The long awaited follow-up to the award winning "Grunt Gear" has taken
seven years to research and it does not disappoint. Tulkoff has once again
combed through countless archives and private collections to bring never before
seen USMC pieces of equipment and photographs together in this first of a two
volume set. Volume I covers, field gear, small arms (pistols, rifles and
machineguns) and head- gear. The evolution of the Marine Corps bell crown cap is
meticulously documented with both photographs and archival documentation.
Arsenal and Quartermaster records thought to have been destroyed were located
and new serial numbers attributed to the Marine Corps have been identified for
Krag rifles (1,000) as well as M1903 rifles, M1912 Colt Automatics, BARs and
even a handful of shotguns.
Detailed information about quantities contracted are supplied in the
field gear chapter in regards to cartridge belts and suspenders. The USMC
Quartermaster Depot is examined and details about its manufacturing and
capabilities are described. The research and writing of this book was originally
done in order to compliment the "Book of the Year" award winning - "Grunt Gear:
USMC Combat Infantry Equipment of Second World War." Due to the manner in which
the Marine Corps developed and manufactured uniforms and equipment, and the
massive number of changes made to Uniform and Equipment Regulations it became
evident that this book had to start with the 1892 Uniform Regulations. This
brought up the issue of incorporating Dress Blues into this research as the
first Marine Corps Combat Uniforms were actually blues. However, these blues eventually were
phased out of combat and became the ever present Dress Blues as known today. Due
to the large number of changes and massive amount of research covering the 1892,
1896, 1897, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1917, 1922, 1929 and 1937 Uniform
Regulations, the book grew exponentially. In order to provide a reasonably
concise book at an affordable price it was deemed necessary to break the book
into two volumes. This volume covers Webgear, Weapons and Headgear. The
information in this book was compiled from many resources including archival
documents and photographs as well as many museums and countless private
collections. While researching this book, Marine Corps Depot Records not
previously found or forgotten about long ago were located as well as Annual
Reports of the Commandant. Although the Eagle, Globe and Anchor (EGA) is the
most identifiable insignia around the world for the US Marine Corps, it is not
being addressed in this volume or the next. Due to the massive amount of
information (an entire other book) it was decided not to cover the EGA. From a
collector s standpoint EGAs should not be used as the only method of dating or
evaluating a uniform or piece of headgear. Since many collectors only specialize
in EGAs they will purchase a piece of headgear for the EGA only, and then add a
lesser or mis-dated EGA and resell the cap. This creates issues for headgear and
other EGA collectors.
