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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Honolulu Dick, post: 1031535, member: 24745&quot;]You most certainly have every right to be &quot;gitty&quot; with excitement over your Superb Gem New $10.00 note.&nbsp; Being excited over near perfection is laudable.&nbsp; In my own small way, I&#039;m pleased to share in your excitement.</p><p><br /></p><p>This past week I also acquired the same handsome note, but it&#039;s of a lesser grade.&nbsp; While the paper is still crisp and the corners are almost sharp, it has a center fold, some yellowing and a pair of staple holes.&nbsp; It was affordable and serves my purpose as a memento of my time spent in the leach infested waters of the Mekong Delta.&nbsp; It helps to fill a spot in a display case along with other MPC Series notes of the Vietnam era, unit engraved Zippo lighters, Challenge Coins, plus awards and decorations received.&nbsp; Have a B&amp;W snapshot of myself dressed in Viet Cong black pajamas, holding a captured AK-47 rifle.&nbsp; Can&#039;t believe I was ever that young and so rawhide lean.&nbsp; Time is not kind to old veterans.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Being a bit more technical [not the right word], it is noted that the Master Sergeant is wearing bright gold-colored stripes on his sleeve.&nbsp; That, plus being armed with an M-14 rifle, indicates an early-in-the-war picture.&nbsp; The M-16 rifle started showing up in numbers at the time of the troop build-up, beginning with the landing of the Marines in Da Nang, APR65.&nbsp; We went from bright to subdued insignia during &#039;67.&nbsp; This was a creeping change that started in &#039;66, when we dyed our white T-shirts, boxer shorts and bath towels green.&nbsp; Army issued felt tipped markers were use to darken our bright work.&nbsp; This applies to Grunts who humped the bush, searching for the Cong [aka, Charlie].</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m reluctant to quibble about the tank shown, but here goes.&nbsp; Rather than being the iconic M-4 Sherman tank of WW II fame, the Series 681 shows an early model from the M-48 series of Patton tanks.&nbsp; The main gun compensator looks like the one used on M-48A1 models.&nbsp; The configuration of the compensator was changed in later models.&nbsp; This also serves to date the picture as being rather early in the Nam period.&nbsp; There is little room for confusing the profiles of the two M-series tanks.&nbsp; The Sherman stands way taller than the Patton --- Sherman is tall and short, Patton is low and long.&nbsp; For those who are curious -------</p><p><br /></p><p>You are hereby awarded he MPC Meritorious Medal for Excellence.&nbsp; Again, good on you!!![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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