WWII USMC Rare GRENADE CARRIER (Cutter Tag “1944”) 2-Pocket Mint NOS Unissued!

Description

WWII USMC Rare GRENADE CARRIER (Cutter Tag “1944”) 2-Pocket Mint NOS Unissued!
- Absolutely untouched condition! The two fabric
LEG TIES
are still folded inside the lower Pocket.
-
Philadephia QM Depot-made
of Light Shade
OD#3 CANVAS
with
“Lift-the-Dot” SNAPS
from the
CARR FASTENER COMPANY
of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
-
ZERO
frays, stains, loose stitching, corrosion, or any sign of storage wear.
- The ORIGINAL
USMC PHILADELPHIA QUARTERMASTER DEPOT
Blue cardboard
“Cutter
Tag”
is still stapled to the top Pocket Flap. It reads,
“11 / 1944 X / 33994 1”
- This is
NOT
to be confused with the more frequently encountered
3-POCKET ARMY
model!
- This Carrier has the signature
USMC-specific M1910 BELT HOOK
with the DEPOT’s signature
WAX-DIPPED
Web
ATTACHMENT TAB
to prevent fraying of the raw-cut end.
- This Carrier could carry
FOUR Fragmentary Grenades
or
TWO Smoke, Gas, W.P. Canisters
.
*****
SCARCITY OF USMC GEAR:
Only 4% of all who served during WWII were MARINES!
During World War II about 16,000,000 personnel served in the U.S. Military. Approximately 11,200,000 or 70% served in the U.S. Army; 4,200,000 served in the Navy;
but ONLY 660,000 served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Not many of these
U.S.M.C. Depot-made CARRIERS
with a mid-war date of
“1944”
were made in the first place. Those FEW survived in Depot Supply were reissued through the Korean War, as was the Corps' custom of frugality.
Though there is scarce photographic evidence, this "genuine article" and could very well have gone ashore with the
3rd Marine Amphibious Corps
for the Second Battle of Guam, July to August 1944, which cost 3,000 U.S. troops KIA, as well the Marianas and Palalu Island Campaigns (
OPERATION FORAGER
), June to November 1944), and the bitter fighting of 1945 (the V
Amphibious Corps'
storming of Iwo Jima, and the extemely vicious, costly sea and air war to secure Okinawa.)