WWII GI pants....

[MrBern]

another shot to illustrate that this pair has been modified w/ a zipper.
You can see the inner button that remains
Also note the waistband's rear notch.

Heres a comparison to another more beat up set.
Note its missing the back beltloop & waistband notch.
a clear sign that someone crudely let the pants out to sell them as a larger size.
Not bad if you want to reenact in th woods, but not great either

 

[scotrace]

Excellent

MrBern you are a great teacher. I am enjoying this thread SO much! I have some new officer's pants out being re-altered back to their orginal configuration. I will post some pictures as soon as I get them back.

Now a question:
What defines "chocolate," anyway? Is it green or actually brown?

Is this chocolate?

 

[Fletch]

That's it. It's a dark brownish green.

One legend has it that the name originated from the greenish color of the Army D-ration (a high-energy unsweetened chocolate product). Any intel?

 

[MrBern]

the D-ration bar...thats hysterical.

 

[MrBern]

OliveDrab

Scott, Officer trousers are labelled Dark O.D. and I think they are OD-52.
They are a greenish/darkbrown. Shades varied as they were procured from different tailors so some are browner than others. So its really hard to match up trousers & jkts. So substituting the 'pink' trousers are the usual solution to putting together a set.

I dont have my list of O.D. shades, but I'll try to remember.
The khaki cotton trousers are actually O.D.#3
Then the M43 cotton trousers & Jkt were the more familar shade of army green OD-7
The late war wool trousers & Ike jkt were OD-33


Funny, I like the old brownish uniforms. But the army Quartermaster indicates these colors were not popular at all & switched in the early 50s to a greenish -grey, GG44.

So really, its pretty easy to get WWII looking trousers w/o paying the premium of WWII collectibles. I've seen post war trousers from 1946 to 1951 that have no change in the pattern or color.

 

[MrBern]

Incidentally, the officer chocolates arent Serge wool. They are labelled ELASTIQUE.
I'm not clear on what the Wool Elastique weave is, but its very similar to cavalry twill.

 

[The Wingnut]

...also called whipcord. It's a (for the time)common higher-end suiting material. It's not twill, although it is similar. Most of our vintage suits are made out of the same stuff. Three of my suits and one of my dinner attire ensembles are made from it.

 

[MrBern]

Incidentally, if you do searches, you can still find uniforms made of Elastique. Especially highway patrolmen uniforms, jsut be aware that the modern stuff is often a poly/wool blend.

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

I don't mean to hijack the thread or to go off topic, but I've read about modern average sizes being different from WWII era.
From an italian point of view this is surely true.

Recentely an italian movie director, and WWII veteran (he's a very old man) made a movie based on the north-african campaign of the italian army, and he stated he had a lot of difficulty casting actors:
"I remember these short, low-ass soldiers, almost all of them... and now you see all these young actors six feet tall, right out of the gym..."

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

The gym thing is new. The modern military has a big weightlifting culture, so I think sometimes directors think that is the way the military always was and cast such people in period roles.

 

[Feraud]

Here are a couple of surprising finds for me.
The last thing I expected to see in a Salvation Army store in Queens is a pair of WWII trousers and pinks.

The pinks.

 

[fishmeok]

My favorite pair of trousers is a pair of officers' "pinks" (light O.D. shade). The cut and proportions are just about perfect on me. What do the repro makers (eastman, WPG, etc.) use for their officers' shirts? I know the Eastman Rangoon shirt has a good rep.

That zipper on the dark O.D. (chocolate) pair is origional- it's a talon and the second button under the fly is for the inner fly flap. One note on sizing- I'm a modern 34, but in reality, as in WWII sizing, I wear a 36 waist.
Cheers
Mark

 

[Alan Eardley]

Feraud,

Brilliant find! The ones in the first photos are excellent pants, aren't they?

Alan

Here are a couple of surprising finds for me.
The last thing I expected to see in a Salvation Army store in Queens is a pair of WWII trousers and pinks.

 

[Feraud]

Feraud,

Brilliant find! The ones in the first photos are excellent pants, aren't they?

Alan

They are (not surprisingly) well made and an all around perfect looking pant.

 

[MrBern]

Enlisted Man Special

Great wartime find Feraud! Thanks for posting the label.
Nice vegetable ivory buttons too. Tho it looks like the suspender buttons were removed.
So these are `43 pattern special, no buttons or flaps on the back pockets. AND the side pockets run along the seam instead of a slash. Nice & dressy!
The ones I posted earlier were late war from `44 & 45.

 

[Feraud]

Thanks MrB. I would never have spotted the pants had it not been for this thread.

 

[Alan Eardley]

What pattern are pants in twill fabric that are the same pattern as the first pair in Feraud's posting, but with buttons on the back pockets? No sign of suspender buttons. I found a pair in a street market in Covent Garden a few weeks ago. They are just like my Buzz Rickson 1942 pattern chinos apart from the back pockets.

Alan

Great wartime find Feraud! Thanks for posting the label.
Nice vegetable ivory buttons too. Tho it looks like the suspender buttons were removed.
So these are `43 pattern special, no buttons or flaps on the back pockets. AND the side pockets run along the seam instead of a slash. Nice & dressy!
The ones I posted earlier were late war from `44 & 45.

 

[DanielJones]

I had missed a pair of wool trousers the other day on OFAS that were actually my size. Go figure. Those don't come around too often but they didn't go for a huge amount.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Feraud]

I had missed a pair of wool trousers the other day on OFAS that were actually my size. Go figure. Those don't come around too often but they didn't go for a huge amount.

Cheers!

Dan

I think I know the pair you are talking about. They were a good looking pant and the price was reasonable.
I let them pass because I am on the trail of something else.

 

[BellyTank]

I don't mean to hijack the thread or to go off topic, but I've read about modern average sizes being different from WWII era.
From an italian point of view this is surely true.

Recentely an italian movie director, and WWII veteran (he's a very old man) made a movie based on the north-african campaign of the italian army, and he stated he had a lot of difficulty casting actors:
"I remember these short, low-ass soldiers, almost all of them... and now you see all these young actors six feet tall, right out of the gym..."

Hey, Italian-wiseguy- I'm interested in the movie you mentioned-
what can you tell me about it- I'd like to see it.

Thanks,
B
T