SOG KNIFE

MACV-SOG

 

The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly classified, multi-service US special operations unit that conducted unconventional warfare operations before and during the Vietnam War.

Established on 24 January 1964, it conducted strategic reconnaissance missions in the Republic of Vietnam (S. Vietnam), the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (N. Vietnam), Laos, and Cambodia; took enemy prisoners, rescued downed pilots, conducted rescue operations to retrieve prisoners of war throughout Southeast Asia, and conducted clandestine agent team activities and psychological operations.

 

The unit participated in most of the significant campaigns of the Vietnam War with 13 of its members receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor (9 of which were Green Berets) and 22 others receiving the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest award for valor.

The SOG knife was designed for and issued to covert Studies and Observations Group personnel during the Vietnam War. It was unmarked and supposedly untraceable to country of origin or manufacturer, in order to, maintain plausible deniability of covert operators in the event of their death or capture.

 

 

This original, “legacy” SOG knife was issued to SGM (Ret) Al Ward when he was assigned to CCN. A SSG at the time, Al served five tours in Vietnam. Years later he passed it on to other Soldiers and Sailors who served in the Global War on Terror in hopes it would bring them the same luck it brought him. The first was LCDR John Shullo who carried it during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He then passed it on to 1LT James Nannos during Operation Enduring Freedom-Kuwait. It was then passed on to 1LT Sean Boyle, who carried it during Operation Freedom’s Sentinel-Afghanistan. SGM (Ret) Al Ward, a member of the Special Forces Association Chapter 72, donated the knife to be auctioned off as a fund raiser in support of the Return to Devens Reunion October 2024.

“The SOG knife will be a silent auction conducted at the R2D2 reunion beginning at the reception and culminating at the banquet.”