We are in agreement then, and this Astro is one of those that spent the majority of time in a duffle bag or desk drawer. I am only pointing this out because if this gentleman humped this thing on his web gear for four years, it would look substantially different than it does, but you already know that as you so clearly avowed you "have a pretty good idea of what a knife carried in the field in Vietnam looks like".
Sir, we are not in agreement.
In my opinion, the knife shows evidence of being fairly heavily used. It has been repeatedly sharpened on both top and main edge. Despite being stainless, it is heavily scratched, scarred, the handle stained and discolored with a piece broken off. The sheath is stained and shiny on the back from frequent wear. It is faded on the front, and discolored wherever grimy fingers repeatedly touched it, such as on the stone flap and end of the keeper strap. The stone is worn and used with lots of metal imbedded.
Lastly, you inexplicably throw the casualty rates of "pilots" in Viet Nam into the equation, and I am still trying to wrap my head around that one.
It's ok if you want to put your references to me in “quotes” implying you doubt my veracity about Vietnam. But, in my view you took an implied shot at the USAF and Lt. Col. Salvo, saying that this supposedly pristine knife (yeah.. right) probably wasn't carried in Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia except “flying at 10,000 ft.”
That indicates to me you originally did not read the obit, which identified USAF Lt. Col. Salvo as a medical person, not a pilot. Furthermore, you seem to imply he did not actually carry his knife, it was not frequently on his hip on the ground, and probably wasn't even in SE Asia
except passing over at high altitude. I have no idea why you felt it necessary to doubt Lt. Col. Salvo’s life history as reflected in this artifact. But to me, you certainly managed to do it.
More objectionable was the apparent assumption that USAF pilot’s knifes
(if he had been a pilot) were in a desk or barracks or flying at 10,000 ft. Perhaps you never saw an A-1 Able Dog Skyraider down on the tree tops dropping nape, while taking heavy ground fire? And you may not know about the 10 hour flying days, soaked in sweat, etc, some of those combat pilots put into their job… presumably while wearing a Randall. But it happened, and their Randall’s showed wear tear, sweat staining, and sharpening marks, etc.
If I have misinterpreted your comments, then I plead guilty to being overly sensitive to off-hand remarks about Vietnam, Vietnam Veterans, and Vietnam service.
Regards
Previous Topic
Index
