THE DEATH CARD

But not all such approaches were effective. One major misassumption occurred about 1966 when U.S. soldiers scattered fear-appeal leaflets with the ace of spades as an omen of death. In some cases actual playing cards were left along trails in Communist-controlled territory (American troops wrote to playing card manufacturers requesting numerous aces of spades to supplement the campaign). A subsequent review and evaluation by the United States Information Agency revealed, however, that the ace of spades was not included in the Vietnamese deck of cards. Thus, except for a few Montagnard hill tribesmen, they were unfamiliar with its meaning as a death omen. Despite these finding and a JUSPAO policy directive prohibiting the aces of spades practice, American soldiers began using the technique again in 1971. This repeated error was probably symptomatic of trying to maintain continuity and high-quality psychological operations with military persons being shuffled into and out of the country on one-year tours of duty.

U.S. Army Helicopters in Vietnam with Ace of Spades

Chandler makes two interesting points. The first is that the Vietnamese were not even familiar with the ace of spades. Curiously, the leaflet from the 246th PSYOP Company numbered 246-362 places the symbol of the ace of spades on a skull on one side, and the photograph of a dead Vietnamese body on the other. It is almost as if the Americans were trying to teach the Vietnamese. "See, there is an ace of spades, and here is a skull and there is a body. Therefore, when you see the black spade, think of death." The second point is one that has been argued for years. One of the great weaknesses of the American involvement in Vietnam was the one-year tour. Chandler implies that even if an officer in 1968 clearly knew that the death cards had no value, he would be gone by 1969 and his replacement might think that they were a wonderfully innovative idea.

Having stated all these intellectual reasons why the death card was meaningless to the Vietnamese, I must now mention a personal experiment done by Captain Edward N. Voke, S2 (Intelligence) Staff Officer of the 6th PSYOP Battalion in 1966, whose unit was asked to print some of the cards for the Special Forces.

I was curious about the reaction, if any, of the ace of spades to the Vietnamese. We made a quick check and did find a 1930’s Vietnamese novel that used that card as a sign of impending death. I handed out some of the cards we printed to people in the S2 and asked them to carry them in their wallets, and when paying for something in a shop, bar, restaurant, etc., to fumble around and place the card on the table and see if there was any reaction from the locals.  There was. People definitely noticed the card. They vacated the seat next to you; bar girls left you alone, etc. My thinking at the time was: the Special Forces like it…it disturbs some Vietnamese for some reason…and it does not appear to be harmful to any of our PSYOP plans or campaigns.

Where did the concept that the ace of spades was a bad omen originate? Apparently in the distant past. The history of the ace of spades goes all the way back to the age of pirates. The single spot on the card could put you "on the spot" or in danger. The origin of this expression goes back to 18th-century pirates whose back-up symbol for intimidation (after the skull and crossbones) was the dreaded ace of spades with its single black spot. This card was intentionally shown to a traitor or informer as warning that his life was in danger. Anyone sent an ace of spades was "on the spot."

Returning to Vietnam, a 10 May 1967 PSYOP Policy Directive (Number 36) details official U.S. guidance on "The Use of Superstitions in Psychological Operations in Vietnam." The document was prepared by the Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO), the military agency that directed U.S. propaganda efforts from Saigon. The policy states that "In accordance with U.S. mission directives, this is mission psychological policy and guidance and is to be implemented as pertinent by all U.S. elements in Vietnam."

Some of the pertinent text in regard to the ace of spades is as follows:

A strong superstition or a deeply-held belief shared by a substantial number of the enemy target audience can be used as a psychological weapon because it permits with some degree of probability the prediction of individual or group behavior under a given set of conditions.

To use an enemy superstition as a starting point for psychological operations, however, one must be sure of the conditions and control the stimuli that trigger the desired behavior.

The first step in the manipulation of a superstition as an enemy vulnerability is its exact identification and detailed definition of its spread and intensity among the target audience. The second step is to insure friendly control of the stimuli and the capability to create a situation that will trigger the desired superstitious behavior. Both conditions must be met or the psyops effort will not yield the desired results; it might even backfire.

As an illustration, one can cite the recent notion spread among combat troops in the First Corps area that VC and NVN troops were deathly afraid of the "Ace of Spades" as an omen of death. In consequence soldiers, turned psy-warriors with the assistance of playing card manufacturers, began leaving the ominous card in battle areas and on patrols into enemy-held territory. The notion was based on isolated instances of behavior among Montagnard tribesmen familiar from French days with the Western deck of cards. A subsequent survey determined that the ace of spades does not trigger substantial fear reactions among most Vietnamese because the various local playing cards have their own set of symbols, generally of Chinese derivation.

Here then was an incorrect identification of a superstition coupled with a friendly capability to exploit the presumed condition. It did not work.

In summary, the manipulation of superstitions is a delicate affair. Tampering with deeply-held beliefs, seeking to turn them to your advantage means in effect playing God and it should only be attempted if one can get away with it and the game is indeed worth the candle. Failure can lead to ridicule, charges of clumsiness and callousness that can blacken the reputation of psychological operations in general. It is a weapon to be employed selectively and with utmost skill and deftness. There can be no excuse for failure.

GUIDANCE:

To exploit enemy superstitions, psyops personnel must be certain that the superstition or belief is real and powerful.

A psyops operator's desire to take advantage of manipulating enemy superstitions surreptitiously must be balanced against the counterproductive effects of possible failure and exposure of the attempt by the mass media. The U.S. image and the effectiveness of future psyops might lose more than the commander might hope to gain by successful execution of the plan.

In summary, enemy superstition manipulation should not be lightly employed by field psyops personnel. Proposals to make appeals based on superstitions or otherwise manipulate target audience beliefs will be forwarded in each case to JUSPAO and/or MACPD through the respective channels of their originators. They will be carefully analyzed there in the light of the considerations spelled out in this guidance. No psyops campaign in the area of superstition manipulation will be undertaken without JUSPAO/MACPD approval.

Army officer William Shelton mentions the continued use of the ace of spades in Vietnam:

One of the things we also found out, the Vietnamese are very superstitious people like most of the Orientals that I’ve known and worked with. The Ace of Spades trick was one that we used. In their society, much the same as in our own, an Ace of Spades in fortune telling and Tarot and all of that indicates death, so if you threw an Ace of Spades into one of their cache sites, somebody would see it and they would get very superstitious and it played a big role in how well they would fight or not fight.

How did the various Ace of Spade cards get to Vietnam? As mentioned above, some individuals wrote to playing card manufacturers and asked for them. Those manufacturers, being patriotic, were more than happy to comply with the requests.

Much of the story can be found on various web sites devoted to poker, or even the web site of the United States Playing Card Company. For instance, an early version of the story says:

The Ace of Spades served a famous purpose in the war in Vietnam. In February1966, two lieutenants of Company "C," Second Battalion, 35th Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, wrote The United States Playing Card Company and requested decks containing nothing but the "Bicycle" Ace of Spades. The cards were useful in psychological warfare.

       

Ace of Spades Deck
Courtesy of CW2 John D Sarviss

In a later comment the manufacturer tells the story in more depth:

The Death Card or Ace of Spades was considered bad luck by the Viet Cong. This is the story that I got first-hand from one of the lieutenants who originated the idea. He had read an article in the Stars & Stripes indicating that the Vietnamese were a very superstitious people and that the men were afraid of the Ace of Spades. The French previously had occupied Indo-China, and in French fortune telling cards, the Spades predicted death and suffering. It also seems that a statue of a woman foretold a "bad day" and there was some belief that the Viet Cong even regarded lady liberty as a goddess of death.

Anyways, this guy, along with three of his fellow-lieutenants were playing cards with one of our Bicycle decks, which fortunately they liked to use, and they noticed that the Bicycle Ace of Spades had a statue of a woman in the middle of it, so they figured that this was a potentially good psychological operations weapon. So they contacted the United States Playing Card Company and we sent them thousands of the requested decks gratis to our troops in Vietnam. These decks were housed in plain white tuck cases, inscribed "Bicycle Secret Weapon: Ace of Spades."

The troops started using them, basically as calling cards. And then all their friends wanted some. And eventually, the military asked us to produce a deck that had fifty-two Bicycle Aces of Spades. The cards were deliberately scattered in the jungle and in hostile villages during raids. The very sight the "Bicycle" Ace was said to cause many Viet Cong to flee.

Members of the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division place death cards in the mouths of dead Viet Cong during Operation Baker near Duc Pho and Mo Duc in 1967.

  

A Poster used as a Death Card

The United States has implied many times that it is against the concept of the death card and takes no part in marking of a body. And yet, in the official U.S. Army short 2.54 minute film entitled PSYOPS Vietnam 1967 Phan Thiet, a member of the 245th PSYOP Company is clearly shown placing a propaganda poster on a dead VC as the narrator says:

When Viet Cong are killed, soldiers place leaflets on their body as a grim reminder for others.

The picture-grab is blurry but the text on the top of the poster is:

POWERFUL FAITH IN THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY DURING THE YEAR OF THE HORSE

The Year of the horse was 1966 and the text is actually a Viet Cong propaganda slogan used to motivate their troops for battle. The poster uses it in ironic way, ridiculing the VC claims and showing what happens to Communist troops when they believe in that slogan. 

Leaflet 245N-14-67

Although they call it a leaflet in the short film it is clearly a poster with text at the top and bottom. The above leaflet was produced by the U.S.Army's 245th PSYOP Company in Nha Trang in 1967. The text on the back is tactical, targeting two enemy regiments:

To the soldiers of the 325th Division's 18th and 95th Regiments

You have fought in South Vietnam for almost one year. Look around you! Think about all the friends whom you will never see again! Are you about to die too? Everywhere you look you see disease and death. Death is chasing you - the power of Phuong Hoang [Operation Phoenix] will not miss even one shelter, one underground bunker, or one hiding place. You have only one chance to live and to see your families in North Vietnam again. That is chance is:

Return to the Nation's Just Cause before it is too late.

Leaflet 245N-49-67

The same image was used again on this leaflet. The text on the back of this leaflet is:

Citizens Living in this Area Please Take Notice.

Don't Run, Don't Hide

Don't run and don't hide from the Allied military forces patrolling on the ground or above you in helicopters. Stay where you are until you receive further instructions. You will be told what to do. If you follow instructions you will not be harmed.

This image of the soldier on a white horse was apparently so popular that it was also used by the 10th PSYOP Battalion in May, 1968 coded 10-272-68. 50,000 copies of the leaflet were printed targeting youths eligible for military service. The text is:

The appeal of our Fatherland is calling. You should rapidly prepare to join the army. If you want the country to be peaceful, join the army and defend the free regions. As a boy you should do something worthy of a boy. Use your body to help the country; use your talent to calm the population. YOUTHS – Be eager to enter the army to destroy the Communists and protect the nation.

We have heard the story of the ace of spades from the President of the United States Playing Card Company. Here is the same story from the point of view of the military unit that originated the letter requesting the cards. It was written by Charles W. Brown (C/2/35) in 1966, published in The Cacti Times Magazine, entitled "ACE HIGH - This card was no Joker."

The Ace of Spades, "a symbol of death to the Vietcong", was reported in the New York Sunday News, July 10, 1966. In 1966 and 1967 that headline, and many like it, was published in newspapers and magazines all across the country. Over the years many organizations and individuals in the military have taken credit for initiating the use of the Ace of Spades as a psychological warfare weapon. Many did use it, but only one unit started it. Let me take you back to early 1966 to the beginning of the Ace of Spades story.

In Jan. 1966 the "Tropic Lightning’s" 3rd Brigade had established a base camp on a hill just outside the town of Pleiku, South Vietnam. The story begins there in the rear of Co. C, 2/35th’s orderly room that served as a BOQ for four lieutenants (Davis, Zais, Brown, and Wissinger). Thinking back to that time, I remember that tent looking very much like the "swamp" from the TV show M*A*S*H. Naturally a card table had its place in the center of the room.

While sitting around that table one of the platoon leaders called our attention to an article in the Stars and Stripes about remarks made by Congressman Craig Hosmer of California to the House of Representatives in Washington D. C. Those remarks, made on Feb.7th, pertained to the superstitions of the Vietcong. The article stated that two of their bad luck symbols were pictures of women and the ace of spades. Later that evening, someone in the group noticed that the ace of spades from a deck of "Bicycle" playing cards contained a picture of a woman that just happened to be a representation of the Goddess of Freedom or Liberty on the dome of our nation’s capital building. In her right hand she held a sheathed sword; in her left hand an olive branch.

Before long the groundwork was laid for a plan to use the ace of spades as a calling card when Charlie Company went into the field by leaving them at the entrances and exits to villages we cleared of VC, posting them along trails, and leaving them on VC bodies. As the plan began to take shape, the discussion turned to a way of obtaining large quantities of cards since each deck we had contained only the one special ace. It was quickly pointed out that we needed to keep our "decks" intact and couldn’t afford to part with that "ace" from every deck we owned. We had to have some complete decks for poker, Tonk, or Hearts, which helped to pass the time. However, in the months that followed, it was discovered that many decks contained only 51cards because someone had lifted the ace and used it in the field.

Almost jokingly I volunteered to write a letter to the "The U.S. Playing Card Co." in Cincinnati, Ohio to request the aces we wanted. My theory was…. what’s the harm in asking? The worst that they could say would be "NO"! In the initial letter I asked for approximately 1,000 cards, not really expecting a reply, and certainly not expecting to create the commotion that it did. Little did we know the letter would find its way to the desk of the president of the company, Mr. Allison F. Stanley. We had no way of knowing that Mr. Stanley had lost a son in WWII and that he would be eager to supply as many aces as were needed. The same day that Mr. Stanley read our letter 1,000 cards were pulled from the production line, packed, and shipped to us at no cost.

Soon after our first shipment of cards arrived, we received a letter from John B. Powers with J. Walter Thompson, Co., an advertising agency in New York City, asking for permission to use the story stateside. Mr. Powers handled the public relations account for the playing card company. So with our permission in hand, Mr. Powers relayed the story to Bob Considine for his nationally syndicated newspaper column and he also made a press release to United Press International. The playing card company then received so many requests for cards (even from mothers who wanted to send them to their sons) they started packaging them in special marked boxes containing 52 aces. They were always shipped "postage paid".

By this time, Lts. Zais and Wissinger had been reassigned to other units within country and Lt. Davis and I were frequently sent on operations in different directions. Since days or even weeks would go by without me seeing Lt. Davis, I continued to correspond with Mr. Stanley, Mr. Powers, and the Congressman.

Soon the story would be carried in newspapers across the states. Reporters started dropping in for interviews. Some just stopped by to take photos. A few even went to the field with us hoping for "live" action shots. One reporter stayed in the field with my 3rd platoon for six days. During that time, the reporter got everything he needed but the action shots. It was not uncommon to have free-lance photographers and writers hanging around the forward base camps looking for additional material. In the months that followed, I received several letters from Congressman Hosmer, the U.S. Playing Card Company, and J. Walter Thompson Co. I always tried to reply as soon as possible and give them an update on our psychological warfare campaign.

Congressman Hosmer, who in Feb. 1966 had been criticized for suggesting that psychological warfare be used in Vietnam, spoke to Congress again on June 14, and read the correspondence he and Mr. Stanley had received from the Lieutenants of Company C. This information can be found on pages 12497-12499 of that day’s Congressional Record - House (Vol. 112, No. 97).

In a letter I received from Mr. Powers dated May 24, 1966, he stated that he was "presently trying to work out story ideas on your ace of spades use with Life, Look, True, Newsweek, NBC-TV News (Huntley-Brinkley Report), This Week, Argosy, True, Sunday Group Editorial Service (photo stories to 18 major metropolitan newspapers, including NY News, Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)." Once the story of the "Ace" was reported and spread across America, I received many personal letters from people I had never met who saw pictures or read stories about the ACE OF SPADES in their local newspaper. All that most of these people knew was my name and our unit’s designation (C/2/35, 25th Division) and they just wanted us to know they believed in and supported what we were doing. I have read those letters from time to time and still have a good feeling about what we were trying to do.

One of my letters to Representative Hosmer was published in a book entitled Letters From Vietnam. In that letter I wrote, "I cannot give an account of the effectiveness of our campaign. I will say that once we sweep through an area, leave our cards, and then return some weeks later, there has been little or no V.C. activity there. You can arrive at your own conclusions." Did it work? I’m not sure. Did it help our morale? I definitely think so! In our company and others throughout Vietnam, I think the cards did something to encourage the men that were just trying to survive during a difficult time.

I am writing this account some thirty-five years after the fact so I may have left out parts here and there. For some reason I kept most of the letters and mailed them home with the newspaper articles, clippings, and other material people sent to me concerning our psychological warfare action. I really don’t know why I kept them and sent them home. More than likely it was just my way of sharing with my wife what was going on in that crazy mixed-up part of the world. She kept everything I sent and put it all together in a scrapbook. It’s from that scrapbook I was able to pull together the information for this article. I hope you enjoyed my account of how using the Ace of Spades began.

Note: Recently I had the opportunity to donate several items from Vietnam to the 2/35th museum at Schofield Barracks. Among those items was one of the original decks of 52 aces I received from Mr. Stanley in 1966. The CO of the Battalion sent me a deck of 52 aces, also produced by the U.S. Playing Card Company, for the gulf war. I don’t know if the "jinx" worked in the Middle East, but it is nice to know that the tradition lives on! CACTI FOREVER

Two marines in Vietnam examine a deck of Ace of Spade cards, 16 January 1967

There was apparently more than one letter written to the president of the playing card company. Staff Sergeant Rick Hofmann, a former member of the 6th Psyop Battalion., HQ, Saigon, told me:

I wrote to the Bicycle Company in 1967 asking about the cards. They said they were donating the Aces of Spades to the military on a no-questions asked basis. The cards that were sent were said to be slightly flawed misprints, which couldn't be put into circulation. There was also some mention of a relative of one of the Bicycle Company executives being a killed in action, hence the company's support of the troops and Death Card operations. We understood the card to be a double whammy - the Ace of Spaces itself was bad luck, reinforced by the standing goddess in the center of it.

An American who served in Vietnam in 1967-1968 tells what he thinks the ace of spades represents:

The ace of spades is called the death card or the death-dealers card. It's use in Vietnam meant approximately 'I understand that my job means killing the enemy. I am ready to do so.' Think of it as the opposite of the peace sign.

Another Vietnam vet said

The first one of these I ever saw was on the road from near the demilitarized zone (Dong Ha) and Camp Eagle at Phu Bai in 1971. It was nailed to the forehead of a Viet Cong tax collector.

Ken Smith says in a short story entitled "Happy Birthday Grunt":

The quotation in the 2/35 Infantry was "Got to get Dem Dinks", and "Don't Mean Nothin". Our Crest was Cacti Blue and our calling card was the Ace of Spades. That was supposed to bring fear in them. I believe that I was more scared of them though. I mean what tough guy wouldn't be scared when exchanging rounds that close. If you weren't afraid of getting killed, you must have been on something.

One former member of A Company, 1/52, 198th Light Infantry Brigade told me:

I saw the death cards used once during my 1969-1970 tour of duty. We were patrolling through an area that another sister company had worked. We found a few of the death cards strategically placed on the bodies of some dead North Vietnamese Army troops. I don't think it scared them at all. In fact, I believe their buddies thought we did it and for about two weeks we had a running gun battle with the sons of bitches! I didn't mind fighting them, but I just couldn't see any sense in stirring them up!

Katherine Keane was a Red Cross “Donut Dolly” in Viet Nam from 1967 to 1968. She was assigned to the Red Cross Recreation Center in Nha Trang. She told me that many of the soldiers coming into the center appeared to have some form of PTSD. She believed they were being treated locally in an Army medical center. One sat down next to her and she expected a pleasant talk about home and what it was like to be in Vietnam. Instead, he pulled out a handful of photographs to show her. She said:

“Here” he said. ‘Look here.” He pulled a stack of Polaroid pictures out of his cargo pocket. He laid the pictures down in front of me one by one. The first showed a dead Vietnamese with an Ace of Spades stuck in his mouth. I was completely unprepared to see this. He continued laying them down, one next to another. The next showed a group of dead Vietnamese with the Ace of Spades stuck in their mouths. The next showed the Ace of Spades apparently stuck into the man’s chest with some kind of stick. The last showed the Ace of Spades nailed into a man’s forehead. He seemed to have the pictures in some sort of order of brutality. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He offered to let me pick and keep one picture but I declined. He seemed relieved. I would have broken up his collection. Then he handed me a sewn patch depicting an Ace of Spades that I did accept.

It was not even noon yet and I was a complete wreck. I went into the office and found my partner Mary going through some donated books, and asked her if she had heard that there were special psychologists in Nha Trang that worked with guys who were disturbed. She said she knew there was a hospital, but didn’t know anything about special shrinks. “See that guy out there?” I pointed to the young man, who was still sitting slumped at the table, looking at his pictures.“He showed me pictures of dead Vietnamese with the Ace of spades in them. “Really?” she said, quite undisturbed. “I’ve heard all that Ace of Spades stuff before…”

I suspect that Katherine Keane was just dealing with regular soldiers back from the field suffering from some degree of PTSD. However, she might have been correct in thinking there was a psychiatric center nearby. A subordinate unit within the 8th Field Hospital at Nha Trang was the 98th Medical Detachment. They operated the only inpatient psychiatric facility in I and II Corps (the two most northern tactical zones in Vietnam). Besides dealing with mental health issues on an outpatient basis, they had a 12 bed in-patient facility staffed by a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and five social work specialists. They could keep an in-patient for 30 days; at the end of that time they had to return the patient to duty, reassign him in-country, or medically evacuate him back to the United States for further treatment.

There are many types of the ace of spades death cards. It is important to note that very few of those you see offered for sale are genuine. In fact, no death card should be considered genuine unless the source is impeccable and there is an unimpeachable history of it being personally brought back from Vietnam. Fakes and forgeries abound. I would guess that 95% of those offered at auction are bogus.

 

7th PSYOP Battalion Death Card

This card coded 7-1040-69 was printed by the U.S. Army 7th PSYOP Battalion in 1969. The skull on the front is a bit odd and perhaps more Asian than American. The back is all text with a green Chieu Hoi symbol in the background. The theme of this card is “You are being watched.” What I find most strange about this item was that the official U.S. line on death cards was that they were useless and there were even some attempts to ban the troops from using them. Yet, here an American PSYOP unit actually produced one. I suspect an informal off-the-cuff request from some supported combat unit that wanted them and the PSYOP Battalion prepared them just as a courtesy. The text on the back is:

No place is safe for you. You have no place to hide. Your only option is to return to the just nationalist cause by rallying in order to stay alive.

I had hoped to find out a little more about this card since I have the 7th PSYOP Battalion Leaflet Catalog (Da Nang) for 1969. Unfortunately it is dated 1 July 1969 and the highest leaflet it mentions is 750. Assuming that about 125 leaflets were prepared each month, the Death Card should have been printed about September of 1969.

 

Death Awaits…

One soldier said in regard to the above card:

These were put on every dead Viet Cong to send ‘Charlie’ a message that US soldiers had been there. The top line reads: "Death awaits Viet Cong cadres." The second line reads: "Return [to the south Vietnamese side] rather than being killed.

These seem to be the most prevalent type of death cards, one might almost say "the standard" death card. I have seen about three variations with slightly different fronts but always the same message on the back.

In addition, the same skull inside the spade is depicted on a commemorative death card distributed by Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, at the Americal Division Reunion in Reno Nevada, June 2004. On one side is the Americal unit insignia, the other side is the ace of spades with skull and crossbones in the center spade.

I would have assumed that this card was privately made; perhaps ordered from an American printer. Instead, it turns out that the card was produced by the United States Army 6th PSYOP Battalion on the request of Special Forces. Captain Edward N. Voke, S2 (Intelligence) officer from 1966-1967 told me:

The only type of death card I saw was the one with the skull and crossbones inside the spade on one side, and the crosshatched design and message on the other. The first time was in 1966 when some Special Forces officers from IV Corps, working around Father Hoa’s area, came up to Saigon with a shopping list. They wanted a small run of these leaflets; explained that the ace of spades meant  death to the Vietnamese; that the cards were to be pinned to the clothing of dead Viet Cong, but, in actual practice, were often left in the mouth. I only recall us printing them for Special Forces, usually in the IV Corps area, but I did not usually get involved in what our printing plant did for our companies or other units and agencies.

Warning: In December 2010, these cards were being reproduced and sold by a Florida dealer in sets of 50. The dealer had sold 25 sets at the time I saw his offer so there are already a minimum of 1250 fake death cards circulating. Do not buy a death card unless it comes with a pedigree from a bona-fide veteran who personally brought it back. The dealer comments:

This is an exact reproduction of the famous Ace of Spades "Death Card" used during the Vietnam War by the United States Military Armed Forces. My reproductions are as close to the originals as possible and by far surpasses any others offered. Printed on Card Stock.

In 2016, the dealer I mention above wrote to me. I was very impressed by his letter. He said:

I CLEARLY state that my cards are NOT originals and are reproductions. In no way shape or form am I trying to mislead anyone. My cards are bought primarily by other Vietnam vets and they are thrilled that I offer them. I would like to tell you one story from a customer who wanted 200 cards as she and her husband wanted to give them to all Vietnam Veterans at the Vietnam Wall in D.C. on Veterans Day back in 2011. Well because of her cause I basically donated the cards to them. I wish you could read the appreciation letter they sent to me after they went to DC telling me the thanks the veterans gave to them with tears. I have also had many army organizations acquire my cards to give out at their reunions. I truly feel that you should warn your people about dealers who are claiming they are selling originals rather than myself who is being completely honest. Contrary to your statement I feel I am offering something that people want.

Sincerely:

Sgt. B. Altman
3rd Combat Support Group

Bien Hoa AB RVN 69-70

I agree that the cards he is selling are being properly advertised. I answered:

I have over 140 articles on the Internet and I check eBay every day. Whenever I see a reproduction offered, whether it is stamps, banknotes, leaflets or whatever, I always print a warning. You tell your buyer that an item is not genuine, but there is no guarantee that he will tell the next buyer. As a result, I think it is responsible to warn buyers to know what they are buying.

 

A 2023 Reproduction of the Death Card

In April 2023, decades after I wrote this article, I was offered a reproduction of the Death Card. The story was it was made as a prop in a Vietnam movie. The owner could not name the movie. The copy appears to have been made on a photocopy machine on cardboard. It is a good copy of the original. Hopefully these will not be flooding the market in the future.

A Questionable Ace of Spades

In general this card looks pretty good from the front and passes the “How does it look” test. The problem is the back. We know that almost all of these items were cross hatched on the back so that the enemy could not place messages on them and use them for propaganda. This card has a blank back. Worse, we can see the crosshatching on the front where it must have bled through on a card that was photographed. So, we have a faint image on the front from a back that does not exist. Now, it could have simply been pulled from the printing press early with only the front finished, but there is no way to tell. It is simply “questionable.”

 

A Variant of the Standard "Death Awaits" Card

An Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 found this variant of the standard “Death Awaits” card. Note that although it seems identical at first glance, the spades at the corner are boxed, and the text at the back is shorter in length than in the more common versions.

We have mentioned earlier that there was a debate about the Ace of Spades and if it instilled fear. The same argument apparently took place over the skull and crossed bones. The 4th PSYOP Group Monthly Operation Report for December 1969 says:

Revision of B-52 leaflets was initiated in the past on the basis of reinforcing fear with the use of death symbols such as a cloaked skeleton or skull and crossed bones. An initial discussion by several panels indicate that the skull and crossed bones as a recognizable symbol of death as presently used was partially confirmed by Hoi Chanhs. However, further interviews with prisoner of war personnel tended to nullify the initial assumption, and on the contrary the aircraft itself appeared to stand as somewhat of a death symbol. In addition, there appeared to be a division of response between people from the North and the South, and the North Vietnamese Army men exhibited no special association at all with the skull and crossed bones…

Death Card Poster

I also have a large “death card” variant in my possession: 16 x 10.25-inches and printed on one side only; black print on white background; probably designed to be posted on buildings and trees. It has the same ace of spades card with skull and crossbones and below it are 4 lines of shaded verse. It is coded “244-298-67,” so it was printed by our 244th PSYOP Company in I Corps in 1967.   

The poster message is:

The owls are calling for the souls of the Viet Cong
Those wandering souls without destination
Spreading countless horrors to the people
Those wandering souls died in nameless graves

RETURN [to the National Government] OR DIE

These posters are very rare. I did see one in 2019 that was from the personal papers of a former Marine who had been a member of the 1st Recon. It was neatly folded into 16 squares so that might be the way they were issued.

244-297-67

We mention the 244th PSYOP Company above and here is a death card that they produced. It has no text on the front and the standard cross-hatching on back with the regular propaganda statement. 

   

Death Awaits… with scythe

This card is similar except that there is no central large ace of spades and the skull is accompanied by a scythe.

 

Death Awaits… with scythe (variation)

In this variation Death is now inside a large black spade and the Letter "A" is now made up of bones. The message on the back is identical on all three cards.

 

A questionable card with the vignette inside a black frame

This card appeared in 2022. The finder said that he got these death cards from a U.S.M.C. collection, tucked away in a book. The paper had a grainy feel to it and doesn't glow under black light.

 

CAP 1-3-9 Ace of Spade - Leaflet 7-301-70

In spring of 1970 the United States Marine Combined Action Platoon (CAP) 1-3-9 stationed in Binh Song about 14 kilometers east of Tra Bong received intelligence indicating that they were about to be attacked by a large force of regular North Vietnamese Army troops.

PSYOP was called in to help with the defense of the unit and the 7th PSYOP Battalion printed and dropped a leaflet depicting an ace of spades on the front with the text:

DIE!

THE ANGEL OF DEATH WILL COME.

The back of the leaflet is all text:

NVA SOLDIERS!

Do you remember that 116 of your soldiers died on 13 September 1969 near the village of An Phong? Stop your useless fighting before you too die needlessly. Chieu Hoi!

A letter in the JUSPAO Review of 21 Propaganda Leaflets is critical of this leaflet and the continued use of the Ace of Spades on American propaganda leaflets. Monta Osborne of the Viet-Nam Working Group complains:

Oh, no! Not the Ace of Spades again! Some years ago, a member of the U.S. Congress suggested we drop copies of the Ace of Spades all over North Viet-Nam since this is, he said, a universal symbol of bad luck (In poker circles, it is considered a sign of good luck). After careful evaluation and research, JUSPAO concluded that many NVA soldiers had never heard of the Ace of Spades. Among those who had, i.e., those who had played games using standard decks of cards, many thought the Ace of Spades is a lucky card to hold. As I remember, we could find no one who identified it as a symbol of bad luck.

The leaflet may have worked because there was no immediate attack. However, the 6th Battalion of the 21st NVA Regiment did attack two CAP units to the east of 1-3-9 in April and May, so there was definitely strong activity in the sector.

Compliments of 2nd Platoon

Marine Lance-Corporal Jerry Sitek was given this card as a member of Delta 1-7 when he was on hill 41 about October 1968. Notice that this card actually has “USMC” all around the border. It was not given as a death card to be placed on bodies, more of a souvenir and a symbol of his membership in the unit. He sent it home at the first opportunity because he did not want to lose it or have it destroyed.

We love you but…

Another Marine card was a personalized type purchased at the Freedom Hill Military Exchange (PX) near Da Nang Air Base by a former Marine Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol member of the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion.

If it’s tough…

I have seen about four different items from the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion. Here is a calling card from the collection of Eric “Doc” Schwartz.

Doc Schwartz at lower center
Recon Forever! Semper Fi!

  

A second version of the 1st Recon Card

This card was sent home by First Lieutenant Charles W. Sharman III of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, in May 1969.

A Third Version, this one from the 3rd Platoon

In 2019 three more Recon cards were found in the papers of a retired Recon Marine:

The Professionals

The first does not mention the specific unit but the image shows it is definitely for recon. They men must have made up the card and forgot to tell the printer to add “deadly” below the skull because you can see that they wrote it in by hand.

For a Job Well Done