CAMO One-Piece Jungle Suit, 1942

[SARGE]

I have been trying to find the period pictures of US Army forces wearing various camo suits on D-Day and thereafter in the ETO but I can't find the thread with the search engine. Anybody know the thread topic or link?

 

Anyway, here is my camouflage Army One-Piece Jungle Suit. Nicely worn with just the right amount of wear and fading for me.

 

 

View of the interior showing the fall pattern camouflage on this reversable One-Piece Suit. The internal fabric suspenders have been cut out of this suit, just like most of them were.

 

 

Closeup view showing a breast pocket. The tag is unreadable but the snaps and zipper are in excellent shape.

 

 

Closeup view of the wrist adjustment buttons and cuff.

 

 

I am trying to determine if these were worn in the ETO? Does anyone know if just the later two-piece camo suits were worn in Europe or were these worn as well?

[River Patrol]

Not ETO, but a nice pic.

 

I have not seen a 1-piece set worn in the ETO but I haven't seen every pic out there. If there is one, I'd like to see it.

 

Steve

[cbuehler]

These were apparently limited to the Pacific for their relatively short period of use. I like them salty looking too!

 

CB

[SARGE]

Steve,

 

That is a great picture. The photographer caught the expended shell casing in mid-air. A good shot that shows how this suit was supposed to be worn, without a waist belt.

 

CB,

 

Thanks for the kudos, salty is good for combat clothing, IMHO. While minty stuff is nice, it just does not have the historical cachet that something that has seen the fire does. I actually prefer items that show a bit of use that have that "been there - done that" look about them.

 

The reason I ask about the ETO is that I seem to recall photos of a one-piece suit on the pictures on the forum showing ETO guys wearing camo shortly after D-Day. I may well be mistaken and perhaps they were all the later two-piece outfits. This one-piece suit was standardized on 31 August 1942 and was then replaced with the two-piece suit which was in development. The one-piece suit was reclassified as limited standard on 4 May 1943.

[Bob Hudson]

This may be the thread you were thinking about: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=3267

[SARGE]

That's the one! No wonder I couldn't find it... thanks a million!

 

I thought I might have seen one-piece camo suits in the ETO. Well, it seems that the great majority of these ETO Army camo outfits were in the form of the then standard two-piece suits. It makes sense that they would have used the limited standard one-piece suits as well as long as they could get their hands on them.

[rambob]

Salty is alright, but I really like my toothpaste and WWII uniforms, MINTY!! Here are the outside view and inside details of the internal suspenders of my pair of camo coveralls, as new as the day they were made. I also am including the QM tag for your reference.

[BEAST]

OK, here is a puzzler. I was given this one-piece by the vet's Mom. The vet wore this in Vietnam! Not early war either. He entered the army in 1970 and was discharged in 1973. He served with the 509TH RRGP.

 

I can not understand how he could have worn this in Vietnam! Too hot! I don't see why they would have issued it stateside either.

 

 

[cbuehler]

In previous ww2 camo 2 piece thread, there is a photo of a guy in France wearing what appears to be the overalls! So it would appear that at least a few were obtained and sent over to the eto. Still, I would not interpret this as meaning anything else other than a VERY few.

 

CB

[SARGE]

Rambob,

 

Thanks for showing your minty camo suit. My suit still has the camo Y tabs and loops but the metal brackets and suspenders have been cut out. This seems to have been a fairly common practice for whatever GI inspired reason. It is good to see a readable tag as well.

 

Beast,

 

You know the military. New Old Stock (NOS) could be issued out and I bet these had been sitting in a forgotten warehouse somewhere since 1945. The quartermaster can be your friend.

 

CB,

 

I agree that this probably saw very limited use in the ETO. But then it seems to have also seen use in Viet Nam according to Beast's example. Certainly not the norm, but then the use of US camo in the ETO was not the rule either. Sometimes, the exceptions re-enforce the rules.

[GIl Sanow]

Rambob,

 

Thanks for showing your minty camo suit. My suit still has the camo Y tabs and loops but the metal brackets and suspenders have been cut out. This seems to have been a fairly common practice for whatever GI inspired reason. It is good to see a readable tag as well.

 

Beast,

 

You know the military. New Old Stock (NOS) could be issued out and I bet these had been sitting in a forgotten warehouse somewhere since 1945. The quartermaster can be your friend.

 

CB,

 

I agree that this probably saw very limited use in the ETO. But then it seems to have also seen use in Viet Nam according to Beast's example. Certainly not the norm, but then the use of US camo in the ETO was not the rule either. Sometimes, the exceptions re-enforce the rules.

 

I know of a one-piece suit, now in a PA collection, that belonged to LTG T J H Trapnell who was in Vietnam 1955-60. It had his collar insignia (BG ) and sewn jump wings. I believe he made a combat jump with the French. I suspect the US shipped a lot of old camo to the French and that's where the above suit came from.

[Gary Cain]

The camo overalls were used for a very short time in the ETO as the GI's were being mistaken for German SS troops who used a similar camo pattern.

 

Gary

[cpatrick]

It is my uderstanding that the TWO-PIECE outfit was worn for a very short time in Normandy. I cannot recall the details off the bat, but I know that a tank out-fit wore them. If anyone has the last issue of Mohawk Arms Inc. Catalog, from a few months ago, they have a set in there, with the story on them. They are right down the street from me.

 

Chris

[craig_pickrall]

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=3267

 

This link is to the thread covering the two piece camo sets.