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Montagnard Cross Bow Bring Back


Scarecrow
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This is a Viet Cong Cross Bow, with arrows, as brought back by my Uncle, who served with the 87th Combat Engineers in Vietnam. His tour in country was 1967-1968. He is very quiet about his service in general, so did not tell me how he specifically acquired this, and I respect that and him, so did not ask for details. He gave this to me just yesterday, he has three daughters and none of them had any interest in it. (He made the case in which it is displayed)

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

Very nice, it is montagnard style. Generally montagnard tribes allied themselves with the US or remained neutral but I have read rumors of a few VC montagnard tribes.

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triplecanopy

You might ask some of the old hands to see if they agree, but I don't believe the Viet Cong ("VC") ever carried or used cross bows. These were made by the mountain people of the central highlands. The Degar, also known as Montagnards, are the indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The term Montagnard means "people of the mountain" in French and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. These crossbows are really well made. I have one myself. The wood is most likely teak or mahogany. The arrow shafts are made of bamboo and even the "feathers" are made of bamboo leaves. They had a range of about 50 feet. It is rare to find an intact string. You have a nice souvenir, by I would call it a Montagnard crossbow and not VC. BTW, the Vietnamese generally looked down on the Montagnards and referred to them as MOI, a derogatory term.

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Hey guys thanks for all the great comments. It really is special to me, especially being a family item. Triplecanopy, I think you are correct, general consensus is here and on the USMF that this is a Montagnard cross bow. If I can find the right time and moment I'll ask my Uncle to elaborate how he acquired it. But for now I'll respect his wishes to wait for that right time to tell me.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Cap Camouflage Pattern I

I was reading my copy of national geographic vol 133 no 4 and it had a very good article about the Vietnamese, it makes several mentions of VC montagnards. Y Bang Ong, seen in the famous picture of the smiling CIDG member wearing tigerstripe with an m2 carbine over his shoulder was a former VC fighter.

 

Many montagnards were forcefully conscripted by the VC for manual labor. Others harbored VC sentiments.

 

Y Blo was a montagnard PAVN major general in command of Darlac Province.

 

 

Anyways, maybe it is VC if that's what your uncle says.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very cool ! I owned one years ago but sadly sold it !

The mountain people were allied with US force they used these not the VC . The one I had came from a co worker who trained the Montagnards .

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