One of the .50 cal's in my scout platoon was made in '43, still fires like a champ!

I have a pair of M-43 field pants my brother was issued in the 80's.

 

Bob

I was issued a 1968 dated canteen in basic in 2006. I was going to bring it home, but someone stole it

So exactly what do you have of the blue stuff - jackets, flight suits, ... ?

2nd effort at this reply since my computer is being finicky this morning. I also apologize for the delay but I have been on the road and just came back on line. Anyhow, I have the long & short type parkas, a pair of the heavy pants and a blue cotton flight suit. That last two are recent acquisitions. Civil Air Patrol usually scrafed up all the other flight gear.

The parkas are mated with the later OD models which give me a pretty good Cold War display. I just displayed the flight suit & trousers this past weekend and should have used the flight parka so I could sell the newer model B~15 I had on display with the trousers.

As more and more equipment is loaded into the electronic supply system - there is no telling what will be found. The government has misplaced tons of gear and even whole warehouses.

 

A warehouse was found in Alaska in 1989 (?) that contained crate after crate of Vietnam Jungle Fatigues - OD ripstop cotton - brand new, never issued. (I obtained quite a few of these )

 

This was interesting to me at the time because the SF folks that had been operating under President Regan down in the jungles - got brand new OD cotton - non ripstop jungle fatigues.

They were not BDUs - and except for the straight pockets on the jacket were similar to the originals. After reports from the field - the top pockets were once again slanted.

 

IMO they were darker than OG - 107.

 

They were about as strong, after they got wet, as the original Vietnam issue cotton wind resistant jungle fatigues - since they were not reinforced in the seat like BDUs.

 

I will have to see if I can find mine for pictures...

I was issued a nice M1951 Pile Cap at Ft. Wainwright, AK in Jan 1972. I still have it complete with my battered SP5 pin-on chevron.

I forgot to include in this thread, when I was at Aberdeen Proving Ground going through Ord OBC, one of the training company ordely rooms had a 1943-dated small squad field desk sitting in the corner. I offered to go buy them a modern one to swap for it, but SPC there said she didn't wanna get in trouble as she thought it had a serial # on the books (and I seem to recall it did have a number stencilled on the underside of it). The thing was in NOS condition, too...

Back in the early 1980s, I was in a USAR training unit. Each company was assigned a .45 pistol and when I went to inventory our company's, I was surprised to see that it was a Model 1911. Not 1911A1, but 1911. All original, still had the 1918 barrels (which we later had to replace with newer barrels), diamond grips (had extras of those in the armorer's tool box) etc.

 

Here is a copy of our hand receipt which show the 1911 on our books. The serial number for our .45 was 29747.

 

 

 

Hey Beast our Brigade in the 70th was the same. I still have my steel pot which is a front seem swivel bail and of course I was in the 70th when I scored all of the medals I referenced in my previous post. Scott

Hey Beast our Brigade in the 70th was the same. I still have my steel pot which is a front seem swivel bail and of course I was in the 70th when I scored all of the medals I referenced in my previous post. Scott

 

 

Wish I could have taken a shopping cart into the supply rooms and taken all of the vintage excess! Of course training units were so low in the supply priority chain, we needed every bit that we could get.

My first issued pistol (1987) was a (very) old Model 10 with a Border Patrol rollmark on the worn-nearly-smooth barrel. Wish that sidearm could have talked...

 

That same year I pulled a Vietnam-era map case from CIF. One of the cover snaps tore through, so I took it back and commented to the cranky old GS behind the counter what a piece of crap it was. He went back into his cave and rummaged a bit, came out with an unissued 1940-dated M1938 and a quiet, "bet you can't tear this up before I retire.."

 

I still use it every day to lug around my iPad and notebook. It's been sun bleached from green to tan on the outside and could probably use a stitch or two and a lick with a stiff brush, but it's still going strong.

When I was in basic training in 1973 I was issued shelter half poles dated 1945. One was dry-rotted and snapped as soon as I tightened the rope.

 

My Army Reserve unit in the 1980s had a 1918 dated mess kit in stock.

 

An acquaintance of mine was cleaning out stocks of M-1 helmets and liners at McChord AFB, Washington in the late 1990s or early 200s and came across many WWII-era liners including a number of WWII-era airborne liners. Since everything was going to DRMO anyway, the NCOIC let him keep whatever he wanted. He got at least a half-dozen really nice airborne liners out of it.

 

Running a .50 caliber machine gun range at Ft Lewis in 1979, the ammo we got was marked TRAINING USE ONLY, and dated from the 1940s and 1950s. I seem to recall the ammo being in giant SPAM cans that opened with a key, but I'm not certain. When I pulled one belt out of the can, a tracer bullet fell out of the casing. Another belt had one entire tracer round fall out of the belt. That one is marked LC 53 on he headstamp.

Where to even begin

 

In Nov 1984 I joined the NYARNG 1/71 INF right off Active Duty. Assigned as an M-60 gunner I was issued Canvas M56 gear, a Brown boyt .45 holster and a mag pouch dated Mills Nov 1918 that was new*(I still have it). Our . 45's were a mix or Parkerized WWII issue and some beautiful blued colts marked NY State Property. It was common to see the odd M43 Field Jacket among the old timers and some M-51's also.

 

In 2003 while helping to train up 1/258 FA for deployment to Iraq as a Quasi MP unit, I found Milk crates of M3 mags still in the waxy crepe wrappings and found the unit still had M3, not M3A1 Subguns in the arms room.

 

In 2004 1/69 INF(M) mob'ed for Iraq and I wound up working in the Arms room at Ft. Hood un f-ing the mess for 2 months. Of our 10 M2HB, 9 were WWII era guns that were rebuilt from the Watercooled version, We had BAR, M79 Combo tools, anf the Muzzle gland wrenchs for the WC M2's. M2 tripods none were later dated than 1945. Rifle Bore Cleaner from the 1950's, And our Bn's M577 CP carriers were apparently among the first 100 built in 1964 as they were welded conversions (Pictures in the Concorde series books on Iraq). We were desperately short of M2 Pintles but had the Old 2 part M-60 pintles that I cannibalized into M2. Our Winchester 1200 trenchguns came from the NJ Guard and according to a 2404 we found in a barrel not used since 74.

 

We still have M1938 Wire cutters in the tool bags for the vehicles I carried a 1945 dated set on my chest rig in Iraq.

 

 

*

 

This is about the best thread, ever. I'm drooling over the idea of stumbling over this stuff. My house would be full, never mind the garage, shed, etc.

I wonder whether anything can be found in the back rooms and warehouses of Clothing Sales stores.

Stumbled upon this thread. This is so cool. It deserves a bump...

My first unit in the Coast guard in 1986 was the CGC Basswood, built in 1943(decommissioned in the late 1990s). All of our .45s and Browning .50s were WWII issue as were the M-1 helmets. I found numerous items from WWII while in the service including a box of M-1944 mosquito head nets we ordered in 2014, all unissued in a WWII dated card board box!

I can state for a fact that there quantities of WWII ammunition still in the system. I have been able to acquire original crates and canisters that had been emptied for issue in the past two years to include .50 caliber, .45 caliber to include the canisters, and M2A3 shaped charge. Jack

I can state for a fact that there quantities of WWII ammunition still in the system. I have been able to acquire original crates and canisters that had been emptied for issue in the past two years to include .50 caliber, .45 caliber to include the canisters, and M2A3 shaped charge. Jack

 

Yep, my battalion had a .50 cal range at Ft Lewis in 2000 once, and when the range detail was dumping the brass into recycle containers for range control to cart off, I picked up one 44-dated casing. A few others I looked at had 60s and 70s dates but no other had a WW2 year date. I had it on my desk for a while but someone swiped it.

In 1997 I had a 1965 dated mess kit issued to me. We had 1969 dated 5.56mm dummies at basic training at Ft. Benning. Also saw same dated dummies at Ft. Knox in 1996.

Love this one. Any new finds?

 

I dug through my bases catch all for old things. All I could find were some Vietnam War ribbon bars that had never been mounted.

 

...Unless you count my own personal office and then there is a WWII pilot headgear display and a 2nd Div painted M1 haha....

I stayed in the BOQ at Fort Indiantown Gap backin the mid nineties and my bunk had a 1944 dated blanket on it. Had a good nice readable tag.

Ronnie

As a member of the TXARNG (49th AD) I actually lived in our unit's armory in 2002. In return for a place to stay, I kept the armory clean and helped out the Readiness NCO and the Supply Sergeant. One day, the Supply SGT and I were doing inventory in the supply room. I saw stacked, stringed-together bundles of M-1967 Canteen Covers that were never issued. Also there were M1950 squad stoves, new in the box, with 1960's dates.

When in the field, as part of the FDC section for our M109A5 155mm SPs, we operated out of M577s that still had 1967 dated intercom radios in them. Sometimes they worked, most times they didn't. The TC used an axe handle to thump the driver on his head or shoulders to tell him which way to turn.

In an earlier post on this thread, someone asked if anyone remembers The Duffle Bag in Tacoma, Washington. I sure do! I worked for them as a store clerk in 1986-87. In their back storage area, there were boxes of unissued M1965 Jungle Hammocks, and boxes and boxes of used jungle fatigues. RDF OD, RDF Leaf camo, and Vietnam era OD and Camo slant pocket jungle fatigues filled these boxes. I wonder if those boxes are still there? Nobody at the store payed much attention to them when I worked there

I have a retired Army M/Sgt. in the Denver area whose civilian job is transporting ammo to units in the area, USAF Academy for one. He told me that the bunkers have a LOT of early war ammo stored there. He has given me a few WWII dated crates and tins in the past. Jack

As a member of the TXARNG (49th AD) I actually lived in our unit's armory in 2002. In return for a place to stay, I kept the armory clean and helped out the Readiness NCO and the Supply Sergeant. One day, the Supply SGT and I were doing inventory in the supply room. I saw stacked, stringed-together bundles of M-1967 Canteen Covers that were never issued. Also there were M1950 squad stoves, new in the box, with 1960's dates.

When in the field, as part of the FDC section for our M109A5 155mm SPs, we operated out of M577s that still had 1967 dated intercom radios in them. Sometimes they worked, most times they didn't. The TC used an axe handle to thump the driver on his head or shoulders to tell him which way to turn.

In an earlier post on this thread, someone asked if anyone remembers The Duffle Bag in Tacoma, Washington. I sure do! I worked for them as a store clerk in 1986-87. In their back storage area, there were boxes of unissued M1965 Jungle Hammocks, and boxes and boxes of used jungle fatigues. RDF OD, RDF Leaf camo, and Vietnam era OD and Camo slant pocket jungle fatigues filled these boxes. I wonder if those boxes are still there? Nobody at the store payed much attention to them when I worked there

 

Spent a lot of time at the Duffle Bag, unfortunately it has been closed for years