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USMC WWII camo utlility cover


Bob Hudson
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I am helping a retired Marine liquidate the contents of his seabag and I mentioned to some on this forum that he said among the things he has is a camo utility cover made from what he says is a WWII reversible camo helmet cover and that he got the cap and a set of WWII cammies from another Marine in the early 50's (he is in New York and hasn't yet sent the cammies).

 

Well, at least two people said they had seen a photo of some Marines on Saipan wearing a camo utility cover and tonight I went looking for it and finally found it on an official US Navy website. Those who've seen this photo before said the caps were made from shelter half material, but the only guy I know who owns one says it is helmet cover material. So, who has seen one of these in person and what is the genesis for the shelter half story? When I get the real thing in hand I will put up some photos, but in the meantime here's the Saipan photo along with the caption for it:

 

saipan.jpg

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craig_pickrall

That is an interesting pic. The man in the side view has an EGA pinned to his cap. The cap looks like it may be a short brim and also in the shape of a ball cap. Look at the man kneeling below him. It looks like the same cap except in OD. The other man with his head tilted so you can see the top looks to have a long brim cap and probably in the typical USMC cover pattern.

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craig_pickrall

This info is from a 1953-54 USMC tour book. The pic is from the RECON section of the book. The CAPT is wearing a camo cap to match his uniform.

 

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Here's a larger view of the guy kneeling. It looks like this could be a camo material: the appearance is mottled and could be the brown side of the camo cloth. The shape of the cap is a bit unusual, almost like a jeep cap:

 

kneelingcap.jpg

 

So do we possibly have three different styles of camo caps here? Does anyone know where the bulk of the Marines on Saipan were before Saipan? That might give a clue as to where they had these made.

 

Also, when did the Marines start issuing utility caps instead of just wearing pisscutters ala John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima?

 

Sands01.jpg

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craig_pickrall

I have been looing through older or obscure publications for the last couple of hours in search of camo caps. I will say they are very difficult to find. I found another copy of the same pic you posted plus two others.

 

The two others were in the same book so I have chosen the better of the two for posting here.

 

This is the Scout - Sniper section.

 

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It would seem that these camo caps were made from anything available, most likely worn out uniforms, shelter halves or what not.

They are of course very rare, given that few were made in the first place as they were not official issue. They could only have been made up in the field or even more likely, aboard ship, by bored Navy ships servicemen/tailors maybe to get some money.

Utility caps never completely replaced the piss cutter in ww2 and both were worn in Pacific and after, the khaki cotton piss cutters usually were used instead of the wool one of course.

 

CB

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craig_pickrall

You asked about when the USMC issued HBT covers and they stopped wearing the overseas caps. I'm not sure of the exact date of issue for the first USMC HBT cover but they did wear a variety of caps other than the OS cap. In my search today I saw Sun helmets, Daisy May caps, Army issue HBT short brim caps, one pic of a rain cap (rare to see this), both khaki and wool OS caps, ball caps and the OD issue aviation cap that looks like a ball cap.

 

The earliest HBT issue cap I own is dated 1944 but it is a long bill and I think a short bill version existed before that.

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craig_pickrall

If you have access to VOL 1 there is a pic of Norm Chandler editing / cropping that pic for use on the cover. I did not look to see if there was a story about the painting but there is probably something about your guy included.

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Here's a larger view of the guy kneeling. It looks like this could be a camo material: the appearance is mottled and could be the brown side of the camo cloth. The shape of the cap is a bit unusual, almost like a jeep cap:

 

post-214-1189696991.jpg

 

So do we possibly have three different styles of camo caps here? Does anyone know where the bulk of the Marines on Saipan were before Saipan? That might give a clue as to where they had these made.

 

Also, when did the Marines start issuing utility caps instead of just wearing pisscutters ala John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima?

 

After their costly seizure of Tarawa, the 2nd MARDIV was sent to recover up in the mountains on the big island of Hawaii at a place they named Camp Tarawa---miles from anyplace.

 

The 4th MARDIV recovered from the campaign to take the Marshalls and prepared for the Saipan operation from a camp on the island of Maui, TH.

 

Bagman

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You asked about when the USMC issued HBT covers and they stopped wearing the overseas caps. I'm not sure of the exact date of issue for the first USMC HBT cover but they did wear a variety of caps other than the OS cap. In my search today I saw Sun helmets, Daisy May caps, Army issue HBT short brim caps, one pic of a rain cap (rare to see this), both khaki and wool OS caps, ball caps and the OD issue aviation cap that looks like a ball cap.

 

The earliest HBT issue cap I own is dated 1944 but it is a long bill and I think a short bill version existed before that.

 

The Marine Corps didn't officially adopt a utility cover until 1944 when they came out with the version with longer bill and stencilled EGA on the front. Prior to that time they often wore Army contract short bill HBT covers on which they sometimes attached EGA's and I've seen period photos of them wearing the "daisy mae" caps early in the war. There's also an HBT version of the "pisscutter" that was worn during WW2.

 

Several years ago the militaria dealer/author, Harlan Glenn, made up some reproduction cammie utility covers. He manufactured them by cutting up original camouflage shelter halfs which infuriated many a USMC collector, myself included. This not only ruined vintage shelter halfs, the supply of which is rapidly dwindling, but it pretty much ruined the market for WW2 original cammie utility covers. I wish he hadn't done that.

 

Greg

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  • 5 years later...
USCapturephotos

Just found this thread. Very fascinating and being a serious photo collector I always appreciate photo evidence when trying to solve a mystery.

Bob. Did you ever get to handle that veterans cap in person or find out anything else?

Paul

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Just found this thread. Very fascinating and being a serious photo collector I always appreciate photo evidence when trying to solve a mystery.

Bob. Did you ever get to handle that veterans cap in person or find out anything else?

Paul

 

He sent me his old HBT's to sell for him, but I never got the camos. His name was George "Peepsight" Pendas and he died in January 2013.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saratogian/obituary.aspx?n=Gerard-Pendas&pid=162787218#fbLoggedOut

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A friend of mine knows a Marine that was in WW2 and I think Korea, he gave him one of those camo covers. I have had it in my hand and remember it was hbt and he would not let me buy it

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Kurt Barickman

This was from my Tarawa groupings thread. Notice Beecher's camouflage hat and he is pictured in the photo posted by me (I have an original that came with the grouping) and the one posted from the Scout Sniper book. Worn on Tarawa and period photographed immediately after the battle; don't know how much more WWII documentation you can get there.

 

Kurt

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Another one who just now found this thread.

The photo of the 4 Marines firing the Mountain Gun is featured in the late Guy Gabaldon's autobiography "Saipan: Suicide Island", and he identifies them as (l. to r.) Cpl. Bush, Cpl. Elrod, Sgt. Lenhert and Sgt. Virgil Strong, all of the SecMarDiv.

 

Craig, that shot of all the 'flaged Marines at Tarawa is outstanding.

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Kurt Barickman

I should add that it seems many of the 2nd Scout Snipers on Tarawa had that photo as one of the last remaining ones, sent me some copies of his photos last year and among his were the same shots that I had from the Beecher grouping in the above link I posted.

 

Kurt Barickman

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Kurt Barickman

Also, Beecher is in the front row kneeling, the fourth man to the right of the Scout Sniper lying prone handling the Japanese Nambu machine gun. Rex G. Beecher is holding a Springfield rifle.

 

Kurt

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  • 4 years later...

 

He sent me his old HBT's to sell for him, but I never got the camos. His name was George "Peepsight" Pendas and he died in January 2013.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saratogian/obituary.aspx?n=Gerard-Pendas&pid=162787218#fbLoggedOut

 

Actually his name was Gerard not George, for the record.

I've been meaning to respond to this for sometime now but have been very busy. I was able to acquire alot of Peepsight's stuff when he was still alive most through trading with him. I was able to get the camo hbt hat and the set of cammies that you mentioned here. Unfortunatley my collection is packed up at the present time.

I remember the hat had his name tag sewn inside and he told me he wore it in Viet Nam during his tours there.

The set of camo's came from a Raider Reunion along with his reunion nametag and a car window Raider pass to gain access to the base(which is pretty cool).

After I get settled, I can dig the items out of storage.

Regards,

Ken

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After their costly seizure of Tarawa, the 2nd MARDIV was sent to recover up in the mountains on the big island of Hawaii at a place they named Camp Tarawa---miles from anyplace.

 

The 4th MARDIV recovered from the campaign to take the Marshalls and prepared for the Saipan operation from a camp on the island of Maui, TH.

 

Bagman

 

Didn't the Navy issue a similar cap. I think I saw a picture of Admiral Spruence wearing one.

 

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  • 7 months later...

I am helping a retired Marine liquidate the contents of his seabag and I mentioned to some on this forum that he said among the things he has is a camo utility cover made from what he says is a WWII reversible camo helmet cover and that he got the cap and a set of WWII cammies from another Marine in the early 50's (he is in New York and hasn't yet sent the cammies).

 

Well, at least two people said they had seen a photo of some Marines on Saipan wearing a camo utility cover and tonight I went looking for it and finally found it on an official US Navy website. Those who've seen this photo before said the caps were made from shelter half material, but the only guy I know who owns one says it is helmet cover material. So, who has seen one of these in person and what is the genesis for the shelter half story? When I get the real thing in hand I will put up some photos, but in the meantime here's the Saipan photo along with the caption for it:

 

attachicon.gifsaipan.jpg

 

I've been doing a slow unpack of boxes and came across the camo hat you mentioned. I was able to purchase the hat off of Gerald before he passed in 2013. He had told me that he had it made in Japan when he was on leave during the Viet Nam war and it has his name tag sewn inside of it. It's possible that he used the WWII hat he told you about and had the EGA diamond on the front and name tag sewn in it in Japan? The only thing that glows under a black light is the edge of his name tag.

Regards,

Ken

post-20163-0-05467800-1531254388_thumb.jpg

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