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Field Reports

Malaysia trip report #1- Two days in KL.

For my latest trip to Vietnam I decided to fly AirAsia and stop over in Kuala Lumpur for a couple...
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Collection Conservation & CareHistorical and Archive Material

Images of War: The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt.

The invention of photography in 1839 changed the world. It provided a more accessible means for society to record and...
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Australian soldiers at the battle of Long Tan
Historical and Archive Material

The Australian Army in action in Vietnam 1966

This is a 25 minute documentary made by the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit in 1966 shortly after the Australian Task...
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French troops crossing delta country in outdated US tanks during campaign against Viet Minh. Vietnam. 1950
Uncategorized

Information for the Vietnam war historian

I’ll add this to the links list, but for anybody interested in the conflict in Indochina, the Vietnam War Resource...
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Australian Airborne & Special Operations Unit InsigniaInsigniaThe 'juleswings' Collection

A special pair of wings

These Australian SAS parachutist wings are amongst the most prized in my collection for a couple of reasons. Apart from...
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Australian Airborne & Special Operations Unit InsigniaInsignia

The Olympic Games. Sydney 2000, watching from the shadows.

With the recent G4S security recruitment debacle and the heightened threat of terrorist attack much has been made of the...
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Field Reports

Revisiting Vietnam’s infamous Dan Sinh “War Surplus” Market

Deciding to collect Vietnam War militaria is fraught with danger as the marketplace is saturated with fakes and reproductions. I...
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News & EventsThe 'juleswings' Collection

So, what’s this all about?

For as long as I can remember I’ve had a fascination with armies and military history. My parents recall that...
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789
Hanoi. Today’s discoveries. I decided to explore the streets near one of the army bases to see if I could find any shops selling military stuff. I did end up locating a couple of uniform tailors, although one made it clear that I wasn’t welcome inside. The other was more friendly and we had an interesting conversation through a translator app. They also had some very unusual camouflage fabric available, although not for sale to tourists or non military personnel apparently. Yesterday’s finds whilst walking back from the art gallery. Current People’s Army of Vietnam naval and airforce breast badges. Hanoi day 1 discoveries. I went for a walk shortly after checking into my hotel and decided to see if one of the dealers I knew of was still around. Yes and found these pieces. More expensive than you’d expect to pay in France or on eBay though Vietnam. Detail from a garbage bag full of FAKE patches that were being sold for US$1 each at the War Surplus Market in Ho Chi Minh City circa 2009. A nice surprise arrived in the mail this week from collector Abdul Qadir in Nigeria. It included a selection of badges from Ghana, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Zimbabwe. Border Guard Force Unit 1006 was a Myanmar junta-aligned militia in Kokang, a semi-autonomous region bordering China’s Yunnan Province. A ‘Special Forces’ component existed with in BGF 1006 that were used as enforcers for the criminal syndicates controlling the region, it was defeated by the insurgent Three Brotherhood Alliance coalition in 2023. Thai Police parachutist, circa 1953. The photograph depicts a member of an elite Thai police unit initially known as the Airborne Royal Guard, later renamed the Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU). War Surplus Market in Ho Chi Minh City.

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