Hawkdriver's pack filler displays

[hawkdriver]

Someone asked the other day what went in a musette bag. That got me to thinking and while I was beginning my restorative move through my displays, I thought that since I will be opening everything up to check for rust, and bugs, I would capture what I have inside my displays. As I take them down and open them up, I will post them here for everyone's perusal. If you have good constructive criticism, I'm all for it.

 

With that being said, I pulled my WWI Infantry display down and opened it up, here is what I have in my pack to "fluff" it up. Now, I know that some of the stuff in my displays is more than what an average infantryman would carry, but this is supposed to be representative of what was available at the time. Ok, here we go.

 

This is the overall picture of the entire set-up

 

A close-up detail of the pack contents. Shaving stick, Gillette razor set, packers soap, mirror, housewife, Bull Durham tobacco, heavy socks, pocket compass, toothbrush in a glove finger, black brass whistle, hanky, trench lighter, puttees, three tins.

 

And the three tins, condiment, meat and cracker

[doyler]

Nicey...I likey

[Corpsmancollector]

Impressive stuff! Look forward to seeing the next instalments

 

Will

[Sabrejet]

Outstanding!! :twothumbup:

[The Meatcan]

wow Hawk - that's really an impressive display :thumbsup:

and to think I just fill my packs with bubble wrap...

Terry

[solcarlus]

Bonjour.

 

:thumbsup:

 

But I do not think our "items" sammy long shelf life, given the design of the bag.

 

solcarlus.

[cco23i]

LOOKING GOOD!!

[Justin]

Very nice!! :w00t:

[bheskett]

IS the cracker tin a repro? If so where can we find one? If not can we see closer pics? Super display.

Bob

[RustyCanteen]

Nice display!, but you need a tube of tooth paste or a can of tooth powder. Otherwise brushing his teeth won't do much.

 

RC

[PFCMcP]

Awesome pack display here. I've been in the process of putting together a similar display for my own collection. For the gentleman looking to pick up a repro bread tin, I recommend obtaining one from Schipperfabrik at Schipperfabrik Bread Tin REPRO I ordered two of them and they turned out quite well. The only confusion that I've run into is the number of tins that would have constitued a basic issue. I've seen in other sources that four tins were included on average. Does anyone have a period, printed regulation that stipulates the minimum or "average" issue of bread tins for placement in the 1910 haversack?

 

John McP

[hawkdriver]

Awesome pack display here. I've been in the process of putting together a similar display for my own collection. For the gentleman looking to pick up a repro bread tin, I recommend obtaining one from Schipperfabrik at Schipperfabrik Bread Tin REPRO I ordered two of them and they turned out quite well. The only confusion that I've run into is the number of tins that would have constitued a basic issue. I've seen in other sources that four tins were included on average. Does anyone have a period, printed regulation that stipulates the minimum or "average" issue of bread tins for placement in the 1910 haversack?

 

John McP

 

Why, yes, I do have a reference. I have a book titled: Privates Manual by Major James A. Moss, dated June 1917, published by the George Banta Publishing Company, Menasha, Wis., price $1

 

It goes through every piece of equipment and discusses it's use and then how to pack it in the pack. Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to scan or I would scan the pages, maybe in the future.

 

Field Kit: Toilet articles- 1 comb, 1 cake of soap, 1 towel, 1 toothbrush. Note: The order does not prescribe a soap box, but every soldier should carry his soap in a metal or other box.

Field Kit- 1 blanket, 1 drawers, 1 poncho (slicker for mounted men) 2 stockings, 1 undershirt, 1 housewife.

 

Each man to pack a surplus kit that consists of: 1 breeches, 1 drawers, 1 shirt OD, 1 shoes russet, 2 stockings, 1 shoe laces extra, 1 undershirt. Each man will tightly roll his items to be placed in the squad surplus kit bag, which is the brown canvas chest bag. The squad cleaning kit will be tied to the thong inside the bag with eight individual surplus bags stacked two high. The foot powder and adhesive plaster also goes in the surplus kit bag.

 

To pack the full pack with rations. lay the pack out attached to the belt. Place three cartons of hard bread in the center of the haversack body, the lowest one on the line of attachments of the inside flap; lay the remaining carton of hard bread, the condiment can and the bacon can on top of these, the condiment can and the bacon can at the bottom; the socks and toilet articles are rolled, towel on outside, into a bundle of about the same size as a carton of hard bread and are placed in front of the two rows thus formed. (Note: If one haversack ration and one emergency ration are carried instead of two haversack rations, the haversack is packed in the manner described above, except that tow cartons of hard bread and the bacon can form the bottom layer, the bacon can on the bottom; the condiment can, the emergency ration, and the toilet articles form the top layer. If one emergency ration is carried in addition to the two haversack rations, it is packed on top of the top layer.) Now buckle the pack up.

[RustyCanteen]

The "private's manual" is an interesting old book from WWI, just don't forget that it's not an official publication but one that has a lot drawn from official sources to make a handy "5 in 1" type book.

 

As for the toliet equipments carried in the field, most of it is the usual basic items, of course if it was prescribed by the unit commander then they could have carried a different load.

 

RC

[ColtM1911]

That is really nice hawkdriver. Im looking forward to future pictures of your webgear!

[hawkdriver]

Here is the hardbread tin. It's hard to see since I took a downward shot, it is 8 1/2" long and 2" square. It weighs 8 oz, and is rolled sheet steel soldered along the seam and along the end caps to seal them.

 

 

The bottom recessed end has the hardbread and weight statement along with U.S.Q.M.C.

 

 

The top end, has "CUT THIS END OUT"

 

[hawkdriver]

The "private's manual" is an interesting old book from WWI, just don't forget that it's not an official publication but one that has a lot drawn from official sources to make a handy "5 in 1" type book.

 

As for the toliet equipments carried in the field, most of it is the usual basic items, of course if it was prescribed by the unit commander then they could have carried a different load.

 

RC

 

Actually, I have the real manual, but it is hard to follow and it is burried deep in a box that I don't want to go after right now. You are correct, this is a private purchase book and it does have in numerous places, statements about the commander having the authority to set what he wants in the bag.

 

As for the tooth powder, I am having more trouble finding a tin of that than I did the cracker tin! Besides, I think with as bad as most of these guy's teeth were, it wouldn't help much That toothbrush in the glove finger, that came out of a guys personal effects that way, I didn't do it.

 

Someone asked about repop tins, I would suggest Schipperfabrik, they make a good bread tin and also an emergency ration tins. Interesting note on the emergency ration. When I visited the WWI museum, the curator and I talked about those. They were made by the Armour Co. from Kansas City, wanna guess what was in it? He said he had the luxury of seeing one open, it was a mix of cooked meat and chocolate, guess something for both sexes!

[RustyCanteen]

I don't remember the tooth powder tins being too hard to find, but if you want something really hard to find try finding an original WWI tube of toothpaste, the tubes didn't hold up well and really who wold keep old tooth paste anyway. Took me years to find a real period one in decent condition, doesn't help that they would corrode from the inside out since it was a wet paste when new. I've only seen a handful for sale, unless you luck out and find one still in a guy's toliet kit which does happen.

 

That's correct about the cans being made there, you can see why they are hard to find now. Mmm..delicious..

 

Very nice setup, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

RC

[hawkdriver]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. Someone added the Schipperfabrik hard bread link, here is the emergency ration link: Emergency Ration Tin

[OD MAN]

Fantastic display! I love things like this. Very interesting to see the personal side of things during the Great War.

 

 

 

 

 

Justin

[Kration]

[quote

Interesting note on the emergency ration. When I visited the WWI museum, the curator and I talked about those. They were made by the Armour Co. from Kansas City, wanna guess what was in it? He said he had the luxury of seeing one open, it was a mix of cooked meat and chocolate,

 

 

Sorry for the terrible pic but here's an example of the WW1 Emergency Ration by Armour... As far as the bread tin issue.. I've seen sources that state two and three were carried in the haversack.

Kration

[USARV72]

 

 

 

Here's a few pages from this manual on the pack and contents.

There's 9 pages, PM me if anyone wants them all, I don't want to hijack Hawks thread.

[USARV72]

Here's a few pages from this manual on the pack and contents.

There's 9 pages, PM me if anyone wants them all, I don't want to hijack Hawks thread.

[hawkdriver]

Well, it's been a little while since I have had the time to move forward. While I had the previous pack down working on the restoration, my dehumidifier decided to go Tango Uniform and spilled about a gallon of water onto the floor. The water got under the carpet and soaked up through and stain ruined my cartridge belt, canteen, and first aid pouch. Fortunately none of the internal components other than ammunition was ruined. I have had to replace the cartridge belt, first aid pouch and have decided to live with the stain on the canteen since it is on the back side and isn't readily visible. I have since gotten everything caught up and moved forward to my WWI NCO rig. In this display, the guy does not carry a pack, so he has used the squad NCO pouch for his personal effects. In this case, he has chosen to carry a personal beacon flashlight, Compass, Khaki shaving kit, fingernail clippers, rolling papers, trench lighter, and wrist watch.

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the beacon flashlight.

 

 

[hawkdriver]

While waiting for the turkey to cook, I finished up the WWI gear and pulled the first WWII display down. This kit represents an infantryman in the Italian theater. This first picture is of the pack opened up. I have the tail on the pack folded back up on itself to extend the pack area enough to hold the K-rations. The brown waxy paper is a fold of issued toilet paper, got it directly from a vet, looks like waxed paper towel, would hate to try it out on soft body parts.

 

I chose to keep this pack a little more spartan than the others, not much exotic here. Two pairs of under shirts and underwear, two pairs of long underwear. There are a couple of hankies, eye glasses, dog tags, and a sewing kit. There is a complete early (repro) K ration set with a ration heat unit, halazone tablets and P-38 can opener. Some of the personal effects are a individual pay record, rifle score book that I am going to remove and put in the foot locker. There is a terry bath towel and a huck hand towel. Last of the personal effects are a trench lighter, some pull matches, and an individual insecticide sprayer. The brown waxy paper is a fold of issued toilet paper, got it directly from a vet, looks like waxed paper towel, would hate to try it out on soft body parts.

 

The dity bag contains the Gillette khaki shaving kit, shaving stick can, Army/Navy comb, pro-phy-lac-tic prolon bristle toothbrush and plastic carrier. A tin of foot powder, tooth powder, insecticide louse tin and a soap tin with Lifeboy soap.

[Sabrejet]

Very impressive Hawk'!(BTW...that Turkey smells good! )