Pillow shams, or ‘sweetheart pillow covers’, were souvenirs from Army camps sent to parents, wives or sweethearts. This was an old tradition that continued during and after WW2. There are many designs, but here I focus on those related to paratroops and gliders. If you have one too, send me a picture and I will add it.
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A year ago today, the original designer of the jump wings, Lt. Gen. William P. Yarborough, passed away at age 93. This article is a tribute to him and those who wore these wings. His ‘parachutist’s badge’ – more commonly referred to as jump wings – was the mark of a paratrooper, and it still is today. Over the years, I acquired a number of them, but really collecting jump wings can be an expensive hobby in it’s own right. So this article is meant to be a virtual reference, drawing on several collections to give you the completest possible overview of the many different variations and makes that exist. If you have wings you don’t see here, send me a picture and I will add it.
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For lack of documentation on this subject, I started my own research. The key question: were Taylor and Superior Magneto models both made throughout the war? My careful conclusion is that this is not the case. Up until D-Day, there were only Taylors. Superior Magneto’s I have seen are all dated 6-44 or later and I have found no photographs of soldiers wearing them in Normandy. If you can shed any light on this, I will gladly add it to this article.
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On a related note to the previous article on paratrooper ads, here is one on wartime magazines featuring paratroopers on the cover. If you have any you don’t see on this page, send me a picture and I will add it.
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Here’s a new article I’ve been wanting to write for a long time. It’s about advertisements in wartime magazines featuring paratroops. I started with the ones I have, but there are more. If you have any others, send them in and I will add them to the article.
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It’s been a while since my last update. I have added some updates to the TL-122 article. Notably two TL-122-Cs, new in the box.
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I have started an article on WW2 army issue whistles. Basically there are two types: brass and OD green plastic, but there appear to be quite a lot of different makes. The whistles are worn on different types of chains or lanyards. This article already contains a very nice selection, but I am sure there are even more varieties. If you have one, please send me a picture.
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A curiosity I recently came across on eBay is this TL-122-A by Everyready, identical to military types, but this one is marked ‘Official Flashlight Boyscouts of America’, and the ‘Be Prepared’ crest where you would have the TL-122-A designation. Like the military types, it was painted green. That’s all I know about it.
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I now own several different leg straps for the scabbard of the M3 knife (either M6 of M8 types). The shortest one in this picture is a replica for certain. The two other ones are supposed to be authentic. They sure look authentic, in that they look old and used, but I have some questions. First of all, all three straps are of different length and the two at the bottom look like they originally used to be attached to something else. Secondly, they are being offered on eBay at pretty low prices. Is someone making new straps from original parts? Thirdly: were these straps ever official issue items at all? Or were they removed from other items? When you carefully look at WWII photographs and books on the subject, you will often see trench knives attached to the legs by another type of strap altogether: a sort of white strap with a larger buckle, but it doesn’t seem to be a tourniquet.
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Many of you reacted to this post (albeit by e-mail, not in the comments), and the main conclusion is that there’s no such thing as an official issue leg strap, and soldiers would use whatever they could get their hands on. Don Burgett (veteran) says he and his buddies cut straps off musette bags and adapted them to that purpose. Mark Bando says he also has a photo of a 501 man wearing the wide shoulder strap from a musette bag, looped through the upper part of a M-8 scabbard and wrapped around the upper ankle. If you actually try this using an M-8, you will discover that the wider strap lends more stability and doesn’t slide up and down like a narrow web strap. Also, the D loops on each end can be clipped to the wire prongs at the top of the scabbard, usually used for affixing the scabbard to the pistol or cartridge belt. With a little stretching pressure, the D rings can be hooked to those wire loops and no other fastening devises are required. Of course a regular M-8 scabbard doesn’t have the wire hanging devices but some modified ones do, and all M-8 A-1 scabbards have them as well. Johan Willaert also tells me that all sorts of straps were used, even tourniquets. What I saw in many D-Day period photographs of paratroopers would be the white linen straps from the field cots on which they had slept on the days before 6 June 1944. I should get a picture of that.
As for the straps in my pictures, Ken Lewis informs me that they were removed from the pack-tail from the M-1928 pack. It has a strap at the top top and bottom and you will see that the buckle is the same. Some straps that are being sold and used are USMC straps from the field pack for attaching the tent or camo poncho to the pack in a horse shoe shape. Most of these have a different buckle and a square tip at the other end, also on the end where the buckle is, the small return of strap holding the buckle is waxed, which is common to Marine webbing items.
Thank you all!
In WWII, paratroopers were first issued angle head or ‘crookneck’-type flashlights like they are still in use in today’s military. Find out all about the different types and variations and learn how to recognise post-war models and replicas.
I have just added two new types that I had never seen before: an all brass TL-122 and a transparent one.
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