General
notes on Vietnam
underwear
By
November 1965 the US Army
reinstated the production
and use of Olive Green under
wear clothing as well as towels for
men assigned to Vietnam
.
The white under clothing was
still used but under kaki
and tan dress
uniforms.
During this interim period
field units were asked to
commercially dye OG-107 their white
underwear clothing prior to
deployment to Vietnam.
 |
The
new Army Issue Olive
Green underwear
started to appear
from 1966
and comprised of:
a
boxer short
designated boxer style
drawers in Olive
Green Army shade 107
*
a
T-shirt which was
designated underwear
cotton quarter -
sleeve undershirt
and came in OG-109
(an Olive Drab)
*
socks
which were the wool
stretch-type,
cushion-sole in
OG-408, (OD
shade).
These are often seen
full of cans and
hanging from rucks.
---
The
US ARMY OG-109 shade
is an Olive Drab
green but variation
in its colour
did exist from new
with some been a
little more brown or
green than
others,
this of
course faded away
under the harsh
climate, sun and
washes,
so the
colour is very
difficult to pin point
exactly.
---
Worth
knowing is that
Vietnam PX did
supply commercial
brands T-shirts from
"Fruit of the
loom",
"Otis" and
others. These type
of PX T-shirts were
supposed to follow
closely Army
specifications in
shade and
construction. In
reality, this was
not always the case
and colour
variations were
found on PX ones
as
well as on US Army
issue ones.
The
US
army did carry on
using the same
T-shirts into the
late 70's
and
only the DSA date
can tell them apart.
Each soldier were
issued with five
drawers and
undershirts.
|
|
Vietnam Army issue
T-shirts, the one on
the left is the
"crew
neck" and on
the right
"U neck"
designed not to show
under the uniforms.
You can see how the
OG-109 turn to an OD
mustard colour after
use, specially when compared
to an un-issued
example, see last
photos
Un-issued 1970 DSA
Stamp "Crew
neck" T-shirt,
Stuart Beeney
private collection
***
|
PX
issue
Vietnam
T-shirt
by OTIS, as
you can see,
same
construction
as Army
issue
ones,
see the
"U"
neck and sleeves.
- Kieran
Rizzotti
private
collection
 
|
How
to ID the year of
your "Fruit of
the loom"
T-shirt
Brake down of
labels used.
|
Rolling Thunder is fully
aware that War time
US
issue T shirts are not easy
to get, but as you know, we
strive on realism and
accuracy so,
all we ask, is for your
T-shirt to meet the
construction and shade of
Vietnam Issue t-shirt.
COLOUR
( OG-109 an OD type green)
COLLAR
CONSTRUCTION (crew or U
shape colar, no V shape
type, study the photos
please)
SLEEVE
CONSTRUCTION (study
photos)
Please
note photos of genuine items
have been taken with
different camera and
lighting so may not
represent 100% the true
colour of the item!
We will advise you if you
are unsure, to check with one
of us at a show or ask one
of your buddy who has got a
real one.
To be fair due to the harsh
climate in Vietnam, sun and laundry
procedures, the shades did
vary a lot, but they are all
an OD shade
and not the modern Army
green found in European
armies.
Also
worth noting that some T-shirt seen in
original photos appear a
little grayish
green,
this is can be explained by the
lighting or poor quality
photo processing as
well as by the fact that in 1965 units been deployed to
Vietnam had their white
T-shirt commercially die to
OG-107 which is a whiter
shade of green explaining
that this type of T-shirt
may have turned a grayish
green after a while in
country.
In obtaining a T-shirt you
need to pay more attention
to its construction!
Article
written
by JL Delauve for
"Rolling Thunder the
Look"
Some
photos provided by Kieran
Rizzotti (RT) and Stuart
Beeney (RT) and thanks to
Seabee Veteran R Holmes for
intrusting me with some of
his bring back.
This
article like all our
articles are "work
in progress"
if new info or
photos appear, we will
update it.
If
you have a special knowledge
on a specific item and would
like to share your knowledge
by making an article for our
website, please get in
touch.
