What did our men bring home in WWII?

[Catfishcraig]

Does anyone know what gear men in the U.S. Military Service during WWII were allowed to keep at discharge? Was it a common practice for some things to be overlooked while other things were not?

 

I’ve wondered about this for some time as I have been researching my great uncle who was in the Marines in WWII. In Jan. 1946 my uncle was in China and wrote his wife that he was heading home for good and that he turned in his gear and was boarding a ship in the next few days. He was a squad leader in a mortar section so I know in general what gear he had. In his letters home he also described things he was issued. There is nothing left in the family but a medal and the letters he sent home to his wife and I’m trying to piece together what he most likely brought home with him.

 

Thanks!

 

Craig

[craig_pickrall]

I think that will vary by unit and maybe day to day with in a unit. I had a 2nd cousin that was a WW2 Marine. He graduated boot camp just as the war ended. They discharged him rather than sending him on to a service school or active unit. He brought home every thing he was issued in boot camp. It was 2 sea bags full of all dress and utility uniforms, web gear, etc.

[Jack's Son]

I imagine a few of the things they brought home were cured with a bit of penicillin. :blushing: :w00t:

[Dirk]

Agree with Craig...it was a unit by unit thing. My father was nose gunner on a B-24 in the Far East and all he got to keep was the uniform he came home with, some paper work and a few souvenirs....all flight gear had to be turned in...my uncle in the ETO not only kept his uniforms but a number of captured enemy items.....another uncle, a Marine got to keep everything...which he has slowly been giving me over the years.

[Camp_Kearny]

I believe the standard WWII enlisted soldier was allowed to keep two pair of pants, two shirts, an Ike or Service Jacket, a pair of shoes, raincoat or overcoat, barracks or duffle bag and hat. Soldiers were also permitted to keep all of the underwear, ties, socks, and other personal items. I'm sure soldiers kept other items such as field jacks and musette bags, but the above was the minimum a soldier left the service with.

[J_Andrews]

It has long (since IIRC 1918) that returning soldiers, heading for discharge, keep one set of uniform clothing -- i.e. what they are wearing.

 

Additionally, there was/is no requirement to turn in footwear, headgear (cloth type), underwear and sox.

If the departing GII does not want the latter, they are NOT re-issued, unless they get processed for CS (Combat Servicable) future use.

 

Retention of additional items was/is at the whim of local authorities. At the end of a war, the supply rooms and depots often are overflowing, and supply room clerks tell the GI's to just keep it.

[Catfishcraig]

Thanks guys!

[Camp_Kearny]

I should add that at the end of WWI, soldiers returning from overseas were allowed to keep their helmet and their gas mask. Soldiers who served only in the Zone of the Interior during WWI were only allowed to keep their uniform but not their helmet or gas mask.

[suwanneetrader]

My Dad was I Co, 3rd Bn, 21st Marines, 3rd Div, at Guam, Iwo Jima and back to Guam. From there he came back to the States on a Hospital Ship USS Tranquality. An Officer searched his seabag and took a Japanese sword and a US .45 semi-auto pistol, he got to keep a small Japanese Personals (toothbrush, dope metal pipe, soap container, rubber stamp, comb, etc.) rubberized bag. They did let him keep his K-Bar with a rattlesnake burnt into the front of the leather sheath with My nickname "Sonny" and my Mom's name "Elmo" and his "R. Marquette USMCR" with "The Rattler" under his name. His serial number is burnt into the back. (I have this K-Bar). I also gave a large spear point knife with thick leather sheath (both made for Dad by a Blacksmith at Cinti. Gas & Elec. Co.) to my oldest son. I think he had this with him but not positive. I do know he carried the K-Bar on Guam and Iwo Jima and I do know he was with Capt. Clayton Rockmore when the Capt. was KIA at Airfield #2 on Iwo. Dad never talked about anything, except funny happenings, but I once overheard him discussing Capt Rockmore with his brother, who was 1st Marine Div. at Guadacanal, etc. when I asked him directly, he said he was with a group surrounded at Airfield #2 and he was one of the lucky ones. He was issued a new complete uniform. He had very little clothing, I remember him wearing some green hightop tennis shoes and boondocker shoes. When on Guam the second time he mailed home jewelry and watchbands and bracelets made from seashells and thin aluminum (he said it came from shot down and disabled Japanese planes). I have a 4" long sail boat carved from a piece of dark wood with Sonny Boy burnt into the side and the sail from a piece of khaki pants material. Sorry to be long winded but just trying to tell some of the things a combat Marine in the S. Pacific got home.

[Catfishcraig]

My Dad was I Co, 3rd Bn, 21st Marines, 3rd Div, at Guam, Iwo Jima and back to Guam. From there he came back to the States on a Hospital Ship USS Tranquality. An Officer searched his seabag and took a Japanese sword and a US .45 semi-auto pistol, he got to keep a small Japanese Personals (toothbrush, dope metal pipe, soap container, rubber stamp, comb, etc.) rubberized bag. They did let him keep his K-Bar with a rattlesnake burnt into the front of the leather sheath with My nickname "Sonny" and my Mom's name "Elmo" and his "R. Marquette USMCR" with "The Rattler" under his name. His serial number is burnt into the back. (I have this K-Bar). I also gave a large spear point knife with thick leather sheath (both made for Dad by a Blacksmith at Cinti. Gas & Elec. Co.) to my oldest son. I think he had this with him but not positive. I do know he carried the K-Bar on Guam and Iwo Jima and I do know he was with Capt. Clayton Rockmore when the Capt. was KIA at Airfield #2 on Iwo. Dad never talked about anything, except funny happenings, but I once overheard him discussing Capt Rockmore with his brother, who was 1st Marine Div. at Guadacanal, etc. when I asked him directly, he said he was with a group surrounded at Airfield #2 and he was one of the lucky ones. He was issued a new complete uniform. He had very little clothing, I remember him wearing some green hightop tennis shoes and boondocker shoes. When on Guam the second time he mailed home jewelry and watchbands and bracelets made from seashells and thin aluminum (he said it came from shot down and disabled Japanese planes). I have a 4" long sail boat carved from a piece of dark wood with Sonny Boy burnt into the side and the sail from a piece of khaki pants material. Sorry to be long winded but just trying to tell some of the things a combat Marine in the S. Pacific got home.

 

 

My heart about skipped a beat when I first noted Co. I, 3rd Bn. in your reply. My great uncle was on Okinawa and China with I Co., 3rd Bn, 1st Marines, 1st Div in 1945 and 1946. I don't mind the long winded answer, in fact appreciate the information that you provided. My uncle was able to send home two Japanese rifles and a saber but no one in our family knows where they ended up. I have a picture of him with his dress greens with a discharge patch on the right but even that has disappeared. What we do have are letters he sent his wife from 44-46 and his silver star he was awarded. He wrote her on an average of 5 times a week and wrote what he was allowed to about the war in the Pacific and what he did on liberty and on the Islands. I’m gradually building a very small collection of WWII Pacific Marine items which includes a Kabar (Camillus).

 

Thanks! and a big solute to your father and his service to our country.

[suwanneetrader]

My heart about skipped a beat when I first noted Co. I, 3rd Bn. in your reply. My great uncle was on Okinawa and China with I Co., 3rd Bn, 1st Marines, 1st Div in 1945 and 1946. I don't mind the long winded answer, in fact appreciate the information that you provided. My uncle was able to send home two Japanese rifles and a saber but no one in our family knows where they ended up. I have a picture of him with his dress greens with a discharge patch on the right but even that has disappeared. What we do have are letters he sent his wife from 44-46 and his silver star he was awarded. He wrote her on an average of 5 times a week and wrote what he was allowed to about the war in the Pacific and what he did on liberty and on the Islands. I’m gradually building a very small collection of WWII Pacific Marine items which includes a Kabar (Camillus).

 

Thanks! and a big solute to your father and his service to our country.

 

Thankyou Craig and a salute to your Uncle as well. Hope you can find more info and keep his memory alive. Copies of his service records are available if you do not have them. Best Regards Richard

[mmerc20]

So how did these vets come home with the M1911 or other weapons? They didn't seem like the kind of things a unit would give away but there are always those vets that have them.

 

Mike

[suwanneetrader]

I found out that a M1911 or 1911 A1 was tken from my Dad on the disembark inspection before leaving the hospital ship (he had a messed up knee but could walk with crutches) as when I got a Colt M1911 from the sister of a WWI Marine in about 1961 (still have it) and when I showed it to my Dad he told me he had one all stripped down and wrapped-up in a towel in the bottom of his seabag. He did not say how he got it. There was alot of ways a GI could get one. I once bought one from a Marine Sgt on Saipan he picked it up during the battle from a dead comrade. He said he felt he could use it to help kill Japs who had killed the former owner. He said he carried it through out his campaigns and was able to get it home. He sold it with a holster to me in 1990's as he had no one to leave it to.

[El Bibliotecario]

So how did these vets come home with the M1911 or other weapons? They didn't seem like the kind of things a unit would give away but there are always those vets that have them.

 

Mike

 

It is my unsubstantiated opinon that many GIs stole govenrment issue weapons--particularly pistols--and took them home.

 

Given that people were being moved around the globe, I suspect that trying to keep a paper trail of accountible items in the pre computer era was a losing game. I read a memoir of a meterological officer in the 8th Air Force who foolishly left his pistol hanging on a coat room hook. Naturally it vanished, A friend covered for him by fudging the paperwork to show the pistol was issued to an aircrew member who had been shot down. And we have to ask ourselves if the pistol stolen from the coat room was brought back by the GI who most likely took it.

 

I suspect many GI weapons were picked up on the battlefield. Recently the AMERICAN RIFLEMAN had an article on the M1A! carbine where an officer described removing one of these weapons from a glider full of dead airborne troops, carrying it for the remainder of the european campaign, then taking it home. By his own tacit admssion, this weapon was stolen government property.

 

A late friend told me his company was moving along a road in Germany in 1945 when a column of tanks passed. One of the TCs asked if anyone wanted a .45, and threw one down to my friend.

 

In his memoir ORDNANCE WENT UP FRONT, the late gunsmith Roy Dunlop laments that if he'd known his dufflebag wouldn't have been checked, he'd have brought home several M1903 actions to make into sporters.

 

Given the astronomical amount of waste at the end of the war, with new trucks, aircraft, etc being junked or sold for pennies on the dollar, such loss to the government was piddling and I'm happy that such weapons ended up with those who appreciated them. My point is that what GIs kept wasn't necessarily limited to what the army allowed, but only by their own talents at larceny.

[js584]

A Police Officer friend of mine was called by an older woman that lived near him. She said she had some of her late husband things she wanted disposed of and didn't know what to do with them. When he arrived she led him to the attic where to his amaze he found a LOADED 1911 w/2 full clips, 2 real deal pull the pin and boom pineapple grenades and a USMC marked bag they were in. The bomb squad took about 4 hours to get the grenades outta there. He still has the 1911. The lady said her husband was in the marines in WWII.

 

IMHO I think the inspections of returning GI's was hit and miss at best. I have a live M1 cartridge given me by a WWII vet. Well had, I used a bullet puller and emptied the powder.

[dmar836]

My uncle was a Marine and he too had an M1911 taken from him by a Lieutenant. He always said some Lt has a really nice brand new M1911.

I do find it interesting the "named" items in collections. Even things unlikely to have names!

Dave

KC