Original Item: One of a Kind. Scarce Vietnamese-Made copy of a ChiCom stick grenade, which was brought home from Vietnam as a war trophy. What makes this particular grenade unique is that it has a tag applied during the period, which indicates who disarmed the grenade, and who the grenade was brought home by. The tag is attached by the means of a rawhide thong, as well as a piece of brass wire.

The tag reads as follows:

INERT GRENADE FREE OF
EXPLOSIVES BY
184TH EOD APO 96238
OCT. 1967
NORTH VIETNAM
HAND-GRENADE

The opposite side of the tag reads:

COMPLIMENTS OF
CW3 WILLIAM WHEATLEY
184 ORD. BN. (AMMO)
APO SAN FRANCISCO 9623P
VIETNAM 25 OCT 67

This example is of the most common of North Vietnamese Army Hand Grenades of the Vietnam War. This is the typical pattern of NVA / VC long-handle smooth body stick grenade with a crude sand-cast fragmentation head. The tell tale signs of indigenous Vietnamese manufacture is the crude cast fragmentation head and the smooth, non-ridged handle with waxed waterproofing inside the handle and around the collar where the head attaches to the handle.

The handle is marked near the end cap with the following markings:

The body is attached to the stick by the means of four small nails. The handle has a drilled hole down the middle for the pull string, which is missing, and coated with wax for waterproofing which is one of the tell tale signs of a wartime NVA grenade. The bottom plug is also not present. Measures about 8 1/2 inches in overall length.

This is an excellent example of the classic NVA Hand Grenade. These are incredibly hard to find with capture papers or written provenance.

This ordinance is inert and has been fully deactivated following guidelines provided by the ATF