Utilities With Map Pocket

Dear Sgt. Grit,
 
RE:  J. Womack's question about "the utilities used in the late 60's to early 70's that had the concealed buttons on the pocket flaps and the front of the jacket…" 
 
They were first issued sometime around the end of the Korean War ( the first handful in "herringbone…") I believe that all stocks had been exhausted sometime around the start of the Vietnam War.  Our "yearbooks" in August of 1968 at graduation from MCRD San Diego had two sections… a generic section and a later one specific to our platoon.  The first section was assembled years before and the "hidden button" shirts were all that you saw…  By our time we had the same contract issue as the Army and the other services with the visible (and much thicker) buttons in the same general fabric as the hidden button variety.
 
The "Gomer Pyle" shirts as he refers to them had a far better appearance and were greatly admired and desired.  After graduation I spent 3 months at 3rd Bn, HQ in Graduate Casual waiting for orders before being sent up to ITR… While there I discovered that you could buy entire uniforms at the base laundry (that had been abandoned) for the cost of the cleaning (65 cents as I recall…)  I purchased several sets of utilities including one set of the "hidden button" type (see photo of my set)  For the rest of my enlistment I was offered serious money by lads who lusted after a set…
 
The large map pouch inside the left side of the shirt made it unsuitable for seriously hot climates.  As to the trousers that went with it, after 44 years, I can't remember about the back buttons… but I do remember that there were no pocket flaps on the back. 
 
James F. Owings read more

Short Timers Jacket

Sgt Grit,

I've been reading your great newsletter (and ordering items from you) for quite a few years.  I'm putting my two cents in on the Yellow Footprints.  When I went to MCRDSD in Sept. of 59 (Plt 273) there was definitely no Yellow Foot Prints.  I still have my Recruit Book and saw no photos or reference to them. read more

Fine Dining

Grit,
In your Sept 19 issue Don Harkness wrote about "fine dining" through his time in our Corps. A fine item as far as it went, but he didn't address the "fine dining" experiences between hops or at the end of the day when one returns after dark with all his body parts in the same condition they were when he launched at zero dark thirty that morning. read more

Quality and Selection

Dear Sgt Grit,

About fine chow. For three months after I graduated from MCRD San Diego in 1968 I was assigned to Graduate Casual at 3rd Bn HQ while waiting for orders that would send me up to ITR… (a paperwork snafu… a phone call to HQMC would have handled, but they insisted on it being on paper… and what with the war and all, I was a low priority…) read more

Propaganda

Jim Everson's posting reminded me of leaflets that we also encountered from the National Front for Liberation.

I served in RVN from 1967 to '68 with 3rd Amtracs. Our CP was at Marble Mountain.

When on patrol south of Marble Mountain we often encountered propaganda left by the National Front for Liberation. A bamboo stake split at the top and driven in the ground would hold the leaflet. Often, the portion of bamboo driven into the ground would be holding the spoon of a grenade in place. If you pulled the stake out of the ground… BOOM. To my knowledge, nobody got hurt by this particular booby trap because we were familiar with it. read more

203rd

Sgt Grit,

I found these goodies while rummaging through some boxes stuffed away in a closet. Don't know if you can use them in any of your newsletters. The first is a Dining In MAG-39 put on on 15Jun79 and the next is a dinner menu from the 203rd Marine Birthday 10Nov78. I haven't seen anything on Dining In's in any othe newsletters, is this a thing of the past? Keep on with the great newsletter and great products. Semper Fi! read more