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WWII nurse impression


21stFA
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WWII Impressions offers quality womens HBTs and other womens stuff. What Price Glory offers more dress uniform items. There is a Hong Kong vendor selling on e-bay who offers womens M-43s, but I cannot vouch for the quality. There is a company in the UK callecd WarHorse who offers some additional goods - for links, go to http://www.tenthmountain.org/uniformw2

 

Womens double buckles are very hard to find - she will probably have to use mens boots.

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Even though two-buckles are shown in the late-war/postwar WAC/Nurse QM catalog, I suspect you will find nurses wearing the regular hi-top field shoes far more often than the two-buckles, which are more of a WAC thing. I think(?) WPG offers the regular field shoes.

 

Tom

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Thanks for the information. In photos I have found nurses wearing just about everything the army issued.

 

A friend of mine that specializes in WWII nursing has photos of them wearing black/white saddle shoes and original black Keds!

Tom

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A friend of mine that specializes in WWII nursing has photos of them wearing black/white saddle shoes and original black Keds!

Tom

 

 

I wonder then, considering the mixture I have seen, if they ever wore those with ODs or HBTs.

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I'll ask.

 

Tom

 

I talked to my nurse friend and she dug out her photos. They showed WWII nurses wearing anything with anything! Heeled "dress" service shoes with the brown/white seersuckers. High service shoes (with or without leggings) with HBT's. Saddle shoes with seersuckers or, occasionally. HBT's. And, of course, Keds with mainly HBT's but occasionally just about anything else. She also has a photo of a nurse wearing penny loafers with her uniform.

 

Anything with anything...

 

Tom

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I talked to my nurse friend and she dug out her photos. They showed WWII nurses wearing anything with anything! Heeled "dress" service shoes with the brown/white seersuckers. High service shoes (with or without leggings) with HBT's. Saddle shoes with seersuckers or, occasionally. HBT's. And, of course, Keds with mainly HBT's but occasionally just about anything else. She also has a photo of a nurse wearing penny loafers with her uniform.

 

Anything with anything...

 

Tom

 

Thanks, I had started to get that impression. Thanks for the verification.

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All that being said, still the most common shoes worn with HBT's would be the high service shoes, surprisingly mainly with leggings.

 

Tom

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All that being said, still the most common shoes worn with HBT's would be the high service shoes, surprisingly mainly with leggings.

 

Tom

 

Thanks. The problem she is having is finding service shoes or double buckles in her size. She has extremly small feet, the last time she bought herself work boots she had to get boys size 4. Noone has them in her size. WOuld your friend be willing to share any photos or tell me where she found them. I can only find a few of nurses in field uniforms, most that I can find are in dress uniforms. I'd like for her to have some pictures so at an event she can prove to anyone that questions her that she is wearing a documented uniform.

 

Again, thanks to all for the information.

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Thanks. The problem she is having is finding service shoes or double buckles in her size. She has extremly small feet, the last time she bought herself work boots she had to get boys size 4. Noone has them in her size. WOuld your friend be willing to share any photos or tell me where she found them. I can only find a few of nurses in field uniforms, most that I can find are in dress uniforms. I'd like for her to have some pictures so at an event she can prove to anyone that questions her that she is wearing a documented uniform.

 

Again, thanks to all for the information.

 

Fraid i cannot help you there. The photos she has are from personal collections she has purchased over the years. She is not very computer literate and is lucky to be able to read email let alone send photos over the internet. Additionally, she lives about 150 miles from me. I will ask her, though, to see if she has any suggestions.

 

Tom

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Fraid i cannot help you there. The photos she has are from personal collections she has purchased over the years. She is not very computer literate and is lucky to be able to read email let alone send photos over the internet. Additionally, she lives about 150 miles from me. I will ask her, though, to see if she has any suggestions.

 

Tom

 

 

Thanks. I appreciate the help.

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Talking to my nurse friend, I find that she is more computer literate than I thought. She is going to research some photos and send them to me. I'll send them on to you. May be a week or two, however.

 

Tom

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Everyone is pretty much right - on the shoes, it is really "anything goes." I've seen photos of nurses in the ETO wearing everything from RAF flight boots to jump boots to the ankle boots with bobby socks. They wore what they could get or swap for! That said, the russet ankle boots are the most accurate and probably the safest bet. I don't think anyone makes a reproduction, but you can find originals on ebay.

 

If she's lucky enough to have a normal-sized foot, she can buy & wear men's boots from any of the repro vendors. The men's Army service shoes would work just fine for an ANC impression. Generally a woman's size will be 2 sizes larger than a men's - so if she wears a women's 8, she'll need roughly a men's 6. Unfortunately I have a very small foot (wear a modern 6) so I can't ever find men's shoes small enough! I have an original pair of field boots I do not wear out, and then I have a couple of pairs of modern boots that look "close enough" - paddock style boots, that I use for the field. I also have the repro WAC oxfords from What Price Glory, which are very nice.

 

For HBTs I'd definitely, definitely go with the WWII Impressions 2 piece women's set. High quality and well worth it! I've had my set for several years and it has held up like a champ. Men's HBT coveralls will also work in a pinch, especially if she's going to be portraying early war PTO Nursing.

 

There is also a company that reproduces the Nurse's coveralls with the drop-flap in the back, but those were not worn very much. I believe they sell on ebay. I have never seen them in person so I cannot speak for the quality or accuracy.

 

Here are a couple of albums with a plethora of WWII Army Nurse photos:

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/pmbu...in%20the%20ETO/

http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/mon_neid/index.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would suggest you look for a "paddock" or "dressage" boot for a woman horseback rider. These are usually an ankle boot, frequently in brown, with a moderate heel and lace-up style. A few years ago I bought unissued Army boots from a horse tack dealer who was selling them as paddock boots. Most of the ones I bought were women's size 5.5 & 6 with 1943 & 1944 dates. While the surplus boots are no longer, maybe this is a source for a repro pair!

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^ You need to part with a pair of those & sell them to me! :lol:

 

Paddock/dressage boots are very close to the women's ankle boot, and would work. As I said in my earlier post, I have a small foot so I can't wear men's boots, and I refuse to wear my original unissued pair in the field. I bought a pair of paddock boots & a pair of lace-up ropers that look close enough with leggings over them to pass.

 

Some people might call that farb, but unfortunately when you wear a modern size 6, your repro shoe options are severely limited.

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