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Mystery Pouch - early USMC?


TAMU97
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Picked up this pouch earlier this week.  Its construction reminds me of the very early USMC M1910 shovel covers, so I figured I'd take a chance on it. It's about 12" long and 7" wide.  Inside is a divider.  Note the USMC style wire hook and that the chape for the wire hook is made of cloth, rather than heavy webbing.  Looks to be depot made.  No markings that I can see. Any idea what it was for or time period? A friend says it reminds him of the WW1 Army artillery slide rule pouches.

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Hi Tamu,

 

thanks for posting this pouch.  I have one identical to your pouch, but it has a lift the dot fastener. I have never been able to identify it either.  If you don’t mind I will see if I can find it and post some photos.

 

dennis

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2 hours ago, Old Marine said:

 If you don’t mind I will see if I can find it and post some photos.

By all means - let's see what your pouch looks like!

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Not sure what it is for, but if I were a better man, late 1930’s through WWII, definitely depot made Marine use. Nice find.

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Here is my pouch.  I have had this for years and was never able to get an ID or see another one like it.  Thanks for posting your pouch.  Over the years some have suggested to me that this is just a “one off” rigger made, or post war surplus store Frankenstein, and not a depot made item.  
 

Seeing your pouch, which is almost identical to my pouch makes me pretty sure this is a  Marine depot made item, but for what?  
 

The pouch measures 13 x 6 3/4 inches and has an internal divider5DB3D003-AFFC-46B0-B8F4-0B94C7A9D4D5.jpeg.8f86bf31a6c32ba9aec3b87f9d455085.jpeg like your pouch.  My pouch has a brass belt hangar which would suggest pre war or even the 1930s  made as Warguy mentioned.  There are no markings of any kind, anywhere on the pouch.

 

A good mystery for our forum sleuths.

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I was going to say the same!  Also, I wanted to point something out - Dennis, you mentioned your hanger and hardware are brass, indicating pre-war/early war production.  All of the hardware on mine is steel.  I'm not sure if that guarantees that it's WW2 wartime production or not.  Is it possible that it's WW1 or earlier with steel hardware?  Reason I ask is that in the link to the shovel covers in my initial post there is a photo of what I believe to be a pre-WW1 cover with a steel hook.  I'm fairly certain the shovel cover with steel hardware is pre-1917 because it has the "tube" that the hook runs through, which is a feature typically seen on early M1910 gear.  And to avoid any confusion - the pouch I posted above does NOT have a tube that the hook runs through.

 

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Tamu,  you got, me I only stated I think it is  pre World War II because of the use of brass for the hanger and lift the dot.  Usually after the war production got going brass was replaced with steel.  I am not familiar enough with WWI and pre WWI stuff to make any useful comment.  That “tube” detail on the belt is something I have never noticed.  Maybe we’ll figure out the purpose someday.

 

 

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interesting pouch

 

couple of hunches

 

is it for the old surveyor steel links ?  the links where used to measure distance, they connect like a chain, they are 12 inches center to center

the links have been used for 100s of years

 

or is it for radio antenna ? 

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Good ideas. Based on the construction of the pouch, we know that 1) it's for something relatively flat, 2) it's something that came in at least 2 parts that needed to be stored separately (or two of the same item that needed to be kept separate for ease of extraction, like clips in a M1910 cartridge belt), and/or 3) it's something that the Army didn't use...or had a completely different way of carrying.  But I don't think it's for ammunition or other bulky part. The steel links are an interesting idea, but I don't think you could fit many in the pouch (again, it's pretty flat).  I still think it's for some sort of flat instrument, like a slide rule or flight computer type device.

 

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I agree with TAMU I think the construction is to light for something like steel links or an antenna.  The fabric feels like shelter half material.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

If I recall correctly, I asked about these on here several years ago and got no good answer back then. One person suggested they were a carrier for VB grenades.

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That has been a school of thought for  a long time that these were pouches for the VB grenade Launcher but not sure its been verified.

 

The grenades were carried in the multi pocket apron 

 

This photo is from the forum posted by MikeS in 2009

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

@Doyler, your VB grenade pouch post is the closest to this mystery pouch I've seen so far that has actually been identified.  However, scaling off the barrel and forestock of the '03, I'd say the VB pouch is roughly half the width of the mystery pouch.  Also, the VB pouch has a pronounced rounded bottom, whereas the mystery pouch has a flat sewn bottom.  With three examples documented so far, surely this pouch has a known use and isn't just a one-off!

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