Gerber Mark II Collection

H

HMartin

Guest
Here are a couple of pics of some of my Mark II's. A few rare ones in there, including one from Al Mar's estate. The one in the center seems to be a one of or special request from back when Gerber would do that from time to time. Anyone else into Gerber Mark II's?
 

Attachments

  • gerber%20mk2s%20&%20flag.jpg
    gerber%20mk2s%20&%20flag.jpg
    43.8 KB · Views: 88
  • gerber%20mk2s%20close.jpg
    gerber%20mk2s%20close.jpg
    39.8 KB · Views: 86
Nice blades there , but what I noticed was the Ben het flag , My very best friend was there when the americal division was overan had a 50 60 day seige . He was with the 20th combat engineers Billy E. Bassinger . he has passed away but , him and I were deputy sheriffs inn stLouis for about 10 years did you know him ? I served in nam , most of my time was in first corps. That flag brought back some memories .
 
Last edited:
Never met him that I know of, but I did have that flag on our table at a knife show once when a gentleman approached and said he had seen it from across the room and recognized it right away. He had also served there. This show was in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Over the years I have picked up quite a few items related to Special Forces units in Vietnam. It all stated with the Silvey book on knives of the Vietnam War. He had various items from the war included with the knives pictured and it started me to doing the same. I have quite a few "Hooch Flags" including the one from Ben Het. Also have ones from MACV-Recondo School, 3rd Mobile Strike Force, and one from Nha Trang. Also a few patches and zippos mostly related to MACV-SOG. I wear a bracelet (since 1987) for MSG. Glenn Lane, 5th Group, May 23, 1968, Laos. He was running recon for SOG when he was listed MIA. I think he is a big reason for my interest in that particular unit.
 
That is a nice collection of memorabilia, Lost so many friends I have lost track . But bill always told me about the big seige at Ben Het . Glad to meet you , I was a navy swabbie , also served in riverine patrol in the delta for a while . My first tour was in 1964 I was 17 . so many memories ...................
 
Thanks for your service and Welcome Home. My brother in law also served with the Americal Division, in 70-71. He was a LRRP for most of his tour.
 
Very nice collection. To say I'm jealous, is an understatement. I've always loved the MKII.

I too wear a bracelet memorializing a 5th group member, 1LT. George Kenton Sisler (KIA,CMH) 07 Feb '67 (SVN). He is the only Mil Int. officer to ever be awarded the CMH. From the stories I have been told of him by our fellow fraternity brothers who were in school with him and served with him, he was quite a remarkable individual. I can't imagine the intestinal fortitude it took to accomplish the achievements that these heroes achieved every day.
 
Do you recognise this one ? Its the only thing I have left , after fire in my home . SF quick disconnect belt .
 
Sweet belt! Very rare item for sure. The items developed for the special ops units are always cool to me. It seems they usually started as in the field mods and then went to the production level. The McGuire rig for helicopter extraction comes to mind.

Speaking of fire...I really need to better protect the items in my collection from just such a tragedy. I love to have stuff on display but also want to protect it.
 
Breaks my heart that I lost everything including my uniforms . I keep this one in a lined ammo box . This particular belt sometimes would detach if you were crawling . The Davis belts are getting kinda rare for sure , only seen a dozen or so since the war , they were all beat up and torn . I lost the first issue and got another then found this one later in almost new condition . You have to protect your goods , I wish I had been more carefull
 
I love the Mark II's . I bought one in Bragg when I went through the Q course . I'll never forget the "ping" sound it made when the temtation to throw it , over-rode my common sense . That was in '80 . One of my Instrutors showed us trainees one he carried in 'Nam , it had a more robust blade on it . The ones after the early 70's supposedly were trimmed down after the war . Is this something you have noticed ?
 
Oh Bubba , I had one of those belts as well . It really worked good only if I wore it tighter than I had too ..
 
The quality dropped off after the 1975 models, in my opinion, for sure. They also changed the serration pattern and it seemed to weaken the blade in that area. Then in the early 80's they changed to yet another blade grind and serration style that seemed to gain the strength back, but lost the classic lines of the Grey Handle models. To me those early knives, especially from say '72 to '75, have an great "feel" to them. One of my favorite photos of a Mark II in action is the one of legendary MACV-SOG Operator Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver standing outside a chopper with a suppressed M3 "Grease Gun" in his hands and an early pattern Mark II attached to his left suspender. If there was ever any dought that the Mark II was meant for war seeing Shriver carry it clears that up. He was listed MIA after a raid on COSVN Headquarters on 24 April, 1969.
 
Bill T said:
Oh Bubba , I had one of those belts as well . It really worked good only if I wore it tighter than I had too ..
Click to expand...

Hey Bill Those SF (davis) are really hard to find ,normally they go for about a 100 $ I also wore mine tight because of that reason . Thanks for you service my friend
 
nice Mk II's Hank.
my favourite production dagger.
if i'm not mistaken,the late Mike Echanis also favoured the MK II.
 
As a Mark II collector, maybe you know: I recently (in a fit of nostalgia for my RNV years) bought a new Mark II, hilt marked "09AGM" and "09242". It has, not serrations, but actual NOTCHES ground into both sides of the rear half of the blade. What the heck is the purpose of those notches, other than to weaken the blade?
 
Adding the notches as opposed to normal serrations was a solution to Gerber's "How to we differentiate the new model from the old model?" question. I was really excited when I found out that Gerber was making the new Mark II, til I seen pics of the serrations. I really feel as though they missed the Mark on the new model. I personally feel that the notched serration style they chose for the new model really detracts from the gracefull style of the Mark II and kinda makes it look cheap.
 
very nice mark2s,i have 2,one is mine from angola,the other is a new one.

roy.
 
Hey guys, I can finally contribute to this thread!!! :D

Neither of these are 100%, but they are each 85-90% with the only flaws being minor cosmetic flaws to the black coating on either the blade or handles. Both are '93 production models.

afa43b6c.jpg
 
those still look very good and they shoud clean up very nice,thanks the pic.

roy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top