1968 US ARMY M-65, SECOND PATTERN, GRAY LINING, SMALL REGULAR

Manufactured by Appleman Mfg. Co. under DSA 100-68-C-2372, this M-65 dates to fiscal year 1968 and represents the Second Pattern configuration of the U.S. Army field coat. Its shoulder epaulets distinguish this configuration from the earlier no-epaulet First Pattern.

The 1968 procurement date places the coat within the Vietnam War period, including the year of the Tet Offensive and a period of peak U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. This historical context identifies the period in which the garment was produced and does not establish that this individual specimen was issued, deployed, or used in Vietnam.

THE 1968 GRAY LINING

This example is distinguished by the gray-colored lining, a relatively uncommon variation found among early M-65 production. The standard M-65 lining was generally made in an olive/green tone, while gray or sage-green lining examples are associated with a limited period of early production. Collector references document gray-lining examples among 1968 contracts, including Second Pattern M-65s with aluminum zippers.

The reason for the temporary use of the gray lining has not been firmly established. Period documentation and collector references do not provide a sufficiently reliable basis to claim that it was introduced for a particular operational, camouflage, or manufacturing purpose. It is therefore more accurate to regard the gray lining as a distinctive production variation rather than assign it a specific purpose without supporting documentation.

Another useful detail of this period is the continued use of aluminum zipper hardware. Early M-65 contracts used chromed/alloy zippers, with the transition to brass occurring in the early 1970s. This places an early Second Pattern example with its original aluminum hardware firmly within the first generation of M-65 field coats produced during the Vietnam War era.

The Second Pattern itself represents an important transitional stage in M-65 development: the shoulder epaulets that had been omitted from the First Pattern were restored, while the jacket retained the early aluminum-zipper configuration. The combination of Second Pattern construction, FY1968 procurement, and gray lining makes this an especially distinctive example of the early Vietnam-era M-65.