allen-1
NES Member
I was establishing a small collection of US military combat knives a long time ago. I first bought a Gerber Mark II which was popular with Special Forces troops in the Vietnam war. I was then extremely lucky to get a hand made copy of the Marble V 42 which was issued to Army Rangers in WWII. This knife is extremely rare because of the high attrition rate in WWII Ranger outfits. The final knife was another Gerber Mark II. This knife was made during the Vietnam war and was identified by its "bent shape". The knife was bent slightly at the junction of the blade and handle so that it would conform with the shape of the lower leg when strapped to a boot. Gerber gave up on the design when they got a lot of returns from customers who thought the bend was a defect, not part of the design. A few were available in the 60's but these knives are now extremely rare. I wish I had bought one when I had a chance.
I've got a Gerber "Guardian", double-edged bootknife, had it for years. Nice knife, actually serial-numbered. Illegal of course to carry here in Connecticut.