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Old 01-31-2018, 14:49   #23
Team Sergeant
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RCummings View Post
I received a response regarding the engraving on the Randall Dive knife. I have copied and pasted with the permission of the respondent. V/R Bob

David A Manning
Small Arms and Ordnance Curator
Curator Branch
Naval History and Heritage Command

Your request for information regarding the Randall knife was forwarded to me to answer.


The engraving on the knife in question is confusing and, based on my experience, rather questionable. "Ith." appears to be an attempt to write 1st, but by someone unfamiliar with the English language. The combination of SFG and UDT would also point to someone who is unfamiliar with the actual organization and history of the US military. As you may know, the correct abbreviation for an Army Special Forces Group would be SFG(A), as in 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). However, UDT is an exclusively Navy abbreviation for the Underwater Demolition Teams formed during WWII as a result of the difficulties encountered during the Tarawa invasion in 1943. There is no connection between the two organizations that I am aware of. Finally, I know of no instance of the Army ever having used the term UDT. Army special operations units use the term UWA for Underwater Operations Team, or colloquially SCUBA Teams.


My opinion would be that the engraving is much more recent than the 1960's and that it was likely done in Asia. There is quite a bit of "fake" material coming out of Vietnam that is intended to represent material from the war, but is modern in manufacture. An example would be cigarette lighters with engraving for various US military units and locations within Vietnam that have similar mistakes in grammar and unit designations as this knife.


I hope this is useful information.


V/R

Dave Manning

So he said what we said earlier........
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