 Non-Reversible Par: Last week we sent out an original parka and trousers (the ones above) as guides for reproductions. We only plan to make these in Marsh- don’t get excited about the pattern on this parka- it was my only non-reversible example. When Mister when? Who the hell knows. Maybe 2037. Frogskin F–kery  Originals- which shade is correct?Since the 1980’s an immortal myth has been making the rounds claiming that the shade of the base color on Frogskin camouflage holds great meaning. Like all myths, there’s no exact consensus on how to interpret it so the squabbles amongst the “experts” are endless:“If it looks khaki that means it was made for the Marines-“”No! That means it’s early! You’re a fool. Everyone knows that means it’s Army.” “Green base tone = Korean War.””Screw you dumbass- the greenish color pallet was specifically designed for the ETO! Get your facts straight!” And on it goes….  If this BS was true then how in hell does this P42 jacket have “khaki” body and one “green” sleeve? It was repaired for the Korean War?What this bickering most often boils down to is historians yearning for the uniforms of their preferred service to be the khakier shade. Shocking. Just as with the different shades of OD on all the other garments, there is ZERO meaning to the various shades on the US WWII camouflage- it’s simply another illustration of the lack of precision in dye mixing. That’s it. Nothing else.  Army vs. Marine Corps. They both used the same stuff.Tied into that BS is the insistence in some corners that there are different versions of frogskin for the Marine Corps and the Army. Although each service had slightly different weave HBT fabrics for their green fatigues, all frogskin was printed on the same “Army pattern” cloth. Above is a close up. Those who have spent time at NARA researching this topic say it appears quite likely that there was only one production run of frogskin HBT made. The Army was in charge of it, rapidly decided the camo sucked, declared it “limited standard” in September 1943 and moved on to other things. How the Marine Corps got involved is not known. Thus, the identical fabric and camo print was used on all Frogskin HBT garments in WWII, and the shades of the colors are nothing other than dye /printing variations. This isn’t privileged or new information- I was told all of this 40 years ago by the older guys. Stop trying to compete with the Flat Earthers. There are better hills to die on. |
