Personal Impression
This is where your re-enacting character actually comes to life; after you have all of your basic load-out of uniform, weapon and combat gear, you can start adding items to make you less of a 'just-like-everyone-else-manikin' and more of a World War 2 Paratrooper with an unique identity and a background story.
Serial Number
The first thing you can do (and its free! Woohoo! I can hear you saying, "At least I get one free thing in this hobby!") is invent yourself a serial number.
It must be an 8-digit number. All the troopers jumping into Normandy would have had either a 1, 2 or 3 as the first digit. The rest of the number is determined by the information below. So, feel free to create your own number. Let me know when you join and I can add it to the 'Company Rosta'.
Identity Tags (Dog Tags)
The easiest, and one of the more important, items to start with has to be a set of identity tags, stamped with your details in the correct method. These can be gotten from a whole range of places, and depending upon how fussy you are, can even be got from Soldier of Fortune (Their tags are not as correct as they like to say they are, but they are close enough). There are some much better companies out there - I use one in Belgium that stamps them up and the tags are spot on in every detail to the original WW2 tags, unlike almost every other company.
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Another good one is WW2 Dog Tags (1940-45) - Reproduction WWII DogTags. They offer quality dog tags (Type 1 or 2 are correct for Normandy), a Serial Number Generator (www.wwiidogtags.com/army-serial-number-generator/), a couple of accurate reproductions of the D-Day 'clicker' (if you're into that) and some interesting bits of information on their blog.
When you join the unit, if you haven't got your own serial number, you'll be issued a serial number and all your other details will be taken, so once we make you the appropriate ID documents, they will contain all the correct details. This serial number will be on lots of your kit - including the tags of course.
The U.S. Army began issuing serial numbers to help avoid mixing up the records of people with the same name. Each number has its own meaning, in addition to being a sequential numbering system.
Some prefixes were used in World War I, however, the following system began shortly before World War II.
First Digit
The first character gives us a lot of information.
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1 = Enlisted in the Army (in other words, volunteered rather than drafted)
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2 = Federally recognized National Guard
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3 = Drafted
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4 = Drafted
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O (that’s the letter O, not a zero) = Male commissioned officers
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W = Male Warrant officers
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T = Flight officers (Army Air Force)
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L = Commissioned officers of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC)
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V = WAC Warrant officers
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A = WAC enlisted women
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R = Hospital dietitians
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M = Physical therapy aides
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Second Digit
When you have an 8-digit serial number, the second number shows the Service Command. This narrows down where the person enlisted or was drafted. If you have a serial number for a member of the Women's Army Corps (WAC), look at the number after the letter prefix. There’s an exception. Remember those serial numbers that begin with “2,” showing National Guard service? The second digit for WACs will always be a zero, so you need to look at the 3rd digit.
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1 = Connecticut Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
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2 = Delaware, New Jersey, New York
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3 = Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia
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4 = Alabama, Florida, Georgia Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
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5 = Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia
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6 = Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
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7 = Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
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8 = Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
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9 = Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington
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0 = When the first number is 3, the zero means he was drafted outside the U.S. (301 indicates Panama; 302 indicates Puerto Rico)
Pocket fillers
Exactly like today, any item of clothing with pockets always gets stuffed full of items. The military uniform these soldiers lived in would be no different. From simple items like period coins and bank notes to chewing gum packets, receipts, identification and other paperwork. Notebook and pencil. Envelopes/writing paper. Small bibles. Spoon. Pocket knife. Playing cards or dice. Cigarettes or a pipe (with tobacco, pipe cleaners and maybe a pipe tool). Zippo lighter or matches. If you can think of something small, it was probably rammed into a soldier's pocket at some point. As long as it's period correct, you have almost complete freedom here!
Footlockers
When you reach the point you need a footlocker to put all your kit in, you'll know that this hobby has taken over! However, there is almost no reason to take these to an event. A footlocker, however, is a handy way to store and keep all your items well organized at home. There was no strict order for the layout of a footlocker, mainly as soldiers would all have very different contents. However, it did have to be both neat and well organized.
Not only are the contents pretty much up to you but, if you have the talent to do so, you also get some freedom to name/number and unit mark it should you wish!
A very interesting original WW2 footlocker belonging to an Afro-American soldier. Who covered the inside of the lid with photos of his girlfriend or wife and also a piece of Americas darker history - a segregated shower sign. Although it's tiny, that may be due to being on some type of leaflet? Clearly though this made enough of an impact on this soldier that he put it on the inside of his footlocker!
Mess Kit
For myself, this is probably one of my most guarded, most used and handiest of all my items! Original WW2 dated mess kits in great condition can be picked up for as little as £10, sometimes less, leaving postage as your only problem. However, a few days ago I paid a mighty £3 for a 1945 dated mess tin, and paid postage all the way from the U.S. of £6. Result! I asked the seller if he had any more. He said yes, nicer ones too. A deal was struck, so in fact I had a whole pile of items. $10 shipping for the lot! £10 a mess tin. Both being Knapp-Monarch, being made slightly more famous during the Band of Brothers scene when Malarky is talking to the German PoW and tells him, "that was about the time I was tooling propeller shafts at Monarch". Monarch also stamped out mess kits during the war.
There are plenty of sellers offering reproduction Knife, Fork & Spoon (KFS) sets; in fact, the design didn't really change for decades. You should be able to pick up a set for around £10. The spoon is all you really need for your impression (usually kept in the pocket of a jump suit). However, trying to eat a fried breakfast with just a spoon is a challenge!
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Mess Kit with Knife, Fork (both with their leather sheaths) and Spoon along with a P-38 Can Opener
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Few, if any, 101st troopers took a complete mess kit on the Normandy jump; it was just something that could be done without. The equipment list for the jump actually lists the mess kit as going "In Bed Roll Carried in Seaborne Element", which would be brought up to the troopers later. The canteen cup fills the role of the mess kit and typically just a spoon being used in place of both fork and a knife (as well as its intended role of a spoon). However, a complete mess tin is a really handy thing to have on hand either before the public arrive at shows, or after they go - and for training weekends.
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Tents / Bedding
When we first set up Miss Drop 44, all of us made the mistake of buying U.S. pup tents. However, in the first week of the Normandy campaign in 1944 there would be no pup tents around. The seaborn non-essential supplies wouldn't have caught up with the paratroopers. Yet, if we had thought about this carefully and had been specific about the time period we were going to base our unit around, then we may have come to this conclusion before we all purchased U.S. tents. What would have been better would be to use German zeltbahns! Those items would have been all around Normandy, unlike 'pups'.
A complete enclosed Zelt-tent comprises of 4 quarter-sections (yup, math is my strong point), 4 poles and 8 pegs. Each German solider was supposed to carry 1 quarter section, 1 pole and 2 pegs, however you can see this not always being the case. You can also pitch a half-tent (weather dependent) and sleep half under the stars (something members of Miss Drop 44 will tell you is a favorite of mine!). So, this is probably a better and more realistic option that buying a pup tent. Reproductions can be got from various places, including all the usual companies.
PUP Tents (Shelter Halves)
Second to eating, sleeping being the other thing I do best at in life. All enlisted soldiers would have been issued a PUP tent - these are a little trickier to source. However, with some looking about they can be found at reasonable prices. The earlier style, with one end open are less popular and sell for less. However, if you want a closed tent, you'll need 4 tent sections to make one loooooong tent! Pup tents are a handy thing, they are small, easy and quick to put up, dead easy to take down, but not that much room inside them! Even less when you think they were designed for two men and all their kit!
They also don't come with a ground sheet. The idea was to gather up grass, hay or anything else that might be available to form a base/bed and pack the sides of the inside of the tent with something to keep in the warmth. I used a couple of large grain sacks. They just about get you off the ground and give a barrier between you and the floor. However, being a little more creative I could have made my self more comfortable. I'm just lazy and I sleep like the dead, so it never bothered me.
I just stumbled across a dealer who sells two OD closed shelter halves for £35! Bargain, although this is without pegs or poles, those are bot cheap and easy to find. It's the shelter itself that can be the tricky bit to find. HOWEVER! Before you all start getting excited, these are in used condition, most are wartime dates, with a few being just post-war. They may have small repairs, loose buttons etc. So be aware of this. OR alternatively you can buy two really nice examples of the open ended canvas PUPs from the same seller for £105 (again, no pegs or poles) these are at GI SUPPLY (they also make excellent T-handle entrenching tool covers).
I do recommend getting a good-quality, modern sleeping bag though. Preferably green, as it's easier to hide from the public. Don't get an original as it will get destroyed quickly. You do see original WW2 sleeping bag covers that can be put over modern sleeping bags. Failing that, the issued WW2 brown blankets are really easy to purchase now (usually around the £20 mark). Throw those over your sleeping bag and the public never know! Also that does a good job of providing an extra layer over (or under) you!
Just be aware that although PUP tents are great for sleeping in, for most events we won't be using them as the 101st didn't jump into Normandy with them.
Laundry Marks
Almost all items of clothing would at some point have been marked with what has become known as 'laundry marks'. All used the pattern 'A1234'. 'A' being a first letter of your surname and the '1234' being the last four digits of your serial number. This was to solve the problem of returning items of clothing back to soldiers when it was washed en masse, either by the military or civilians in England.
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The more standard stamps found all have the same sort of look to them (see the photos). These were all custom-made by special order and the stampings are found on almost everything! Sometimes you'll see multiple soldier's stampings on one item due to items being handed in and reissued. Adding laundry marks to kit is an unusual thing to do as a reenactor since it's unlikely for our kit to get too mixed up, but it is another example of high attention to detail that some members do (and it doesn't take much effort). You could either write it on in ink, either a marker or pen, or you could have a rubber stamp made for yourself. As a bit of an experiment, I had a stamp custom-made with my son's laundry mark on it and it came out fantastic!
Original example below of a stamp and markings inside a pair of trousers.
If anyone wants a stamp to be made with their details, then just give me a shout. Happy to do it at the price they charge me and you can save a few quid if you don't order the ink with it and just use mine.
Keep It Clean! - Wash Kit
Every soldier would have certain items to keep themselves clean. Some had the bare minimum and others would have everything under the sun for staying as clean and fresh-smelling as possible. My own kit is shown below. As I portray an officer, I felt that I maybe should have a more inclusive wash-kit that the average stinking rifleman.
Just like everything else we carry, this wash kit isn't for show. The razor is used, the shaving dish contains a block of modern shaving soap to be lathered up using the brush. The Kolynos tooth powder is full of modern powder (trust me when I say that filling it is amusing). The toothbrush is a really good quality repro (Repro toothbrushes may be tricky to find as they come and go so often by different vendors that it's impossible to keep track of who has them). The Pebeco toothpaste is a fantastic reproduction that is full of modern toothpaste specifically made with the living historian in mind. The metal soap box has a cut down block of soap inside.
Wallet
Just like today, most men had a wallet and being in the army wasn't too different. You still had to keep money and similar items somewhere; some opted for money belts, others kept on using a wallet. Modern wallets usually have far too many slots for credit cards, whereas period ones would only have between 2-4, these being used for calling cards, receipts and tickets. Below shows a modern wallet that has had the middle section removed - that middle section had about 8 credit card-sized slots, so it had to go! The paper money is from the books sold on eBay that we make, and the coins are all period original.
Edibles
Excellent, my favorite topic! Food! Everything modern can, and will, be hidden. Modern tins and cans are easily disguised behind printed paper labels - either the odd British can that someone felt really necessary to take on the jump, or French/Belgian that has been 'liberated'.
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Chewing gum can be easily slipped out of its original wrapper and then inserted into a wartime reproduction wrapper.
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Lifesavers are in fact the long packs of fruit polos, so even the contents of those look like the originals.
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The small boxes of Milk-Duds are in fact chocolate-covered raisins and are proving a real winner with a few of our members.
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With a little imagination anything can be turned into appropriate wartime food. I wrap rustic loaves of bread in brown paper. The same with slabs of cake and shortbread fingers; in fact, brown grease proof paper is really handy for disguising all sorts of edibles!
We have a good supply of labels made by Miss Drop 44 that can be utilized and if they don't fit, we can edit them or make things from scratch for those odd-sized cans like the can next to the Campbells Soup shown above.
Life's Little Luxuries
Sometimes when you have to carry all your kit in your musette bag, even the smallest luxuries make all the difference between you being miserable and being comfortable and happy when you stop for breaks. I drink vast amounts of coffee and so every chance I get, out comes the coffee and milk can, my tiny box of sugar, a ration heating block and my canteen cup.
For some it seems every break is all about lighting up a smoke. Modern cigarettes or tobacco can be put into all sorts of period-correct packets, boxes, wrappers or bags. Matches are really useful things; you may not smoke, but I bet you like hot food and a nice warm fire!
Light! - Flashlights/Candles
For most soldiers it was next to impossible to get a flashlight as there were huge shortages in supply and the demand was vast. Most soldiers had to reply on the good ol' candle at night. These were always in demand and would often be requested in mail sent home - one of the most commonly requested items, secondary to food and things like gloves and scarves.
Scarf
Sounds hardly anything like exciting, but these simple scarves made by various organizations back in the U.S. would prove really handy. I have seen guys wrap their scarves around their neck, round their head under the helmet, use it as a pillow on top of other items to make it more comfortable and I'm sure given some thought it has many, many other uses. I can supply these scarfs to anyone that wants one. £15 with a label or £12 without.
Crickets
Not the bugs... a real 101st item, these were apparently not issued to the 82nd Airborne and only confused them when 101st troopers were clicking away with them in Normandy! Almost all of the reproductions on the market are crap... let's not beat around the bush. Most were sold as souvenirs and marked with things like '6 Juin 1944 D-DAY' or worse yet, marked U.S. - they are all incorrect. No wartime cricket ever had a U.S. stamp! Why someone reproduced them like that, nobody knows.
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It looks like WW2 Dog Tags (www.wwiidogtags.com/shop/airborne-cricket/) is selling perfect reproductions that are being made by the same company in Birmingham on the very same machines that made the originals. Excellent! They even go as far as to make the brass and nickel-plated version.
Soldier of Fortune purchased a load of these from that very same factory! They are about £13 cheaper (£16.99) than the same thing on www.wwiidogtags.com.
Just an aside, but Soldier of Fortune seems to be turning into a strange company. Their products seem to be either great or... the opposite. Very little sits in the middle. Some items are more along the lines of gimmicky or uber-FARBY. However, for M42s and Crickets... buy from them, no questions asked.
A little history on the Cricket...
The J. Hudson building was in the Jewelry Quarter area of Birmingham, England. - this is where the 'Normandy' cricket was first made and is still made today on the same machines, dies and equipment.
J. Hudson and Co Ltd of Birmingham was selling cricket clickers before 1944 and is shown in their catalogue from the early 1940's. A nickel version of the clicker is illustrated. In the catalogue it is called "The ACME No. 470 Clicker". This clicker was originally made as a time-keeping device for band and orchestra leaders back in the 1920's and most of them produced by the Hudson factory in England were sold to America.
Someone in the 101st decided that they needed a device that would make a noise that was not too obvious to draw attention; yet distinctive enough for other U.S. paratroopers to hear and know that it was not the enemy on the other side of the ditch or tree. Somehow (General Maxwell D. Taylor of the 101st Airborne Division claims credit for finding them) they found the clicker by J. Hudson & Co Ltd, Birmingham England. The ACME clicker passed the test and was found to be ideal for the task.
A large order was placed for the ACME clicker and the factory in Birmingham increased production. The order was made up of all the existing stock; which at the time was nickel plate, with the reminder of the order made from brass. There are no records to say how many brass and nickel crickets where issued, but from genuine examples that are known to have been issued to the U.S. Airborne, most are brass with a ratio about 1 nickel to every 7 or 8 brass ones.
It seems that most of the nickel ones went to the 502nd PIR, not for any other reason than that's the crates/boxes they were issued.
A genuine clicker weighs 15 grams.
A. Length top middle to middle: 47mm
B. Height base to top: 15mm
C. Length of Steel: 50mm
D. Width of 'Wings': 25mm
E. Width of Steel: 21.5mm
F. Width of base: 23mm
G. Thickness of Brass/Nickel: 1.25 (this is not mm)