Military lighters in Indochina and SE Asia wars

[VALERY226]

Bonjour,

Lighters in every war are personal objects brought by soldiers through front lines to R&R. Adorned by military insignias or political mottoes, unit gift or PX purchase, they belonged to the soldier daily life.
I start this thread with french era items, feel free to post your lighters from the early years till the end...
Corps expéditionnaire français en Extrême Orient (CEFEO), French expeditionary Corps in extreme orient. It has no mark but is a copy of higher quality Drago made.


Drago is one of the most famous french insignias maker. He developped a large catalog of items like table medals, plaques, lighters, collar insignias (small size DI) etc...
This lighter received the insignia of the Vietnamese commando N°5.


This one belonged to a french NCO who spent few months with laotian forces. The isnignia is the 6th lao commando. It changed its name for 6th franco-lao commando in 1948.


Cheers
Valery

[Patrick Dempsey]

Hello Valery,

very interesting to see how one war bleeds into another with the small items from the region.

I especially like the last example, Laotian unit insignia are some of my favourite from the French Colonial period.





Patrick.

[nguoi tien su]

Very fine example you have there, Valery ! As Patrick, the laotian is my favorite !

Here is my Bao Dai guard Drago lighter :





NTS

[nguoi tien su]

As Valéry opened a thread on lighters, including SEA, I will post a few zippos as well.

This one is mostly civilian, but I liked the design and it is war time ! This is the main entrance of Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap, Cambodia.



Should someone speak khmer, I would appreciate to know what is written ! Thanks !

[nguoi tien su]

This one was made for Ojus, the brand that made the barbed wire.



The FSN is for the military contract.

[nguoi tien su]

And an other advertizing zippo lighter, this one engraved on one side with the Stoner, used by the US Nvy SEALs and on the other side the V-100, used mostly by the Security Police.

[kammo man]

OOOOOhhhh
I see WW2 cammo
o

[Beezman]

Drago lighter for the 22e Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale, arrived in Saigon on 02/14/46 - inactivated on 12/01/48. Its battalions became independant and kept their 22e RIC traditions before being gradually renamed. The last one, the "Bataillon de Marche, 22e RIC", was renamed "2e Bataillon, 19e RIC" on 08/11/54.

[Satcong101]

Here's a US Contractor's lighter I picked up in Saigon, not sure if it's the Oil or Water business?

[AK101]

1969 according to a zippo website, 21st RAC in Vietnam

21st Reconnaissance Airplane Company -- "Black Aces"

Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam

The eyes of the Americal Division, and the 2d ARVN Division in I Corps are the "Black Aces" of the 21st Reconnaissance Airplane Company. The Bird dogs of the 21st RAC as well as the rest of the 212th CSAB are feared by most of the experienced enemy troops in I Corps. "They have nearly gotten to the point that they don't like to fire on the virtually defenseless 0-1 aircraft due to the destruction that the Bird Dog can call in on him