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Trousers, Kersy Lined (Spec. 1349); a scarce article of cold weather clothing.


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I present to you collectors of WWI uniform militaria a scarce article of clothing.

This post is to document the Trousers, Kersy Lined conforming to Spec. 1349.
It is an item of extreme cold weather clothing.

 

306420173_Spec134907-24-1918TrousersKerseyLined_01b.jpg.a4d0a4216b6f49f9332334398efcd7a3.jpg

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he term rare is often an abused term; however, in this particular case, the
clothing is rare because it was not the property of the individual soldier, so
the Army continued to use this type of clothing until it was threadbare and no
longer serviceable, at which point it was disposed of.  Those articles of cold
weather clothing that survived the Great War were pressed into service with the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s.  What may have been produced in
moderate numbers now only exist in very small numbers due to attrition frequently
called 'consumptive use of the artifact.'  

 

1851330135_Spec134907-24-1918TrousersKerseyLined_01d.jpg.ebad7582ef436c6c8365a1770e3dd71a.jpg

 

 

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The outer shell of the garment is identical to the shell material of the Mackinaw
Coat (Spec. 1343).  One may notice immediately the proximity of their specification
numbers to each other (only six digits apart).

 

1057470136_MackinawCoatSpec1343.jpg.a5eb80148cd2fb70b2f36e5c8da7559f.jpg

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First, these are trousers, not wool breeches like those parts of the US Army winter
uniform.   Moreover, these trousers pre-existed the woolen trousers (Spec. 1372
1918-Sep-04 ) that were to be a part of the new Pershing style uniform.

 

2031657959_Spec134907-24-1918TrousersKerseyLined_01a.jpg.0da81821ed07f5926819bf343b9ac6b9.jpg

 

 

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My Mackinaw, as well as the few others I have seen, have late war contract labels.
Whether any made it to Europe with the AEF before the end of the war is speculative;
however, they appear in photographs of occupying troops in early 1919.  It is also
possible that they could have also been used in the occupation of Russia until
American troops were removed in Oct. 1919.  It is a little known fact that American
troops were occupying key ports: Archangel (Архангел), Murmansk (Мурманск), and
Vladivostok (Владивосток) well after WWI had ended.  Identifying these trousers in
photographs is made difficult because the identifying features will be obscured
by the skirt of coats, or puttees that cover the trouser leg.

 

1528679868_Spec134907-24-1918TrousersKerseyLined_01e.jpg.9affe5f86c2ef7b4922897e99bb99f07.jpg

 

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For reference, additional information on the Mackinaw coat may be found in the post
linked here:

 

 

 

 

685765461_MackinawCoatSpec13431918-07-24.jpg.d395b90a0a6d99449f6fdd9af2cbfbb4.jpg

 

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One quick follow up that I omitted:

 

These trousers are sized quite large.  They have a size 44 waist.  Like the Mackinaw coat, they are intended to

be worn over the regular uniform.

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Thank you for sharing this item, very interesting.

 

What's interesting in my opinion is that they don't have a buckle back to adjust the wait

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Update

 

After doing a deep dive through the internet, as well as a number of my "go-to" web sites that

I use for research and reference, I found a second set that had been sold by AGM (Advance

Guard Militaria) in 2006.  This attached photo is a composit of two images in their reference

archive.   I watermarked it to preserve their ownership, but am using it under fair use exceptions

under American copyright laws.

 

Shamelessly stolen from AGM:

1063597729_Spec134907-24-1918TrousersKerseyLined_02b.jpg.6b1ea0a284249934f90feb1dcebaabdf.jpg

 

 

 

The below listed link will only work for those who are signed into their account(s) at AGM.

https://www.advanceguardmilitaria.com/ItemDetailRD/V30519/WWI_AEF_Cold_Weather_Work_Trousers

 

 

 

 

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