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Share Your USMC Depot-Made Field Gear


Jake the Collector
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Jake the Collector

It's interesting the depot went back to the old-style block letters for their stamp on that late-war haversack. Still kept the purple ink, though.

 

That shovel cover with the exterior stamp is interesting, too. Never seen another one like it.

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A couple of earlier Shovel Covers that didn't make the group shot, because I was too lazy to dismount them from their displays :P.

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It's interesting the depot went back to the old-style block letters for their stamp on that late-war haversack. Still kept the purple ink, though.

 

That shovel cover with the exterior stamp is interesting, too. Never seen another one like it.

 

Yeah, my speculation is that they had several stamps they used, some in blocks and some in capped- just my opinion.

 

There was quite a discussion on here about the external "U.S. M.C." stencils, and some kind soul posted some pics of Marines in the '20s or '30s wearing the outside-stamped Pistol Belts. The first one I found was from a surplus dealer in Houston many years ago who didn't think it was a real big deal- that, and the low price, convinced me he wasn't trying to push some "rare" fake on me :lol:

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That's interesting that they would use that thin strapping on heavy-application gear. I guess they figured it was worth a try-out, making the gear a little lighter to carry.

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Jake the Collector

That makes sense. Do you know if the depot continued to produce shovel covers after the US entered World War II? The fact that every surviving example I've seen is fitted with the early-style wire hanger makes me suspect production of covers ceased either before the war or very shortly after it started. Even 3rd-pattern depot first-aid pouches were fitted with the later-type "bent" hook.

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They did, but I don't know how long, production numbers, etc.. The odd "transitional" M1910 Shovel Covers (below) were produced in 1944- again, a Forum member presented hard evidence for this, belaying the hitherto held notion that these were post-War. The "Z" hangers were retained on all Depot stuff right up to the end of the War, so you pose an interesting question. The rarity of the Depot Covers would suggest low production numbers; also the abundance of Army Covers issued to Marines seems to say that there weren't bales of Marine Covers laying around.

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Jake the Collector

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I was going to say the same thing about the widespread use of Army covers among Marines during the war--almost every cover I've seen in period photos has appeared to be Army-issue. Were those "transitional" covers produced at the depot? I've read before that they were Marine issue, but the US stamp, rounded strap tab, and OD canvas always threw me off.

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I sure don't know where they were made; however, if you look closely at the "U.S.", the letters are identical to the stencil on the 1941-45 OD and '42 Camouflage Utilities.

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That's interesting that they would use that thin strapping on heavy-application gear. I guess they figured it was worth a try-out, making the gear a little lighter to carry.

 

I think it's a good theory of using the lighter strap to save weight, the only other reasons I can think of is simply that's what the depot was using as a substitute and that's what was on hand. Have you tried securing shovels in both styles of strap? I've tested them out for mannequins and I actually find the thin strap works a little bit better, it wraps the shovel tighter with less sliding around and makes it just a little bit more secure (strictly in my opinion, of course I did not do any actual serious field trials!).

 

A project for the future could be a thread where we post the piece of depot made field gear, and then show the types of stamps that appear in those specific items to see how many different ways each item was marked. 'Flage Guy and I have discussed the stamps in a bit of detail over the years and there is more variation then I initially suspected in items like the bandage pouches, shovel covers, pick mattocks, etc. but nobody really owns huge amounts of this gear, it is all pretty rare especially examples with clear markings.

 

The USMC depot made gear is an area of WWII collecting that I think still has a lot of information to be discovered, I've certainly learned a lot during my time on this forum and since getting my copy of 'Grunt Gear' many years ago, which sort of started it all. All the attention on this gear I think has also brought a lot to surface, the bandage pouches use to be super rare but now they are at least somewhat obtainable I think because there has been so much interest in them over the years it really got people looking. 'Bagman' was another USMC depot made field gear expert on the forum, but sadly he's gone and I think he knew a lot of stuff that unfortunately never got passed on as he was hoarding this stuff long before it was ever popular.

 

Cheers,

-Steve

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All right, this will be the last M1941 Pack from me- this rig is odd, in that it's an original set, and the lower Pack shows as much use as the Haversack.

The Belt is another "BoyT -41-", and was added on when I received this Pack.

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Steve, you're right about the "tape" strap being easier to secure. I'm increasingly careful when I fool around with mine, due to "collectors' paranoia" :lol: I suspect that they went to the common web straps because they could take much rougher usage, especially with amphibious landings being so unkind to fabrics, leather, etc..

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A couple of Depot-made Carriers, Pickmattock, Entrenching, M1910.

The one at the left, I believe, is a very early model, made of the same material as the early Army and Marine Corps Packs, Belts, etc..

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Detail shot of the green Carrier, which is fitted with old flat box buckles which were used on the original M1910 web gear.

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Jake the Collector

Nice bandolier, 'Flage Guy. Is that a recent acquisition? I remember in a thread Steve created about them not too long ago you said you had yet to come across one. If so, congrats on a great score.

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Nice bandolier, 'Flage Guy. Is that a recent acquisition? I remember in a thread Steve created about them not too long ago you said you had yet to come across one. If so, congrats on a great score.

 

Jake...I bought it from Steve just recently! :)

 

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