Very nice knife and cool story.
In terms of level of effort, eBay is basically it for finding vintage pieces. For better prices, more effort is required and spending time at estate sales, garage sales, pawn shops and various auction sites (i.e. TSA, etc).
You might be in luck as people are focusing more on newer Limited Editions and Special Editions, so you might be able to score on vintage soldiers while everyone chases after the next annual Alox color series or some Damascus steel rendition. Zig when everyone zags.