U.S. Army Pacific Impression. Tips?

[Boone68]

Just finished a basic impression of a corporal gunner in a cannon company attached to the 185th Inf Reg, 40th Div during the Philippines campaign of 44-45. Any tips or things to change to make it more accurate?

[sundance]

I'm no expert but it looks good to me.  If you watch documentaries, you should roll around in mud, rip it and make it looks like you sweated in it for a couple of years. My father was in the Pacific and said there were times when he never thought he'd be dry again, not to mention healthy. He suffered from malaria (I think) related issues until he passed away,

[The Rooster]

25 minutes ago, sundance said:

I'm no expert but it looks good to me.  If you watch documentaries, you should roll around in mud, rip it and make it looks like you sweated in it for a couple of years. My father was in the Pacific and said there were times when he never thought he'd be dry again, not to mention healthy. He suffered from malaria (I think) related issues until he passed away,

Ive been suggesting the same thing to others.

They all have the just stepped out of the barracks look.

Just stepped off the boat. Im not sure if some re enactors

realize how filthy one gets even after just a few days in the field.

Go camping for five days in the woods. Same thing happens.

Skin is too clean uniform is too clean. IMHO......

A person gets natsy dirty. Especially patrolling in the heat and in the defense digging foxholes.

All of them strike me as entirely too clean.

But.... since they prob spent some coin on their costumes,

I could see them not wanting to soil them.

Realistically speaking though... a soldier gets dirty real quick in the field.

If you are looking for realisim. Get filthy. Dont shower for two weeks etc etc lol lol lol

I guess it depends on the look you are going for?

 

[Boone68]

3 hours ago, The Rooster said:

Ive been suggesting the same thing to others.

They all have the just stepped out of the barracks look.

Just stepped off the boat. Im not sure if some re enactors

realize how filthy one gets even after just a few days in the field.

Go camping for five days in the woods. Same thing happens.

Skin is too clean uniform is too clean. IMHO......

A person gets natsy dirty. Especially patrolling in the heat and in the defense digging foxholes.

All of them strike me as entirely too clean.

But.... since they prob spent some coin on their costumes,

I could see them not wanting to soil them.

Realistically speaking though... a soldier gets dirty real quick in the field.

If you are looking for realisim. Get filthy. Dont shower for two weeks etc etc lol lol lol

I guess it depends on the look you are going for?

 

Thanks guys. I'll be sure to weather my uniform, and not to hold back at the next event I go to!

[sundance]

I'd be interested to see how you "weather" your outfit. Is your setup all original ?  Hate to mess up something you may have just paid good money for. ...but if you're reenacting that may be the way you have to go.

[Boone68]

51 minutes ago, sundance said:

I'd be interested to see how you "weather" your outfit. Is your setup all original ?  Hate to mess up something you may have just paid good money for. ...but if you're reenacting that may be the way you have to go.

The only reproduction items are the boots, the uniform, and the haversack, the rest is original. I think all I’d do is sun bleach the uniform a little, take some steel wool to the buttons, and maybe roll around in the dirt a bit per your guys’ advice.

[KurtA]

Is your wristwatch of the period?  Weren't most watch straps leather in the 40's?

[268th C.A.]

Agree add sweat and dirt.... 

Looks Good otherwise. 

 

No on the watch straps above.  There were many types. Here is an original issue

[The Rooster]

Yea wearing shinny items in combat is not a good idea.

When people ask if their kit looks realistic, I think yea its realistic, but then my mind goes back to

my whole life seeing photos and films of WW2 soldiers and those guys were always filthy.

Sweat, dirt, beards, filthy as one gets when you live outside for long periods of time and dig in the dirt

and dont shower or change clothes for long periods of time. After 12 days in the field... I would take a 45 min shower and spend another half hour squeezing black heads from my face and digging thorn tips out of my legs.

Uniforms get sweat stained oil and dirt stained. Bug juice. Body odor gets fierce....

One of the first things that I always did when I got to the field was take mud or dust and smear it all over my shinny black polished combat boots.

So when looking at a reenactors costume, I always most always think you all are too clean.

I know from my own experience in the Infantry in the Army Guard, that living outdoors for just a few days

you become filthy. I always wore gloves too to protect from thorns etc. Black gloves so my skin on my hands didnt stand out.

And to protect them. Hands dry out and crack in the field for some reason?

So if one was going for combat soldier realisim,

then dirty up. Sweat up. Get filthy.

Looks like you need more ammo pouches on your web belt.?

Looks like all you have there is a first aid pouch?

And maybe try to pick up an airsoft garand?

 

[268th C.A.]

Good eye Rooster. Maybe a stock magazine pouch for that rifle. 

[Boone68]

25 minutes ago, KurtA said:

Is your wristwatch of the period?  Weren't most watch straps leather in the 40's?

No it’s not period, I just forgot to take it off lol. I plan on wearing this Bulova watch.

[Boone68]

24 minutes ago, The Rooster said:

Yea wearing shinny items in combat is not a good idea.

When people ask if their kit looks realistic, I think yea its realistic, but then my mind goes back to

my whole life seeing photos and films of WW2 soldiers and those guys were always filthy.

Sweat, dirt, beards, filthy as one gets when you live outside for long periods of time and dig in the dirt

and dont shower or change clothes for long periods of time. After 12 days in the field... I would take a 45 min shower and spend another half hour squeezing black heads from my face and digging thorn tips out of my legs.

Uniforms get sweat stained oil and dirt stained. Bug juice. Body odor gets fierce....

One of the first things that I always did when I got to the field was take mud or dust and smear it all over my shinny black polished combat boots.

So when looking at a reenactors costume, I always most always think you all are too clean.

I know from my own experience in the Infantry in the Army Guard, that living outdoors for just a few days

you become filthy. I always wore gloves too to protect from thorns etc. Black gloves so my skin on my hands didnt stand out.

And to protect them. Hands dry out and crack in the field for some reason?

So if one was going for combat soldier realisim,

then dirty up. Sweat up. Get filthy.

Looks like you need more ammo pouches on your web belt.?

Looks like all you have there is a first aid pouch?

And maybe try to pick up an airsoft garand?

 

A lot of good info here, many thanks rooster. As far as the gear and the rifle goes, I have a real M1 Garand, but I’m trying to replicate what my great-grandfather carried as a corporal gunner in a cannon company in the Philippines 44-45. I believe he would’ve been carrying an M1 Carbine, as his main role would be manning the towed 105mm howitzer. On the belt, I’ve got an M1 carbine ammo pouch, an M3 fighting knife, canteen w/ cup and cover, and the first aid pouch. I’ve got another m1 carbine ammo pouch on the way, would it be more correct to move the first aid pouch back and put the ammo pouches on both sides of the front of the belt?

[The Rooster]

I think that would be correct on the ammo pouches.

Artillerymen got filthy too. Armored too!

 

And infantry! They dont call us dirty nasty legs for no reason....

 

🤣

[The Rooster]

Here is an interesting article....

 

https://historycollection.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-an-infantry-man-in-world-war-ii/

 

"Marching through rain and mud, or in snow, soaked the feet, making them susceptible to blisters and trench foot. The Army provided waterproof boots and galoshes, which made the feet sweat on marches and could cause the same problems. Besides being painful blisters could easily lead to infections. Care of his feet was paramount to the infantrymen since they were his primary means of conveyance. Tired, footsore soldiers experienced difficulty keeping up with the rest of their unit, and traveling alone was far more dangerous than within the unit itself, for both the straggler and the rest of the unit. In some conditions, infantrymen would change their socks at any opportunity.

Bathing and shaving were unheard of luxuries at the front, and when units did receive an opportunity to shower it was often through the use of a lister bag shower. A lister bag was a large canvas bag with a shower head attached to the bottom. Holding approximately 36 gallons of water, the bag was suspended about five feet above the ground. The infantrymen would have just enough time to wet down, lather up using GI soap, and rinse off. The shower usually occurred at the same time as an opportunity to obtain fresh clothing, and the soldier would run from the shower to the clothing distribution center to receive an issue of clean clothes."

 

So if you threw your self down in a mud puddle and crawled face down through the mud all day,

you were wearing the same clothes for weeks after the fact.

 

"During some periods of intense combat more than a month could go by without clean clothes or a shower. Shaving could be accomplished in the field during lulls in the fighting, often with water heated inside a helmet, using a camp stove or the heat canister from a rations pack as the heating source. Since infantrymen spent a lot of time on or digging in the ground, most rotated out of combat for rest and recreation as a grimy, gritty, and unshaven lot, unconcerned with their non-parade ground appearance."

[The Rooster]

So to end my long windedness on this subject. Consider where your Grandpa was and it was extremely hot and humid most of the time.

Sweat, Oils from your skin, dirt, sand, no shower no change of clothes.............. Clothes get torn and mended too.... Thats why every soldier carrys a sewing kit. For rips and buttons etc etc

Thats what is missing from most portrayals of combat soldiers.

Whats missing is the filth. The skin too. Not just the clothes, the boots and the gear.

 

 

 

[sundance]

Good article Rooster. Thanks.

[The Rooster]

20 hours ago, sundance said:

Good article Rooster. Thanks.

Youre welcome. Not Pacific specific but Im thinking logistics were worse in the PTO.

It gives a good feel how being clean and neat were not ones first priorities.

lol

[12thengr]

 My Dad was a gunner with MacArthur's 41st Division. His words; April 1944, back to New Guinea, Hollandia operation. May 1944, Biak Island operation, we were badly mauled. We knew after Biak Island was secure that we were on our way to victory. Prior to Biak the shoestring was pretty thin. In other words The Rooster is correct; for most Pacific Theater units supply was an issue at least up to mid 1944.

[Boone68]

6 hours ago, 12thengr said:

 My Dad was a gunner with MacArthur's 41st Division. His words; April 1944, back to New Guinea, Hollandia operation. May 1944, Biak Island operation, we were badly mauled. We knew after Biak Island was secure that we were on our way to victory. Prior to Biak the shoestring was pretty thin. In other words The Rooster is correct; for most Pacific Theater units supply was an issue at least up to mid 1944.

Love that picture. My grandfather would tell me the stories his dad told him about the pet monkeys the company kept.

[mikie]

11 hours ago, The Rooster said:

Youre welcome. Not Pacific specific but Im thinking logistics were worse in the PTO.

It gives a good feel how being clean and neat were not ones first priorities.

lol

Dad was served in the Army in the Pacific from early 1942 to the end of the war. He used to say that it wasn’t till the war in Europe was almost over, right before heading to Okinawa, that they started getting flooded with all kinds of new supplies and equipment. Up till then, not so much. 
mikie