Johan Willaert Posted April 12, 2014 Share #1 Posted April 12, 2014 Picked up these leggins the other day.... Contract Date June 1944, marked as they should with the addition of OD... Fewer eyelets than the standard tan models.. Were these originally made in dark OD or are they dyed??? I would say the former but haven't seen many dark pairs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted April 12, 2014 Share #2 Posted April 12, 2014 Made that way IMHO because if they were dyed the white size label wouldn't have remained white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted April 12, 2014 Good catch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted April 12, 2014 Share #4 Posted April 12, 2014 Johan...coincidentally, I was at the militaria place in my local antiques market yesterday. I noticed he had a box of leggings on the top of which were some OD ones! I picked them up....and put them back down again (I've got plenty of leggings)...but maybe I should go back and investigate further?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 12, 2014 Share #5 Posted April 12, 2014 Johan, you stole my Leggings And yes, they were made that way! Below, shown with the "new streamlined" Leggings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 12, 2014 Share #6 Posted April 12, 2014 Both dated '44: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted April 12, 2014 Thanks... These seem to be quite rare, at least over here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 12, 2014 Share #8 Posted April 12, 2014 They are pretty darn rare over here as well. I picked these up in a huge surplus store in Galveston, Tx. in 1993, and the main reason I grabbed them was the fact that they were Wartime O.D.#7s! According to the dates on these, they made their appearance at roughly the same time as the 2-buckle Combat Boots...maybe that's one of the big reasons that what few of these show up are in mint condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share #9 Posted April 12, 2014 Funny how they were still making these in 1944, when they were actively switching to the DB Combat Boot... Why the shorter models??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 12, 2014 Share #10 Posted April 12, 2014 Funny how they were still making these in 1944, when they were actively switching to the DB Combat Boot... Why the shorter models??? That's a good question; the shorties seem to be designed after the Marine Corps Leggings with only 7 eyelets; maybe they are just an improvement that arrived a day late and a dollar short! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted April 12, 2014 Share #11 Posted April 12, 2014 Nothing wrong with those! Nice find Johan. Definitely made that way. Now the mystery leggings are the impregnated ones that lack any recognizable contract information..just a series of numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 12, 2014 Share #12 Posted April 12, 2014 I'd like to see those! The 2nd ones listed must be the ones you refer to...I'd bet that there are some in the European collections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share #13 Posted April 12, 2014 I believe this pair is the Protective type (impregnated) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted April 13, 2014 Share #14 Posted April 13, 2014 I should be able to photo a pair. When I say mystery, why are they not marked with an identifiable contract number or nomenclature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 13, 2014 Share #15 Posted April 13, 2014 Very interesting!! And I share R.C.'s head-scratching at why there are no stampings; possibly to help assure that they wouldn't be thrown into the wrong crate with the general issue M1938s...?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThompsonSavage Posted April 16, 2014 Share #16 Posted April 16, 2014 FWIW, I have a pair of dark OD leggings with a contract date of October 43 made by Camlin Fashions.The vet was also issued a 42 dated tan pair. He used the laces of the OD's in his tan leggings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken88 Posted April 16, 2014 Share #17 Posted April 16, 2014 Johan, Here's the pair from my collection with that same contract date. These came from France as well. Cheers, Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share #18 Posted April 16, 2014 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWII_GI Posted April 16, 2014 Share #19 Posted April 16, 2014 I have a mint unissued pair dated 1945 size 1R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted April 16, 2014 Share #20 Posted April 16, 2014 Has anyone seen them in a size larger than 2? It looks like all the examples posted thus far are 1 and 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted April 16, 2014 Share #21 Posted April 16, 2014 Very interesting!! And I share R.C.'s head-scratching at why there are no stampings; possibly to help assure that they wouldn't be thrown into the wrong crate with the general issue M1938s...?? Speaking of the lack of markings, how would they know what size to pull off the QM shelf? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 17, 2014 Share #22 Posted April 17, 2014 LOL...that's an even better question yet!! Maybe they had paper tags attached to them, or..... ????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted April 17, 2014 Share #23 Posted April 17, 2014 Maybe, but you would think someone would have a set with tags on them? Obviously they came in different sizes since the catalog shows a range of stock numbers for the sizes. I'm tying to understand why POE needed them in the first place? Navy/USMC leggings seemed to hold up fine without being treated. It's definitely one of those things I wish we knew more about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Flage Guy Posted April 17, 2014 Share #24 Posted April 17, 2014 Yeah; after my initial wonderment at seeing this listing in the Catalogue many years ago, I had hardly given it a thought until this thread popped up. An interesting mystery indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share #25 Posted April 17, 2014 I'm tying to understand why POE needed them in the first place? Waterproof??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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