Davis came up with the idea of reinforcing the stress points of garments with rivets after the wife of a woodcutter asked if he could make a pair of durable trousers for her husband, and approached Strauss with a business proposal whereby Strauss would finance the paperwork and the two men would share the patent.

The largest ever helicopter evacuation lasted for 19 hours and involved 81 helicopters shuttling the evacuees to US Navy ships moored in the South China Sea.