Trench Coat - the 'Ultimate' Thread!

[Fifty150]

Jerry Stiller is so funny

 

[mdove]

Thought we were talking about the trench coats here...np

 

[guygardner]

Anyone here own one of those 1960s-1970s US Military Gabardine Trench Coats? I just picked one up off of ebay, and was wondering what people think of the fit and quality:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/290661969087?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2648

I've never owned a gabardine trench before.

 

[Txmason]

Could you fine and wonderful FL members help guide a big guy in buying a trench coat? Where should I start?

 

[mdove]

I started looking at Ebay and thrift stores. I found a couple of Burberrys on Ebay, and bought a nice London Fog off a guys back at Goodwill. You will find lots of different stuff on Ebay. READ the ads carefully.

 

[guygardner]

I see lots of trench coats in larger sizes in Value Village and the Salvation Army Stores. Sellers on Ebay and Etsy also have civilian and military trench coats for sale.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Anyone here own one of those 1960s-1970s US Military Gabardine Trench Coats? I just picked one up off of ebay, and was wondering what people think of the fit and quality:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/290661969087?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2648

I've never owned a gabardine trench before.

Now that you have one, what do YOU think of the fit and quality?

 

[Doctor Damage]

General Eisenhower at Julich, 1945 (source Britannica). I think the major general in the middle wearing the "officer's field overcoat" is Troy Houston Middleton (see smaller pic below, source wikipedia).




General Ridgeway wearing the later officer's trench coat in Korea.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Prince Charles in classic Burberry coat (1980).

 

[guygardner]

Now that you have one, what do YOU think of the fit and quality?

Still waiting for it to arrive.

 

[guygardner]

Fit seems a little large across the chest and shoulders compared with a 1990s-2000s Cotton-Polyester USMC Trench. The wool gabardine beats the poly-cotton coat though. The material hangs a lot better and doesn't feel as baggy. It's also heavier and warmer-it has a zip out wool and satin lining. I like the color too, a dark-greyish green, not OD.

 

[guygardner]

Photos

Photos of my US Army Gabardine Trench:

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[Doctor Damage]

^ That's a great looking coat and the fit seems just about perfect!

 

[guygardner]

Thanks. The more I wear it, the more I like it.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's an extremely useful photo of Generals Bradley and Collins conferring late in the war. Bradley is wearing the "officer's field overcoat", which was not standard issue but was widely available for purchase by US Army officers (two versions of the coat were available: this one with 10 buttons as worn by Bradley here, and one with only 6 big buttons on the front which seemed to go unchanged through to Korea and Viet Nam). Collins is wearing a civilian purchased trench coat with flapped pockets and only eight buttons up the front; this is interesting, since today's civilian trench coats invariably have 10 buttons on the front, but I think this 8 button version is much more interesting and no less functional (I have also seen another photo of another officer wearing an identical coat, so Collin's coat is not a custom job). I will also point out that in most photos I have seen of military officers the sleeves of civilian purchased coats were set-in, not raglan (I have seen only one photo showing raglan sleeves).

 

[Baggers]

Great photo. Appears Bradley's overcoat has a hood. Were they available with one as a button-on accessory?

 

[Doctor Damage]

Great photo. Appears Bradley's overcoat has a hood. Were they available with one as a button-on accessory?

It certainly looks like he's got a hood and so does General Middleton in the pics I posted a few posts back, although whether they were intended as part of the coat or just a re-purposed hood from an M43 combat jacket I don't know. On the other hand, I did run across a website yesterday in which someone posted photos of one of these coats and a hood, implying they were connected, so who knows?

 

[Baggers]

Interesting to find out. All I know about it is what comes from At The Front's web site where they sell a reproduction of this coat. It says it comes with buttons for a wool liner but nothing about a hood.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Interesting to find out. All I know about it is what comes from At The Front's web site where they sell a reproduction of this coat. It says it comes with buttons for a wool liner but nothing about a hood.

I looked through one of my military history books and one said that the female version of those coats came with a detachable hood, so perhaps the male version did as well.

 

[guygardner]

Canadian Military Trench Coats of the 1930s-40s:

http://mpmuseum.org/provostservice3.html

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