32 replies to this topic

[Navybean]

I am curious about a shirt I picked 12 years ago. The store starts with a friend referring me to a individual who had a camouflage shirt that he had picked up at a Army Air Force Base in Central WA at the end of WW2.   He was given the below shirt by a returning Army vet from what he recalls was the Pacific Theater of war. 

 

Shirt looks to me to be a M1938 fatigue shirt but reversible camouflage.   The shirt is green on one side and brown on the other, both sides of the shirt have button and button holes,  the green side has side take-up straps,  both sides have 2 chest pleated pockets.  The buttons are donut type with stars and wreaths.  

I believe at the beginning of WW2 the US Army was experimenting with camouflage shirts and pants but most I have seen of camouflage M1938 shirts were camouflage on one side and green on the other.   Do any of you have a similar examples,  anybody have any information on the early war samples?

 

I took a few picks for you viewing pleasure, first up are the green sides then I will follow with some pics of the brown side.

.  thanks Mike

 

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[Navybean]

more details of the green side

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[Navybean]

more of the green side and brown side

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[Navybean]

more brown side

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[Navybean]

more brown side  and that is it. 

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[manayunkman]

Shouldn't Army buttons have stars?

 

Regardless it's a cool shirt.

[DeuceGI]

While less common than the 13 star buttons, those buttons do appear on some WWII US Army garments.  I've got a 1-piece camo suit with them and did own a pair of "tanker" bibs with them as well.  HTH

Tim

ps. The shirt is excruciatingly, relentlessly, cool!

[kammo-man]

Its a great original shirt.

 

 

owen

[kammo-man]

Mike ,

There are some more of these somewhere in the forum.

The print is standard.

There is a weird lime green one just before this.

owen

[Navybean]

Mike ,
There are some more of these somewhere in the forum.
The print is standard.
There is a weird lime green one just before this.
owen

Thanks Owen for the heads up, I had searched for the topic but probably did not use correct verbiage

I will look harder

Thanks Mike

[kammo-man]

Search WW2 cammo.

[kammo-man]

Flage guy has it i think.

['Flage Guy]

I am absolutely stunned. This is the only Jacket of its kind I have ever seen.

I've encountered extremely few of the camouflage-to-O.D. experiments, but this one takes the cake!!

Below is a photo of it in a training shot...there are others on the Forum, as well as the one from Fort Belvoir

in Ken Lewis' "Doughboy to G.I." on page 74.

 

Thanks for showing us this treasure!

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['Flage Guy]

While less common than the 13 star buttons, those buttons do appear on some WWII US Army garments.  I've got a 1-piece camo suit with them and did own a pair of "tanker" bibs with them as well.  HTH

Tim

ps. The shirt is excruciatingly, relentlessly, cool!

 

You're right, they used whatever was on hand.

Here's the cuff of a One-Piece Jungle Suit which is hanging around here... 
 

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['Flage Guy]

Flage guy has it i think.

 

Hey, Owen ol' man, what's up???

 

All I have is the O.D.-to-'flage suit in the "normal" shades. It only has 1 pocket on each side; no doubt this design inspired the

Marine Corps' layout of their new Camo Suit.

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['Flage Guy]

The Trousers:

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['Flage Guy]

Buttons for a Hood...

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['Flage Guy]

Turned inside-out (or is it inside-in...?!?); this Suit has all 13-star buttons, with the exception of the collar's Hood buttons...

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Edited by 'Flage Guy, 24 January 2016 - 10:30 PM.

[Navybean]

I am absolutely stunned. This is the only Jacket of its kind I have ever seen.
I've encountered extremely few of the camouflage-to-O.D. experiments, but this one takes the cake!!
Below is a photo of it in a training shot...there are others on the Forum, as well as the one from Fort Belvoir
in Ken Lewis' "Doughboy to G.I." on page 74.
 
Thanks for showing us this treasure!

Thanks for the great picture looks Like a ringer, did you say above that there are other pics of this same type of coat on the forum (camo to camo examples) ?
I as you mentioned above have seen camo to green but other than your picture above have rarly seen camo to camo.

['Flage Guy]

The only other pics I've seen of this variant on the Forum are period photos like the one I posted...and I think I copied that from the guy who posted it here.

There aren't a whole lot of pictures around of these Suits.

[kammo-man]

Looks like the [email protected] picture suit has plastic buttons.

[Navybean]

Looks like the [email protected] picture suit has plastic buttons.

Looks like the pocket button on the black and white photo could be plastic but I would say the closure pockets look like the metal wreath buttons as on my example.

[kammo-man]

No doubt a mix.

[usmc-collector]

I would say very similar shirt, but has plastic buttons instead of metal one. Cuff closure and waist adjusting tabs are slightly different pattern.

See photos. JAROSLAV

 

[usmc-collector]

rest of photos. JAROSLAV