These M1944 were made by Polaroid and feature the red lenses, these were used by members of Operation Ivory Coast, better known as the Son Tay Raid. Operation Ivory Coast was a United States special military operation conducted in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
On November 21, 1970, U.S. Army Colonel Arthur D. “Bull” Simons and Lieutenant Colonel Elliot “Bud” Sydnor led a team of 56 U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers in a joint Air Force/Army raid on the Son Tay prison camp (located 23 miles west of Hanoi) in North Vietnam. The objective was to recover some 70 American prisoners of war thought to be held at the camp. The mission, though executed successfully, failed to recover any prisoners, because all had been moved to another camp before the raid.
These Goggles, M-1944 with metal reinforced, cardboard box. Original M-1944 goggle sets were developed by Polaroid and delivered with three lenses (clear, dark polarizing, red) for dust, wind, and sun protection. “Goggle, M1944” is stamped into the one-piece rubber frame. The M-1944 pattern of goggles remained in use until the 1990s under several different names and part numbers (e.g. “Goggles, Sun/Wind/Dust” FSN 8465-161-4068 or NSN 8465-00-161-4068).
These googles will form part of an impression of a typical Son Tay raider, the raid wasn’t a SOG mission but a lot of those involved had passed through SOG.
