During World War II, this symbol was not one of death yet. In fact, it was more the opposite: It represented good luck and allowed soldiers to recognize each other, serving as a means of identification. The good luck came from the card representing good luck in card playing.
During the Vietnam war, this changes. The card began to represent death and suffering. There was a practice of putting these death cards on the dead bodies of the Vietcong, something likely practiced by many soldiers in the field. There isn’t one reason or one person who started the rumors and spread the cards, but it happened and became widespread anyway.
In 1966, the New York Sunday News even carried a story about the ace of spades. It was called a symbol of death to the vietcong. Similar stories were picked up in other newspapers as well. This event came after a group of soldiers requested playing card decks with only the Ace of Spades in them for Vietnam. The playing card company soon got many more requests after that, even from mothers wanting to send them to their sons. This has become part of the company’s history.
The Ace of Spades is an interesting story. It isn’t super widespread and well known. In fact, the reason most people know about it is because of the movie Apocalypse Now. But the Ace of Spades created very interesting psychological warfare, making a card spark fear (or at least that’s what Americans say) into the hearts of the Vietcong. The Ace of Spades is actually the highest valued playing card in English speaking countries, and once represented good luck. But after its use in the war, the card has become tainted with death and now represents an impending doom.
Sources:
https://www.historynet.com/ace-spades-vietnam-psychological-warfare.htm
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/29/death-card-vietnam-war/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_of_spades#War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/506th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_of_spades
https://www.bicyclecards.com/article/our-history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3-GI7W40NQ
Wow this was a very interesting blog post. I had no idea that the card had any significance in the war or was used. When I clicked on your post I associated the ace of spades with luck and thought that the post might be about something along those lines.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that the ace of spades was associated with death! It was interesting to learn about how this tradition came to be. It's also really interesting how the practice of putting the card on the bodies of the fallen was not a tradition started by a single person or group, but still became popular nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog post talking about how deadly a simple playing card became to the Vietcong. The fear that the American soldiers caused was so much that Congress had hearings to determine the severity of the psychological warfare. It's interesting to think that a simple playing card had so much power during the Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.historynet.com/ace-spades-vietnam-psychological-warfare.htm
I was immediately pulled in to this post when I read the title and I didn't know how it would have anything to do with the US history. After reading it though, I thought your post was very interesting and is a cool little piece of information.
ReplyDelete