RESCUED.....WW2 PARATROOPER JUMP BOOTS

What we have here today,is a pair of newly rescued ww2 CORCORAN jump boots.I found them at a yard sale,last week, for such a ridiculous price that i couldn't pass.Real ww2 paratrooper boots are getting so hard to find nowadays that it was worth the effort.Kinda like their patina now ....

The paratrooper boots were ,of course ,designed for a purpose and not fashion.their fonction ,was to give extra ankle support for rough parachute landings It's around 1941 ,that  Lieutenant Colonel Yarborough created them for the 501st Parachute Test Battalion.He's also credited for designing the actual Parachutists Jump Wings, the M-1942 Jump uniform and also various other airborne equipments......

The boots were unique at the time in the US armed forces ,in the sense that they were calf length and completely leather. The reason why this was so unique was that up until this point, American soldiers were issued low-quarter or ankle boots with canvas leggings as a protection against mud /water and so on ..... 

The jump boots became a symbol of the airborne soldiers and were highly sought after by other non-airborne soldiers.Even if they were manufactured by several other companies during the war, it seems that the COCORAN boots won the "ribbon"among troopers and nowadays military collectors.They were so desired that during the war, non-airborne soldiers,would just about trade anything to get a hold on them. This would also cause some fights between real troopers and those who would wear them on leave...... 

CORCORAN Boots was once privately owned and had facilities in Stoughton Massachusetts.The company became well-known for making military combat and jump boots used in World War II and thereafter. At some point in its history,the Corcoran Shoe Company was purchased by Acme Boot of Clarksville,Tennessee.In 1992 Acme sold Corcoran to the Cove Shoe Company of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. Cove Shoe is a division of H.H. Brown Company. Cove being a manufacturer of private labels and branded footwear.....

In 1944, around the time of Operation Market Garden in Holland, the boots were replaced by the “Double Buckle” M-1943 Combat Boots. Many paratroopers retained their jump boots and continued to wear them until the end of the war and during the early years of Germany and Japan’s occupation. Although the American military had converted to the buckle boots at the end of the war, the popularity and durability of the Jump Boots was hard to ignore and eventually an adapted version, without slanted heels,among other mods, were issued to all soldiers in the Korean War....