robert B. Rheault in what became known as the "Green Beret Affair". Chuyen was working with the 5th on Project GAMMA when the Green Berets learned he might be a double agent. He underwent about ten days of rigorous interrogation and solitary confinement before he was shot and dumped into the sea. National newspapers and television picked up the story, which became another lightning rod for anti-war feeling. Finally, in September 1969, Secretary of the Army Stanley Resor announced that all charges would be dropped since the CIA, which may have had some involvement, refused to make its personnel available as witnesses. In April 1970, 5th SFG began reducing its number of personnel in Vietnam. Later in November and December, further reductions in personnel and extraction of companies ensued, ending in a complete withdrawal of the group by March. On 5 March 1971, 5th SFG returned to Fort Bragg. The 6th SFG at Fort Bragg was reflagged as the 5th SFG with the transfer of colors. Personnel and equipment were not transferred. Sixteen Soldiers assigned to or administratively assigned to 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) during the Vietnam War were awarded the Medal of Honor; making 5th Group the most prominently decorated unit for its size in that conflict. Members of the unit continued to conduct intelligence opera