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 Author  Topic: What did Pacific PT crewmen wear?
ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 - 9:18am
I know this sounds silly but I just ordered some 1/35th scale Navy Crewmen to use on the PT596 kit and it occured to me that all my photos are black and white.

The boats were green sso did they have grey helmets or OD/green?
Were the life vests tan, grey, ??
Their "uniforms"-were they Navy issue shades of blue or did they use Army/Marine stuff in OD/green? I assume the officers wore kahki. Is this right?

Thanks,
Ed


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Frank J Andruss Sr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Frank J Andruss Sr   Send Email To Frank J Andruss Sr Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 - 1:05pm
Ed

Most PT Cremen wore pretty much what they could get their hands on. The normal wear for those in the pacific was OD or Navy Dugaree pants cut off to make shorts. Navy Boondockers for shoes and white socks. Some even cut off the ends of the shoes for ventalation as the Humid air was horible. Most of those on the Crews wore no shirts when at dock, but did put on a light shirt when underway. Hats were the OD baseball type hat or sometimes the Navy Pith Helmet to kep the sun off. When on general Quarters the crews wore the M1- helmet in both colors, OD Green or Navy Grey. All Helmets were originally green and then painted grey for the Navy. Life jackets were Grey. I have talked with some Crewmembers who told me that when going on patrol they would wear their long pants and long sleeved shirts. Basically, these guys would wear whatever they could get their hands on and whatever was comfortable. This of course was for the Pacific Theatre of Operations.

In the Med, these guys wore pretty much long pants and long sleeves, with a light jacket when on patrol. Jacket was again Navy grey. Skippers would wear their Tan navy Visor caps on the Bridge for both pacific and Med when not on General Quarters. Best bet for the model unless you have men that you can make into shirtless and short wearing crewmen is to make them with Dungaree pants and lighter color Navy Shirt with grey or OD helmets. I have used OD Helmets on all of my PT BOAT PROJECTS. Hope this helps some. I am sure those that served on the boats will expand on my answer and better help you.


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ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 - 1:28pm
Thank you Frank. That was quite informative. The pieces look like they all have long pants and shirts or jackets. I'll know more when they arrive.
Thanks again,
Ed


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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 - 3:08pm
Don't mean to be argumentative, but the majority of the WWII U.S. Navy kapok life jackets I've seen have been blue -- not gray.

The ankle-high shoes, or boots, worn by most PT crewmen in the Pacific were (or were identical to) Marine Corps "boondockers" -- no?


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Frank J Andruss Sr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Frank J Andruss Sr   Send Email To Frank J Andruss Sr Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 - 4:19pm
Drew:

I based my message on fact as I own 2 Navy Kapok Life jackets donated to me by 2 former PT BOAT CREWMEMBERS. One of the jackets was owned by Lt. Vic Kodis who was on PT 213 in the Med. He wore this on every patrol while with Ron 15. The other jacket, which I just recieved last week was worn by Ron 27 Chief Gunners Mate, Wallace Mcneish, who was on PT 374. Both are grey. You may be correct in that some were blue/grey although the ones in my Exhbit and collection are grey.


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  ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 - 4:41pm
I'm just glad that at least some things about PT Boats aren't up for debate.


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Steve Tuhy

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Steve Tuhy   Send Email To Steve Tuhy Posted on: Feb 23, 2007 - 6:11am
I GUESS I'LL THROW MY 2 CENTS WORTH IN. CREW WORE
LIFE JACKETS AND / OR LIFE VESTS. THE 'MAE WESTS' WERE IDENTICAL TO THE AVIATOR TYPE IN CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION, BUT DARK BLUE GRAY INSTEAD OF CHROME YELLOW. THE 'MAE WEST' WAS SEEN TO BE USED TOWARD
THE LATTER PART OF THE WAR.

Steve Tuhy

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Will Day

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Will Day   Send Email To Will Day Posted on: Feb 23, 2007 - 9:43am
Know what guys? It was a big navy. Although one color or piece of gear might have been "standard issue", I imagine in many cases it was a matter of using what was available (look at the early 37mm bow guns, to use an extreme example).

Will

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ducati650

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of ducati650   Send Email To ducati650 Posted on: Feb 23, 2007 - 10:53am
Yes,
I'm only looking to find out what was probable. I can make life jackets blue or grey and be OK but international orange would be very wrong. I thought tan was achoice but that hasn't been mentioned for it is probably not right either.

I'll do a mix of blue pants and light blue shirts and maybe mix in some OD or USMC Green pieces, just for variety.
Ed


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Jeff Sherry

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff Sherry  Posted on: Feb 26, 2007 - 7:54pm
My dad on PT 342 in New Guinea in 1944 was often supplied by the Army. He refers constantly to "dungarees" which to me means Navy issue denims. Photos of he and the crew, in black and white of course, show them mostly shirtless. Some show them wearing skivies, shoes and socks, that's it. As mentioned above, some pistures show crewmen wearing the Army herringbone twill cap, very few wearing the white Navy issue cap. officers wore khakis, but in many pictures they too are shirtless. I can't make out too much about shoes but there do appear to be black Navy issue shoes as well as some "roughout" boots like "boondockers" mentioned above. I asked him about the life jacket color question and he said they were blue but faded fast. He said their helmets were OD. Hope this helps.


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