Daughter Of A Vietnam Veteran Patch USMC

The first Marine ground combat units of the Vietnam War landed at Da Nang on 8 March 1965 with the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, and the daughters of the Marines who followed them carry that history too. This patch is for them. It says it plainly in white letters on Marine red: Daughter of a Vietnam Veteran. Above it, MARINE CORPS. Below it, one word, PROUD.

From 1965 to 1971 the Marine war in Vietnam was run by III Marine Amphibious Force, fighting in I Corps, the northern provinces of South Vietnam. Names like Da Nang, Chu Lai, Hue City and Khe Sanh come from that ground. Some Marines did one tour and some did more. Many came home and said little about it, and their children pieced it together from photos, a few stories and the men who showed up at reunions. A daughter who wears this patch is saying she knows where her father, or her mother, served.

The patch uses the classic rating-patch outline, a red field framed in a red border with black bands across the top and bottom. MARINE CORPS rides the top band in white block letters. DAUGHTER OF A VIETNAM VETERAN fills the red center on two lines, set off by a thin white rule. PROUD sits alone in the bottom band. Scarlet and black, with nothing else to get in the way of the words.

It measures 4.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches tall, a size that fits a jacket front, a vest or a tote bag. The merrowed edge is a raised, rolled border stitched around the outline that keeps the edges from fraying. An iron-on backing lets it go on at home with an iron and a pressing cloth. For a jacket that gets regular wear or washing, a few stitches around the border will hold it for good. The lettering is full embroidery, large enough to read from across a room.

March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day, and it is a good day to wear this. Put it on a vest for a Marine Corps birthday ball or a unit reunion, or frame it in a shadow box beside your father's ribbons and his photo from Vietnam. It also makes a gift for a sister, or for a daughter who wants her own kids to know the story. Semper Fidelis runs in families.