Re: Combat equipment and clothing

[Robert <wanaki@infi.net>]

I soon learned that C-Ration Coffee, or any hot beverage, in the aluminum
Canteen Cup, as apposed to the steel, would burn the hell out of your lips
trying to drink it, because the lip of that Aluminum cup was rolled and thick,
and held the heat, where as the steel lip was thin and disipated the heat
at the lip more readily. 
Weather wise, the summer was hot and humid as hell, the winter colder than
a Top Sgt.'s heart, so comfort was an abstract concept, and a day you stayed
alive and unwounded was an eternity, followed by a night that was even longer.

swan wrote:

In the summer the men in my company wore olive drab fatigues, and combat boots with buckles on them. I have heard that the North Koreans called us the "Soft caps." We went ashore at Inchon wearing caps, and were issued steel helmets only after we had been there for several weeks. In our field packs we carried a change of fatigues (usually dirty), a few changes of socks and underwear (usually filthy), a  razor, and a mess kit (the degree of cleanliness I don't even want to think about). We also had a poncho, a shelter half, and a sleeping bag rolled up on the pack, along with an entrenching tool attached to the pack.

 

In the winter we wore long john underwear (tops and bottoms), fatigue shirts, and a pair of "field pants" worn over our fatigue pants. We wore fatigue jackets, and hooded parkas. We also had fleece lined caps with ear flaps, and leather gloves with wool liners. I think we were in North Korea before they finally issued us down-filled sleeping bags and shoe pacs.

 

Do any of you guys remember brushing your teeth while you were there? I don't!

 

As far as what equipment I "didn't like," I have never given this any thought. Since we carried only that which was necessary for survival and defense, I guess there was nothing to really dislike. I often wished that we could have had better boots and gloves to protect our feet and hands from the numbing cold. But I don't believe that such things could be devised to protect men who lived like animals in such an environment.        

----- Original Message -----

From: Lt.Coyle

To: KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ku.edu

Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2002 10:29 AM

Subject: Combat equipment and clothing

Hi,

 

    I belong to a group that form time to time puts on a time line of the soldier, form the French and Indian War to the present.  One area that is not covered is the Korean War, so I have started to collect the items in order to put them on display. So I was wondering what the guys wore that were in combat?  What equipment did you like and what did you hate?  What clothing did you have versus what was supposed to be issued to you and not the ones in the read areas.  I have started to read the personal stories of the veterans in order to get some ideas.

 

 

        Thanks,

 

        Kevin Coyle