M14 Forum

Candyman

The USMC Hospital Corpsman Knife was issued by the Marine Corps during World War II. It was a bolo type knife intended for clearing brush and for cutting wood for litters or shelter poles.





The Knife had an overall length of 16 1/2 inches with a blade that was 11 1/4 x 3 inches. The spoon tip blade was supplied both parkerized or bright. The wooden handle had either three or four flush rivets, steel, iron or brass. The left face of the blade was stamped with "USMC" and the manufacturer identity. Some knives were not marked with the USMC marking or the manufacturer name.






These are the listed manufacturers of the USMC Hospital Corpsman Knife:

Briddell
Chatillion
Clyde Cutlery Co.
Fayette R. Plumb
Village Blacksmith
The USMC Hospital Corpsman Knife scabbard is stitched leather with a brass riveted throat and a brass grommet hole at the tip. The back of the scabbard had a M1910 pistol belt hook attached by a heavy riveted and stitched loop of leather. Just below the hook, the leather was stamped with three rows of letters.

USMC
BOYT
42

Boyt was the only manufacturer of the scabbard, with dates from 1942 to 1945, with "44" most common.




Mine is missing the pistol belt hook and only has US stamped above BOYT.

GoingDeaf

Thanks for posting the pictures. I don't think I've ever seen one of these before. Are they few and far between?

Candyman

If you look around you will find them come up for sale now and then. They will sell from $200 to $350.

m1a shooter

Really nice. You might want to share it with these guys.
They will enjoy it also.

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com

hero4you69

thanks for the pics good photo work. nice history too.

NRA LIFE MEMBER

U. S. ARMY VET

Wayne M

Facinating knife and great history lesson. Thanks for putting this up. I'm a knife buff but admit I'd never run across one of these.

M21guy

I have to admit when I first seen the photo of it and the the name "Hospital Corpsman Knife" my mind wondered thinking of how medieval it must have been getting a limb cut off with that beast!

Nice write-up and pictures. Thanks for sharing.

geeck

I was going to work in a "funny" about the obamanation and the "corpse"- man knife but thought it would be in poor taste.

Candyman

I don't post on that forum, but it you would like I could email you a copy of the post with the pic's set up as photo tags. Then you would just have to copy and past on the forum and the photo tags would change to pic's when you submitt it.

GoingDeaf

When I first saw this post, I thought it would be a nice knife to have. Didn't think I'd ever find one. I found reproductions for sale at IMA. Here's the link http://www.ima-usa.com/product_info....oducts_id/2765. Seems IMA made a lot of equipment for HBO's 'The Pacific'. I ordered one yesterday.

Rawnerves

Beautiful and a great piece of History.

armory90

nice knife and history lesson. thanks for sharing

MackR

I remember as a kid my father had a corpsman's knife. Dad said he got it from his brother (my uncle) who was a Pharmacist's Mate during WWII. Dad used to joke that my uncle performed circumcisions with that big, heavy blade. Grin.

Question is: Does the the U.S.M.C on the blade of the Corpsman knife stand for United States Marine Corps or United States Medical Corps?

GoingDeaf

I believe it stands for United States Marine Corps. It was issued by the Marines to corpsman serving with the Marines out in the field. Here's an interesting link with some history, 2nd or 3rd post down. Since I bought my repo from IMA, I've seen several at the local gun shows. Never really noticed them before.

sac troop

The prices can vary a lot depending on where your at. A piece you still can get for a good price if you look around.