John Lennon’s Famous U.S. Army Jacket & Patches Story
The infamous army jacket/shirt that John Lennon wore in the early 70's was actually bought by Lennon himself in a local Salvation Army in the West Village. This jacket was John's favorite in his New York days, and he wore it for the "One to One" concert on August 30, 1972 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
It is a standard infantry shirt used during the Korean War and has several patches on it. It has the name "Reinhardt" above the right pocket and the U.S. Army patch over the left pocket.
The patch on the right breast pocket is a "Imjin Scout Regiment Patch" and the patch on the top left shoulder is a "2nd Infantry Patch". It also has Sergeant Stripes on each side.
Why John chose to wear an Army jacket and T-shirt could be a sign of rebellious attitude because a that time (71-72) the Vietnam War was still going on and everybody knows about John's strong antiwar feelings?
There are many frauds out there such as the coat that is at Hard Rock Cafe. The REAL coat was given to girlfriend May Pang in 1975. John wrote a love message to May on the inside of the coat and the coat is now on display in the John Lennon Museum in Japan.
A feelnumb.com reader Tony let us know that the correct "Imjin Scout Regiment Patch" on Lennon's jacket has DMZ at the very bottom of the patch. DMZ stands for "demilitarized zone." Thanks Tony!
UPDATE: We noticed that on the cover of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, "Power To The People" (Apple R 5892) the "Reinhardt" patch is white instead of green…Did he have 2 of these jackets from the same soldier????
Close up…
22 Comments to “John Lennon’s Famous U.S. Army Jacket & Patches Story”
Leave a Reply
There is a mistake with the Imjin you have posted here… The correct one had DMZ on the bottom…Check it out, you'll see I'm right.
I have re-made this shirt with the greatly appriciated help from this website, and now im looking for the under shirt Lennon is waring in most of these photos, i wanted to know where or if i can find one, it would be really cool if i could actually find it, Thanks.
Search Google for " John Lennon the New York Years" you'll see what I'm talking about…
There is a mistake with the Imjin patch you have posted, The correct one had DMZ on the bottom of the patch,, if you Google " John Lennon the New York Years" you will see first hand the shirt and the correct patch, I researched that shirt for over a year to make an exact copy and aside from the name on the shirt the Imjin patch was the second hardest to make out………
We added the correct patch at the bottom of the story. Thanks Tony!
Thanks,, I didn't mean any disrespect or that you didn't know what you were talk about.. I just wanted to bring it to your attention,,,,,,
No disrepect Tony. Thanks for the info…We appreciate it. Raul
hey dose anyone know where i can get a jacket like this dosent have to be the exact one just a vietnam jacket , email me please if you know cheers peace x
guitar-wizz@hotmail.co.uk
Richard, this uniform was worn by a soldier in Korea, not Vietnam. 2ID did serve in Vietnam but the patch on John's right breast pocket directly references the DMZ. The 2nd Infantry Division is stationed near the DMZ in South Korea. I'm currently in 2ID and have never seen the patch on John's right right breast pocket. It could still exist but I've never seen it. The 2ID patch with the Indian head is still worn on every soldier's left shoulder and should be easy to find. To replicate the uniform you need to research whether it's a Korean War era uniform or from the Vietnam era. Although John wore his ACU top during the Vietnam war, American soldiers have maintained a presence in Korea for almost 60 years. it's hard to know whether he purchased a uniform that was sitting in an Army surplus store for 15 years or 6 months.
MANCHUS!!! (2nd Infantry 9th Regiment)
I wan 2 get a replica jacketjust like this if some one would plz email me the link cody1778@gmail.com thanks
Hi, I'm in Lima, Peru if you are interested write me military shirt, the link Sales here:
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.pe/MPE-12244166-…
thanks
I recall hearing in an interview from Lennon where he said that a soldier just back from Vietnam was going to toss it in the trash, but instead gave Lennon the jacket at an airport. I may be fuzzy on the details, but I remember him saying a soldier gave it to him. But — the 2nd Infantry did not serve in Vietnam. They were based in Korea along the DMZ during the Korean War (1950-53), then sent back to Korea in mid-1965 where they maintain a presence today. So, if true, the soldier wasn't in Vietnam with the 2nd — so there are conflicting stories out there regarding the origin of how Lennon actually got the jacket.
The Imjin Scouts, as part of the 2nd Infantry Division, were active in Korea patrolling the area along the Imjin River from 1967 to 1994. A soldier would receive the patch after 20 patrols in the DMZ near the river. These soldiers were subject to contact with North Koreans from time to time and firefights did occur. The shirt John Lennon wore would be an OG-107 fatigue shirt issued to all U.S. Army soldiers at the time, circa 1972 or slightly earlier . I am trying to put together a replica but A genuine Imjin Patch is really tough to find. The shirt without patches is fairly easy to catch on EBAY.
for sale…. look at this
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.pe/MPE-11505736-…
Today is a John & Yoko day for me!
I am a Costume Designer in NYC and just finished duplicating this shirt and it's fabulous and saw Yoko today coming out of the Dakota! She was way too amazing!
I found that this shirt can be ordered thru:
Kaufman's in NYC. The owner is fabulous and knows his stuff! On 42nd St. near 8th Ave. http://www.kaufmansarmynavy.com and info@kaufmansarmynavy.com
212-757-5670
The shirt can also be ordered thru:
M*A*S*H* Army & Navy Stores, Inc also in NYC on 8th Ave between 46th & 45th St.
no website. 212-765-1500
All patches except the DMZ Imjin patch are also available at these two locations.
Pace and Love from NYC!
Hi, does anyone know anything about the necklace John is wearing? The one with the coins. I'm trying to replicate the NYC outfit, complete with jacket, shirt, pants, and necklace. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!!
Hmmm, After seeing all the pictures, Could it be possible that Lennon in fact had two army shirts?
The "Poer To The People" shirt appears to be another variant of the OG-107 utility shirt, with the square pockets. It also has the white name tape and colored U.S. Army branch tape. Another shirt of the same type can be seen here for reference: http://www.vintagetrends.com/common/showpic.asp?F…
The white nametags over the right pockets of OG-107 fatigue shirts went with gold "U.S. Army" tapes on the left. They'd been that way since the 1950s (See photos of Elvis Presley during his stint in the army) They also went with the "Fidel Castro" style "saucepan" rigid green hat. During the last half of 1967 the tapes were both replaced by "subdued" green, and were either printed or embroidered with the soldier's name ane "U.S. Army." The hat was replaced by a regular, "baseball" hat.
If John Lennon showed in photos with both styles of nametags, he must have had two shirts. He might have even had the white tape one printed with the name "Reinhardt" to match the other one he wore in concert.
Try this: http://hollywoodprop.com/lennonshirts.htm
John is a legend. I have been meaning to dress like him for Halloween for the longest time. Not that im counting, but I have had over 300 people tell me I look like him. Been all over websites to try to make my costume look authentic. John was creative. He wants that for us too. Be free, and imagine.
Have you seen the COME TOGETHER t shirts that are all over the net? A friend of mine and I designed and hand-screened to originals in 1969. There’s a photo of John wearing the shirt at Cannes. I first saw a photo of John in the COME TOGETHER t shirt in a special issue magazine right after his assassination. He was with Yoko in their backyard. I’ve never been able to find this photo again.
I’d like to know how John got the t shirt since we only printed a dozen or so. It’s possible Frank Zappa gave it to him as my friend gave one to Frank when he was signed with STRAIGHT RECORDS in the 60s.
We have the original silk screen that produced these shirts.
Rob Rose