Raffles Posted July 25, 2011 Share #1 Posted July 25, 2011 I picked these up online a while back and the photos were not too clear. I thought they were just regular wool shirts but when they arrived there were some odd things about them. This one has no gas flap and no sign of any labels or markings anywhere other than a faded "R-I 506" inked onto the collar. Rifle infantry? This shirt has had the sleeves cropped and hemmed to a short sleeve length. Also it has had a small strip of parachute silk sewn into the neck to act as a sweatband. It's made of the same heavy wool as other ETO shirts. Just wondering if anyone has seen anything like these before and has any more info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raffles Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share #2 Posted September 3, 2011 Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted September 3, 2011 Share #3 Posted September 3, 2011 they are the shirts that go under the tunics. the 2nd one is pretty cool. Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted September 3, 2011 Share #4 Posted September 3, 2011 Why do you consider the first one to be "odd"? Only those shirts marked "Special" had gas flaps (I realise yours has no label ) Therefore it appears to be just a standard issue GI wool shirt. I have examples of wool shirts with the flaps having been cut out (commonly done) and also with flaps of a different material added. Plenty of official/unofficial variants to be had. Your second shirt falls into the latter category. Truncated sleeves on wool shirts were certainly non-reg...I've never seen such a thing before! The parachute silk lining is akin to the rayon lining found in officer-quality wool shirts. I like it! Cheers! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul70 Posted September 3, 2011 Share #5 Posted September 3, 2011 Looks to me to be R-1503. Standard way to put a partial serial number. I bet the second one was cut off post war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UPNATM Posted September 3, 2011 Share #6 Posted September 3, 2011 Those wool shirts were murder on the neck, sometimes causing a pretty good rash. I've seen a bunch of shirts both enlisted and officer where they had sewn some sort of silk into the collar to try and prevent the rub. As far as the sleeves being cut off, I agree with the post above not reg, and more than likely done post war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclure Posted September 3, 2011 Share #7 Posted September 3, 2011 Is that standard issue ? How much did you pay for it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raffles Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share #8 Posted September 4, 2011 Is that standard issue ? How much did you pay for it ? I can't remember how much they were. Not a lot as I got them on ebay but they were listed without photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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