I have always wondered for sure when the switch from thong link to thong hole in the butt method for wrist thong attachment took place. My thought has always been that it, among other things like a more standardized blade grind, took place sometime not too long after Bill Platts arrived at the shop in January 1944.

I have had documented pieces that attest to this time frame of both wrist thong and thong hole usage.

The knife pictured is in the museum and I presume the date it says it was purchased is correct. That being said, it bolsters my opinion that the thong link did carry through the end of the year, 1943, and the switch was made in earlier 1944.