Help, WW2 usmc pacific theater uniform color?

I can't remember seeing any color pics of the Corps from the pac. I know they used a green, but the exact, I couldn't say. I don't know that it really matters, because everyone's clothes would have been salt stained, sun bleached, sweated and dirtied up tremendously. Once on an island, a Marine was lucky if he got to shower once a month, and wash his clothes about as often. Usually they had to wash them by hand in whatever water was available. I'd be inclined to use od, but lighten it up quite a bit, maybe give it darker streaks, and some white streaks and white patches on high wear areas. I have tons of Corps pics in black and white, nothing in color. I have a video taken at Tarawa, and some of it's in color, but I think that is only the part that was flimed from the ship, after the Marines left, I'll watch it again just to make sure. Just remember, don't panic, and the exact color is not important at all because of the abuse the uniforms took. Here's a black and white drawing of some pto Marines.




madda

I wouldn't be able to suggest a paint manufacturer, but olive drab does seem to be the right colour to go with.

This was the norm until July 11, 1945 when a new two piece uniform was introduced made of 5-ounce olive green poplin.

The best reference I have found to date is a soft bound book titled Workd War II Infantry in colour photographs by Laurent Mirouza. It is published by Windrow & Greene. I purchased mine at a local Barnes and Noble a couple of years ago and it has been extremely helpful. Anyway, their photograph shows the uniform to be a faded olive drab. Best of luck.
Bull

You have to be careful with this, there were changes made during the move up through the islands. On Tarawa they wore a reversible blouse (helmet cover also) which had a green print on one side and the other side was a sand print. Pants could be Olive or Marine green, the green was a blue green not unlike testors baret green (small bottle) with white added. Tee shirts could also vary, a lot of times they were dyed on the ship, and that would be the blue green not olive. Also Marine’s didn’t go into a landing with worn out uniforms, usually they had been washed a few times to get the newness out of them and to prevent rashes that might occur from dye etc. leggings were either olive or sand khaki, and they were never worn over the pants (to keep water from collecting in the pants, something the Army didn’t seem to understand).

The Marines wore a 2-piece cotton Herringbone Twill (HBT) uniform throughout WWII. The first pattern was the M-1941 uniform. It included a blouse with three open pockets, two on the skirt and one on the chest with the EGA stencilled on it (as in the pic above). The trousers are simple straight leg trousers with slash pockets on the hips and two rear pockets, one with a button closure, the other open. This uniform would remain the standard through 1945, even though other options did come in throughout the war.

In 1942, the first camouflage uniform was adopted. It was reversible with the green pattern on one side and the sand on the other. This only had two pockets like the regular green one. However, pockets were on both sides (for a total of 4 pockets). This uniform also introduced the camouflage helmet cover. The first pattern helmet cover did NOT have foliage slits in it.

There was a second camouflage uniform adopted in 1942 for Raiders and Paramarines, but these are extremely rare and regular Marines wouldn't have been issued them. (I can go into further detail once I get back to my library)

The M-1944 uniforms were adopted in October 1944 and took some of the good points of the Army HBT uniform. The trousers had two cargo pockets mounted on the hips instead of slash pockets. A third pocket was across the entire rear (secured by three buttons). The new blouse had two map pockets, one on each side of the chest. One smaller pocket (secured by a single button) was mounted on the left breast and had an EGA stencilled on it. An interesting feature of these and the M-44 Camo trousers was reinforced holes in the waistband that the 782-gear combat suspenders could hook through. This allowed the combat suspenders to be worn as regular suspenders when on garrison duty.

The M-44 Camouflage uniform was very similar to the green M-44 uniform. I'm not sure the exact differences between them right now, since I'm on vacation and can't look it up! M-44 uniforms were the primary ones used by the Marines in Korea.

Web gear and equipment was different for the Marines as well. Musette bags, canteen covers, haversacks and combat suspenders were all of a different pattern from the Army and are rather difficult to find nowadays.

Hope this helps, and don't hesitate to email me if you've got further questions.