V-42 stiletto V-42s procured by the U.S. Navy were the only known V-42 knives sent to a unit or branch outside the First Special Service Force. The V-42 was depicted on the badges of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, Canadian Forces' Joint Task Force 2 and one of the United States Army Special Forces badges. W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. manufactured a post-war version from 1989 until 1993. The V-42 weighs , with either a or long blade and handle, for a total length of approximately . Its features included a double hollow-ground, stiletto-type blade equipped with a thumb-imprint
Tar Heel and when General Lee said, "God bless the Tar-heel boys," they took the name. (p. 6) A letter found in 1991 (dating from 1864 in the North Carolina "Tar Heel Collection") by North Carolina State Archivist David Olson supports the theory that Lee might have stated something similar to this. A Colonel Joseph Engelhard, describing the Battle of Ream's Station in Virginia, wrote: "It was a 'Tar Heel' fight, and ... we got Gen'l Lee to thanking God, which you know means something brilliant." Tar Heel Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It