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Fragmentation, Flak Vests, Body Armor


craig_pickrall
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craig_pickrall

I took these pics several years ago. If there is any interest I have several other pieces of body armor that I have never photographed but I can do them on a time available basis.

 

This group is all early Marine Corps items.

 

First up is the Upper Torso items VEST TYPE FRAGMENTATION PROTECTIVE BODY ARMOR.

 

Vest 1 is what I believe to be an experimental USMC vest. It is made of HBT cloth so that leads me to believe that it was never intended for a combat enviroment but rather short term testing.

 

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Greg Robinson

The M1952 was the earliest of the USMC issue flak vests and it did see service in Korea. I first saw one of them in the basement of a friend of mine when I was twelve years ago. It belonged to his dad who was a Marine Colonel at the time and he'd worn it in Korea. It had damage on it from where a Chinese soldier fired a pistol at him....and it had saved his life

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craig_pickrall

Next up is the Lower Torso items LOWER TORSO FRAGMENTATION PROTECTIVE BODY ARMOR.

 

These were commonly refered to as diapers.

 

Diaper 1 is an M1953 that is undated

 

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craig_pickrall

Diaper 3 has no model number. It looks quite a bit like the M53 and M57 but it is dated 1967.

 

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knowing what I know about today's body armor, which is a lot as I have to wear the shinola every day, I'd rather just drop the weight than wear those old vests back in the day. Gah!

 

that diaper's interesting. no thanks, though

 

'Attention. Body armor MAY save your life' Notice the key word there. Gah! again

 

great images

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That first HBT vest looks like it might be a second generation of the Armored Utility Jacket developed at the end of WWII that used armor plates added to a M-1941 jacket. Its development ended with the war but that vest looks like it might be what they started with when they picked the development of body armor again, there are a lot of similarities.

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craig_pickrall

That is interesting info. What is the source of this? I have had this vest since the early 80's and have asked many people about it with no luck. I have also checked every reference book that I can find that might have any info.

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The book Grunt Gear by Alec S. Tulkoff shows several pictures of the jacket, inside and out and gives a brief description of its development. I am not sure how the author would feel about me scanning it and posting it here but it basically states that the armor plates were made of Doron which was developed by Dow Chemical in 1943 and testing of the jackets began in mid-1944. the Marines procured 2000 jackets for testing and the 2nd Regt 2nd Marine Div was to use them but by the time they actually got them they could only be used in the moping up stage of Okinawa. So there was no real combat test of them. More were ordered but because the war ended they were probably never made or issued.

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craig_pickrall

Thanks for that info. I have the book but didn't recall the vest info. I will check it out.

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Fascinating vest, sgt. bilko. I've never actually seen one like the first one you posted. Like you mentioned, it appears as a post war USMC P41 patterned hbt jacket (note square pockets which are found on post war USMC hbts). Very interesting.

 

Where did you pick it up?

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craig_pickrall

I found it at a small surplus store at Ft Bragg about 25 years ago. There were 2 of them and about $20 each. I wish I had bought both of them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

(EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS POST WAS MERGED FROM ANOTHER THREAD AFTER IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT ANOTHER OF THESE UNUSUAL VESTS HAD BEEN PREVISOULY DISCUSSED).

 

 

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While going through some of my old uniforms this morning I ran across this piece. It is made from HBT with some khaki material used inside along the pockets. It has the 2 pockets on the front and 9 pockets inside of various measurements. The pockets look like they held plates of some sort and have button closures. No markings that I can find except a red S on the tag in the collar for the size. The collar has the black button snap like you find on a lot of military garmets. What period is this. I've heard korean war period flak vests and after were made from nylon.

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post-69-1168281136.jpgHere is what looks like another example of a early USMC flak vest. This model does have extra flak pockets on the front which look factory sewn to the jacket. The soldier did hand stitch 2 extra flak pockets on the front of the vest. One on the upper right hand side of the chest and one on top of the original pocket on the left hand side and replaced the original buckles with quick release buckles. Jacket still retains the inside flak pockets also. Jacket does look used with a couple repairs made.
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