V100 provenance

[wgtactical]

I know I have been tracing down the history of the V100 we are working on in our shop since '21. Although the restoration officially started in the mid '80s, we started with only a limited set of facts to go on and are only recently tracking down clearer details and accounts of it's military history along with some of the surviving service members that served either on or alongside it. Unfortunately many of the searches for these veterans has ended at a gravesite. What started out as a search for "Blood Sweat and Tears" lead to the discovery of the original name of "Super V" completely by chance. According to dates on photos I have now, Blood Sweat and Tears had to have happened late '71 or early '72 because this V100 was back in the states in '72 and was on two different target ranges on it's way to Florida.

Vehicles with nose art are sometimes easier to spot than the registration numbers or vehicle numbers which are often times fuzzy in photos of the time. Fortunately I have found all three (nose art, vehicle registration number and vehicle number) in a single photograph, not to mention that personalized Zippo that was found inside who's owner was the crew chief on the vehicle he knew as "Super V"

As many photos that I have looked through, I have only seen one picture that caught a glimpse of the serial number stamped in the left side front lift ring and so far I haven't spoke to anyone who remembers the serial number or registration number of the vehicle they served on. Several seems to remember their vehicle number, mine is C55

I am aware that many of these didn't make it off the target ranges and the ones that did were either miracles or badly disfigured. As far as nose art goes, the most popular examples were added to other vehicles to serve as a tribute to the vehicle it was actually on.

Just curious how successful have V100 owners been tracing the footprints of their vehicle. I have a lot of folks to thank that helped me trace mine from manufacture to 'Nam and each step back to where it sits today and even more is being learned as we go. I have often compared it to a huge jigsaw puzzle where most of the pieces are in place but like any old puzzle, there's undoubtedly going to be a piece or two that are lost forever but fortunately the picture is complete enough that it can tell it's own story now.

 

[M813rc]

I know a lot of factual history of mine, and that it served in Vietnam with the 720th MP, but I have never been able to determine it's Army serial number, thus can't identify it in period pictures.
All traces of prior paint were long gone when I first saw mine, so the hull number is my sole tracking guide. That alone turned up some great information, thanks to several kind folks. While I received third-party promises that a previous owner with a lot of interim information would contact me, it never happened, and I never had enough information to contact him myself. I can only presume he just didn't want to talk.

Cheers

 

[wgtactical]

Rory I have to admit that luck was probably the largest contributor to the success of this project. Had it not been for early photos showing the registration and vehicle number, there's really no way I could have been able to connect the dots. After having done so, it has helped connect the veterans who are familiar with the vehicle and now they are retrieving bits of forgotten history from 55 years ago. Just the other day I was told another story about the more humorous parts of life in Vietnam. Keeping in mind that regardless of the reason they were there and the war raging at the time, these were still boys who were predisposed to pranks and other things that we all did back in the day...I guess some of us will still take the opportunity to partake in such things from time to time.

Anyway it is uplifting to hear from the vets who were there and listening to their accounts while I sit and look at the vehicle where so many of their memories were made has given me a unique perspective of what it was like. I think we've all looked at an old relic and thought "if this thing could talk, what stories would it tell?" Well for me, this V100 has done just that through the spoken accounts of some of the men who served aboard it.

I think among some of the most gruesome accounts this V has seen was how the bodies of the Vietnamese that were killed were staged along side the roadway for collection. Evidently it was as informal as taking the trash to the curb for collection...I have examples captured in photos and I have said several times during this project that there are certain photos that you can smell almost as easily as you can see them.

Anyway there are benefits and consequences that follow any decision I suppose...figuring out which is which can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.