Oils WWII USMC fatigue colors

[Merrill Anderson]

I am making two Pacific dios, one the 11th Marines at Guadalcanal, and another a 105 mm Howitzer, on the beach at Iwo Jima. The 'base' colors called out by the kit instructions seem very wrong to me, the Guadalcanal marines in a light (institutional interior) green and the 105 crew in light blue? IIRC the Marines did have a 'horizon blue' fatigue uniform, but when and where? certainly not at Iwo, where the fatigues ware a dark khaki color? please help, TIA,

Merrill

 

[JasonB]

Marines in WWII wore Herringbone Twill (HBT) uniforms if various configurations. If they were in combat or in a combat zone, thats pretty much the only uniform you would see, whether they be a frontline grunt, mechanic or a cook. The HBT uniform wasn't khaki or "institutional green", it was a medium grayish green, or sage green, that got more gray as it faded. They may be referring to the shirts that Marines wore, which were Khaki in color, but it wasn't common to see those worn under the HBT's. Do a Google search for "Marine HBT" and look at images,and you will find lots of pics.

Don't know about the light blue. I went through my book "Grunt Gear", which is the bible of all things WWII Marine related, and saw nothing in the uniform area other than the Khaki's, HBTs and camo uniforms. If you do a Google search on "Marine HBT" you will find lot of good pics of them in various shades, from fresh light green to faded gray-green.
Cheers
Jason

 

[Merrill Anderson]

Yhanks for the info, much appreciated

Merrill

 

[tankman3rd4id]

Merrill, i will agree with the hearinbone uniform i have never seen anything but that in all my Marine photos. as for the light blue uniforms, i read once where in WWII anyone, who failed basic or was kicked out of the marines for any reason was issueda light blue uniform to go home in (sort of a dishonored tittled Baby blue Marine) now im not sure that is true because i have only read it once and thats it. but i talked to a friend of mine he said there was a movie called baby blue marine. so i googled it and here it is movies.tvguide.com/baby-blue-marine/101607 You can also youtube it
hope this helps
RICK.

 

[Mike S.]

The OP may be referring to the HBT's seen in some period color photos where the salty seas and Pacific sun has bleached the otherwise green garments to an almost duck egg blue/green color.