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Feet don't fail me now! Military Footwear


Sabrejet
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Excellent subject, guys, and a great reference as several have stated. Footwear is one of the hardest pieces of militaria to find, simply because they tend to be one of the most used and abused. Keep in mind that a lot of the soldiers of both world wars had never even owned a pair of shoes before entering the service, so when they came home, they usually brought their shoes/boots with them and wore them until they fell apart. And more than quite a few were reissued for many years after WW2. Over the years I've had several pairs of WW2-era brown jump boots and M1943 boots that had been dyed black following the changeover in leather color about 1955-56 [i remember talking to a guy years ago who was drafted about this time, and recalled being issued two pairs of brown combat boots and one bottle of black shoe dye!]

 

On the subject of M1943 boots, my father served in the US Army during the Korean War and was issued M43 boots in their original configuration. He said they had to soak the roughout bottoms in lighter fluid and set them on fire to burn the "fuzz" off, then had to spit-shine them by working numerous coats of brown shoe polish into the leather. Leave it up to the Army to issue you a pair of what amounted to suede shoes and then tell you to polish them.

 

Johan, on the 4 buckle rubber arctic overshoes with the 1934 date, I noticed they had an ECF or ECW contract number--this indicated "Emergency Conservation Work" and were procured for use by the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC]. About 1936-37 the nomenclature was changed slightly and items procured under CCC contract had CIV in the contract number. Many of these CCC contract items were pressed into military service once the US entered the war.

 

Alan

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Johan Willaert

Johan, on the 4 buckle rubber arctic overshoes with the 1934 date, I noticed they had an ECF or ECW contract number--this indicated "Emergency Conservation Work" and were procured for use by the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC]. About 1936-37 the nomenclature was changed slightly and items procured under CCC contract had CIV in the contract number. Many of these CCC contract items were pressed into military service once the US entered the war.

 

Alan

 

Thanks Alan!!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 9 months later...

I picked these up yesterday at an estate sale. Thought I would add them to the thread. Note the U. S. ARMY molded into the sole. Can anyone please help me with a value on these? Many thanks, Al.

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x

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  • 9 months later...

How would you like to have that box of these buckle tops?

 

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Two 2nd Div GIs in April 1951 with a brand new issue of the boots, untreated reverse uppers still, weren't they during Korea that these boots started to be made chromed, right?

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 year later...
Johan Willaert

Another footwear related item:

 

A 1944 Duffel Bag containing 25 pairs of Service Combat Boots ( aka Double Buckle Boots) was sent to the BLUFF City Shoe Reconditioning Factory in Hannibal, Missouri for refurbishment and repair...

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Another footwear related item:

 

A 1944 Duffel Bag containing 25 pairs of Service Combat Boots ( aka Double Buckle Boots) was sent to the BLUFF City Shoe Reconditioning Factory in Hannibal, Missouri for refurbishment and repair...

Nice accessory Johan! Thanks for posting.

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  • 2 years later...

A mid to late 70s Ad for Patent Leather Jump Boots. I bought the Patent Leather Low Quarters at the Fort Hamilton Brooklyn PX in April 1980 when I was on Hometown Recruiting Duty, cause all the Recruiting Sergeants wore them, and would you believe I got away wearing them when I had to be in Class As and or Khakis at both my two different duty stations afterwards, my NCOs and Officers never said anything, maybe they never noticed 1324917348_emoticonlaugh.png.8c6cae30a18627306164ae911ddc7c5b.png .

late 70s0001.jpg

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14 hours ago, patches said:

A mid to late 70s Ad for Patent Leather Jump Boots. I bought the Patent Leather Low Quarters at the Fort Hamilton Brooklyn PX in April 1980 when I was on Hometown Recruiting Duty, cause all the Recruiting Sergeants wore them, and would you believe I got away wearing them when I had to be in Class As and or Khakis at both my two different duty stations afterwards, my NCOs and Officers never said anything, maybe they never noticed 1324917348_emoticonlaugh.png.8c6cae30a18627306164ae911ddc7c5b.png .

late 70s0001.jpg

Here's a vintage pair in the flesh.

525ff7c5e.v1.jpg

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TheCrustyBosun

Bates made these too. I had a pair for ceremonial details. I could feel my feet bake in the hot summer sun in them. 

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  • 1 year later...

Lets BUMP UP Ian's topic here with this one.

 

A GI in New Guinea in late 1942 sifts though Boots to find a pair that fits at some kind of dump, boots we imagine off casualties, Funny thing though, though the Boots he's wearing look GI, these in the pile don't look like our GI Ankle Boots, they all seem to have Hooks rather than Lace Holes right, Australian??? But as far as we know Australian Ammunition Boots had Lace Holes, if you do a Google Image Search ww2 Australia Ammunition Boots, you'll see what we mean, So any idea what all these salvaged boots are?

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On 10/6/2020 at 11:50 PM, patches said:

A mid to late 70s Ad for Patent Leather Jump Boots. I bought the Patent Leather Low Quarters at the Fort Hamilton Brooklyn PX in April 1980 when I was on Hometown Recruiting Duty, cause all the Recruiting Sergeants wore them, and would you believe I got away wearing them when I had to be in Class As and or Khakis at both my two different duty stations afterwards, my NCOs and Officers never said anything, maybe they never noticed 1324917348_emoticonlaugh.png.8c6cae30a18627306164ae911ddc7c5b.png .

late 70s0001.jpg

$200 cheaper than the last pair of boots I bought...now I can't even get decent running shoes for 40 bucks!

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General Apathy

.

Hi Ian dear friend, hope you are looking down on these threads and enjoying the ones you started . . . . . . .

 

Here's my pair of early experimental parachute boots with a foam sole, they were never adopted possibly fine for jumping but not for running or walking in, certainly the soft foam had dried out over the years.  The photo is from an auction I put them in back in 2018. 

 

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regards lewis.

 

..

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Chuck and Tom Hagel on R&R from the 9th Division in South Vietnam in Hawaii, in Khakis, AND wearing Bloused Jungle Boots, new and highly shined Jungle Boots.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
On 10/7/2020 at 11:31 AM, patches said:

Here's a vintage pair in the flesh.

525ff7c5e.v1.jpg

...wow, I remember those, a few guys had them in Europe......you'd usually see them at parades or big inspections.....only troops I would see wear them in garrison were either HQ's desk jockeys or maybe CQ duties.....also in Europe, we wore either German infantry or tanker boots, I had a pair of each, lol....the infantry boots were "bad" comfortable.....I don't ever recall anything being said about boots or low quarters, as long as they resembled issue and were black....the biggest thing I remember guys getting gigged for were t shirts and socks.....I remember a guy showing up for a Khaki inspection wearing white socks! 

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18 hours ago, Salvage Sailor said:

...ahhh, cold weather boots!  In Europe, circa March 1982, I was issued a pair of Arctic Shoes that were referred to as "Mickey Mouse" boots!  It was highly advised that you never wear them just put them in your footlocker and they should only make an appearance when you have a complete TA-50 layout. The only time I remember seeing anyone wear them was on one of our border duty rotations that took in Xmas/New Years. It was dreadfully cold that year. 

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  • 5 months later...

These are what are categorized as Private Purchase Cavalry Leggings, never seen these before till I seen this photo. It's from a 1937 Army Periodical. 

 

They are being worn here by troops of the 64th Coast Artillery Regiment in Hawaii, and it seems it is a unit thing. Strange that they would wear these Mounted Leggings considering CA units are Static or at the very least Motorized, its not like they're Horse Artillery LOL.

 

Khaki with Dark Leather Trim.

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Just now, patches said:

These are what are categorized as Private Purchase Cavalry Leggings, never seen these before till I seen this photo. It's from a 1937 Army Periodical. 

 

They are being worn here by troops of the 64th Coast Artillery Regiment in Hawaii, and it seems it is a unit thing. Strange that they would wear these Mounted Leggings considering CA units are Static or at the very least Motorized, its not like they're Horse Artillery LOL.

 

Khaki with Dark Leather Trim.

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64th ca0002.jpg

These types are apparently so rare we were able to find only one hit searching for them.

 

 

 

This pair up on fitzkeemilitaria posted here with his kind consent, As we see the Leather is Brown.

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