Thursday, March 18, 2010

THE PACIFIC: WW2 USMC 41 HBT JACKET

The front of the jacket with its crude EGA [eagle,globe & anchor] stencil .Love the stripes with a double applied paint .....
The amazing back with a great and unusual gothic font.......



After seeing the 1st episode of "THE PACIFIC" ,the new series from the Hanks/Spielberg team of "BOB" fame , i've decided to dig in my collection and showcase my favorite M41[ early sage green] USMC HBT jacket for your enjoyment . over the year i've seen my share of tactical markings ,stenciled names and so on ... but i must admit this one tops them all.........

8 comments:

  1. Always been my favourite jacket to wear to the beach. I had my birdwell beach britches custom made in USMC frog camo so when I go surfing Im ready to storm the beaches. Great stuff Patrick!

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  2. Very, very nice. Thanks for posting.

    Semper Fidelis!

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  3. i'll post some more goodies soon promissed ......i've always loved the navy corpsman jacket too ...similar but much harder to get .....

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  4. Love the "art" on the back! these shirts are gonna get real expensive real soon!

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  5. They are only rare in big sizes ,but for guys like me[38/40] you can still get your hands on one at a reasonable price.The real problem is,as we've seen with "bob", that any "ebay schmoe" who's got one ,is going to ruin it for us, by asking crazy prices.....

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  6. I watched the first episode today as well. Very cool.

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  7. Howdy. I just found this while searching for other info. I'm a USMC utility uniform & 782 gear collector for about 30 years and have an example of every utility jacket the Marines have used since 1941. Hopefully I can offer some info on this jacket.

    It's a late pattern (P) 1941, judging by the rounded breast pocket, which may be more the post-WW2 period/Korea era. This pattern was reissued to replace the much-despised P1944 utilities with the ass-pocket. This later issue (about 1947) had a trimmer body than the original P1941. The eagle/globe/anchor isn't 'crude' but is the correct stencil applied by the mfgr.

    The stenciled chevrons were circa 1950's, not WW2, and were occassionally doubled when faded or, as in this case, originally too narrow. There was a PX purchase stencil for these.

    The big clue comes from the Marine's service number: 118XXXX. This SN sequence began in 1943 thru '53 with #1,000,001 and ending with 1,700,000. Using this as an estimate, the sergeant probably enlisted about late 1944-early 45 or possibly a bit later.

    The Gothic lettering was likely placed on post-discharge as this wouldn't be allowed in the field (except, perhaps, a combat zone) and never for inspections.

    I joined in late 1961, with SN 197XXXX.

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