Dear all,
This is my first post on these forums, so please correct my behavior if I do anything out of protocol. I am a graduate student working on a Master's Degree, and only a beginner when it comes to ethnographic weapons. I am working on a catalog entry for this sword and associated note, which I unfortunately have not had opportunity to personally examine yet. It is in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection in Landover, MD, where they store everything that has been deposited in front of the wall of names at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
Sword and note dedicated to Sgt. William Thornhill
VIVE 8987 (Sword), VIVE 8988 (Note)
Sword, before 1968; Note, March 21, 1993
Sword and fittings: Steel, copper alloy, wood, cane; Note: paper
(BLADE) L 62, W 4 cm (HILT) L 29.5, W 4 cm (SHEATH) L 57.7, W 7, TH 1 cm
Note reads: “In memory of Sgt. William J. Thornhill N.Y. Given to Him by Montagnard Chieftain 1968”
It was left in front of Thornhill's name on panel 40 E. Sgt. Thornhill was a member of BDQ advisory team 31 , which was attached to the Biệt Động Quân or ARVN rangers. His last tour of duty began in November 1967, and was cut short when he was killed in Phuoc Long Province by hostile small arms fire on February 18, 1968. Therefore, going by the note, he must have received it between January and February of that year. His records are
here on the virtual wall.
I have no knowledge about which Montagnard/Degar tribes inhabited Phuoc Long province at that time, nor who could identify any distinguishing features of tribal or regional identification on this sword. Heck, I don't even know how to tell if this is a Thai knockoff or something. Can anybody help me contact an expert or locate a useful source, that is unless anyone knows off the top of their head what it is? I got a ton of photographs, so I'll start with the overall picture and let you guys tell me which parts you want close-ups on.
All photographs were taken by curator Janet Donlin at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, and are copyright of the National Park Service.