Original Item. Only One Available. This is a great dark blue Airborne Beret as used by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. It has a gorgeous bullion cap badge for the Thu-Duc Infantry Academy on the front with a flaming sword surrounded by a bullion wreath. The hat shows considerable age from honest period wear, with signs of being worn in a hot, humid environment. The Original Plastic Crown sweat shield has since become brittle and has mostly fallen away. Size is approximately 53 1/2 cm (US 6 5/8).

South Vietnamese items from the Vietnam War are incredibly hard to come by. This is an excellent example, perfect for the Vietnam collector! There are some holes in the back as shown, but it’s overall a great example. Ready for further research and display.

Thủ Đức Military Academy was an officer training school of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). It was located in the Thủ Đức District of the capital Saigon. Originally called the Thủ Đức Reserve Officers School, the Infantry School was established at Thủ Đức in October 1951 along with its sister school in Nam Định, in northern Vietnam. Both schools were originally administered by the French Army and all instruction look place in French. In 1952, after the closing of the Nam Dinh Reserve Officers School, the Thủ Đức school became the only reserve officer producing school in Vietnam. In 1954, after the Geneva Accords, the management of the school changed from the French to the Vietnamese National Army (VNA).

In 1955 the Infantry School was given the job of training cadres and specialists of other branches of the VNA in addition to the infantry. Its name was then changed to the Thủ Đức Military School Center and comprised the Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Engineer, Signal, Ordnance, Transportation and Administrative schools. In October 1961 all of these schools, with the exception of Infantry and Armor, moved from the Thủ Đức area to provide space for the greatly expanded ARVN Reserve Officers Procurement Program.