Original U.S. Vietnam War U.S.M.C. M-1955 Flak Body Armor Protective size- Small/medium

Condition is Extremely Pristine  missing tags  snaps and zipper are all fully functional, and it just appears that the buttons for the front pockets are missing.  A very nice example, with some great research potential! Body armor was widely used for the first time during the Korean War, providing not only protection but also a much-needed morale boost for soldiers. "Its use was so closely interwoven with the defensive psychology of static warfare as to make it almost a symbol of the new GI, who, lacking in the enthusiasm and clear objectives of World War II, calculated his own victory in terms of personal survival," according to U.S. Army Uniforms of the Korean War, a book by Shelby Stanton.   Body armor is credited with reducing chest and stomach wounds by 60 percent during the war, according to Stanton's book. During World War II, small-arms fire and mortar and grenade fragments caused many casualties and led the military to search for a body armor system. A flak jacket was develope