Hi chaps, long time no post, thought I would return with one with a monster of a title, again on the subject of body armour. I had always understood that the relatively limited issue of the standardised M-1952A armour vest in Korea was limited to US troops but I recently turned up this photo which I had previously missed in an Osprey publication on the Korean War. Both the KATCOM and British soldiers, centre and right seem to be wearing M-1952A vests.

 

 

Can anyone shed any further light on issue to non-US troops during the conflict in Korea? I am particularly interested in their issue to the Commonwealth Division.

 

I was also hoping someone would be able to enlighten me as I am hoping to find suitable laces and the correct method of lacing (if there is one) to replace the para-cord I initially used to substitute for the missing laces on my own M-1952A vest. Pictures to follow tomorrow for interest's sake!

Slight delay, nothing unusual, just a quite tidy 1954 example, picked up a year or so ago on UK ebay for about £40.

 

 

This is a bit of a bump, but I was reading about these recently in the Osprey book from the late 80s. The M1952A2 (T52-2) seems to have had 1/4" thick sheet of what sounds like Neoprine or something similar around the ribs and "shoulder girdle". Was this on the T52-3, AKA the M1952 that actually got the mass issue? Or did they switch back to pure ballistic nylon?

 

M.