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USMC 1953 Shelter Half


The Rooster
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Greetings,

I scored this today. A 1953 USMC Mitchell pattern shelter half.

I was hemming and hawing over whether not to buy this.... But after some searching

the only one I could find was a repro for the same price, so

I figured they are hard to find and it was worth what I paid for it.

Could an admin please fix my title... ? Should be shelter half.

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😵 These Mitchell-pattern halves are scarcer than W.W.II Marine Halves...and with the tag, no less!!!!

You scored big, IMO 👍👍👍

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I think I have two of these packed away somewhere.  I don't see them for sale very often.  I am surprised that they are being reproduced!

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5 hours ago, 'Flage Guy said:

😵 These Mitchell-pattern halves are scarcer than W.W.II Marine Halves...and with the tag, no less!!!!

You scored big, IMO 👍👍👍

 

1 hour ago, M422A1 said:

I think I have two of these packed away somewhere.  I don't see them for sale very often.  I am surprised that they are being reproduced!

 

Thank you Flage guy... I thought these were scarce.

 

They are being reproduced in China...... like everything else.

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Thank you all for the comments and thank you Matt for fixing the title !!!

Im happy with this. Hopefully someday I can find another.

I had a feeling it was a rare bird. Thank you for the confirmation.

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1 hour ago, manayunkman said:

Never seen one.

 

Excellent!!

I had never seen one either. And I really like the Mitchell pattern.

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Would this pole and stake set go good with this shelter half?

I'm thinking there were plenty surplus WW2 poles and stakes still around in 1953?

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Those would work. Just about anything issued before the shelter half was made would be OK. All the various poles I have are WW2 and some survived my childhood and came from Marine stores including a couple of the folding ones. The attached shot shows Marines using the folding pole 1n 1941.

 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Boy have you been beating the bushes!  Great find to give you a matching pair!!  When the weather is fit, post a couple of pictures of it up!!!

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Yes Sir ! That is the plan !

I have 2 sets now of the WW2 poles and stakes and I have some ropes coming in.

And with this half, I have a whole tent.

I'l set her up this Spring and post some pics.

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I can't wait to see the bivouac area you set up! There is another post of the straps, I assume the "w/straps"  on the label is referring to.  Do you have those yet?  Field gear like this is completely out of my wheelhouse!  I do love seeing it and hearing about it and being happy for a fellow collector who finds things like this.  If you found something for your collection, then there still has to be things out there for my collection!!!  What would the straps have been used for? If it was just to put around the shelter half to keep it rolled neatly, I could see a lot of Marines "forgetting" to pick them up after the first time or two they took them off.  When the Shoe Leather Express is your primary mode of transportation, the less unnecessary item you have to carry, the better...

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a complete set now. Both halfs are in excellent condition with the one on the right seemingly un issued.

Its minty. They both have  WW2 folding poles and wooden stakes and are fitted with ropes.

Being from 2 diff. makers, the colors are a bit different. The one on the left I have found only 3 very small holes in it.

The one on the right has no holes. Neither one is ripped. The one on the right is still trailing a lot of thread ends

and its really new looking tag and all.

Cheers.

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