Early and pre-war WWII USMC cartridge belts

I was searching for early cartridge belts that may have seen service as early as Guadalcanal, and these examples fit the criteria.  Atlas 1940, BoyT -41- and BoyT -42-.



BoyT -41- and BoyT -42-



Atlas 1940:

USMC M1 Helmet with Hawley Liner

This helmet consists of an early M1 Steel helmet with fixed bales, early Hawley M1 fiber liner, and what is commonly called a type I USMC camo helmet cover.



The cover has had two slits cut for better fit and this feature is found on most issued covers:



One of several features to look for on an original cover is chain stitching on the beach side:



Further disassembly of the helmet at this time would likely risk damaging the very fragile original liner:



Camouflage helmet covers began being used with the U.S. Marines in combat following the battle of Guadalcanal.   Here's this combination in use during 1943:

Paramarine helmet impression

This topic has already been well covered on M1 Pencil Blog, but I decided to do my own impression using my USMC M1 helmet with Hawley liner and camo cover as I haven't seen this done before.  This was just for fun, the Paramarine/Pilot flight helmet is not original to this helmet and was purchased separately.

For more information on Paramarine helmets and impressions:

M1 Pencil Blog Paramarine impression

My impression:

USMC 1943 Identification Disks

I bought these USMC Identification Disks on e-bay because I thought they were a nice textbook example. Since purchasing them, I've discovered the following information about Owen Glenn Brantley:


Jul 1942 Rank: Private First Class Station: Vmf-212, Marairgroup-21, 2Nd Marairwing, Fmf., %Fpo. San Francisco, California.

Oct 1942 Rank: Sergeant Station: Marine Fighting Squadron Two-Twelve, First Marine Aircraft Wing Fleet Marine Force, C/O F.P.O., San Francisco, California

Oct 1943 Rank: Master Technical Sergeant Station: Marine Fighting Squadron-114, Marine Aircraft Group-23, Maha C/O Fleet Post Office, San Francisco, California

Jul 1944 Rank: Master Technical Sergeant Station: Cas Co #1, Mb, Nob, Ti, (San Pedro), Calif At U S Naval Hospital, Corona, Calif


This information comes from friends on USMF and I will continue to research the set as time permits.

USMC 1943 Boondockers

This is an unissued pair of well marked 1943 USMC boondockers:

USMC DQP Pick Mattocks Carrier

The Marine Corps pick mattocks carrier made by Philadelphia Depot has several distinctive features compared to the army version:

-USMC wire hanger
-USMC golden colored materials
-WWI era buckles and flat metal tips
-Lack of U.S. marking
-Typical USMC Depot manufacturing characteristics.

1942 WB Colt M1911A1

Shipped from the Colt factory to Springfield Armory in mid 1942.

The inspector mark is of Waldemar Broberg.

The trigger on these 42 Colts are very light in color from when Colt changed their parkerizing color.

The pistol is all correct and original, with original two-tone pinned base magazine supplied to Colt by Risdon.

1928A1 Thompson SMG

Thompson 1928A1 assembled by Savage in 1942.











In use with the Marine Corps:

S&W Victory Model

The S&W Victory Model is certainly not as iconic as the M1911 and M1911A1 but is still a classic WWII U.S. sidearm.   This pistol is commonly found in period photos of pilots and aviators including USMC.

My example is all correct and original with U.S. Property marks and not an overly difficult pistol to find for a collectors.

USMC Pack Impression - Cape Gloucester

This photograph inspired me to make an impression of the packs seen in use at Cape Gloucester:



Since first writing this post, my opinion has changed and I believe this is most likely a Paramarine shovel cover manufactured around 1943.   There's a small chance it's a rigger made item, but I'm leaning towards the Paramarine style.



Jim Roberston provided me photos of his fantastic original Paramarine shovel cover.  With permission, here's Jim's Paramarine shovel cover:









I found what some collectors consider to be an Australian made shovel cover - but I believe the item is just a bogus replica. I tossed it on the pack for the photo until I get a Paramarine example.

Here's the completed pack for now:



This concludes my efforts for now of accumulating the parts to assemble a Cape Gloucester USMC pack as seen in the famous photo.