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Description
Mr. Dixon describes the equipment issued to soldiers during the Korean War, and explains that much of the equipment was the same as what was used during the Second World War.
Transcription
We knew that the equipment that we were training people on, well, it was the equipment we used. It was WWII stuff which was, some of it was really just upgraded WWI. As we sent troops off to stage through Fort Lewis and then on to Korea and even when we went ourselves, what were we issued? Gas masks. The steel helmet that was referred to irreverently as the “piss pot” (because that’s what it looked like), the great coat—all stuff that came out of WWII. A bolt action Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 1* with a bayonet that you couldn’t cut cheese with because it was a spike so, and the Sten gun that was notorious for falling apart. The Bren gun was great and as I subsequently found out in Korea, it was a very useful weapon still. But we sent our guys off ready to do battle in Europe—not in the hills in Korea. Boots with hobnails and steel on them to run up and down hills, fatigue shoes that came out of another era made out of canvas with a bit of leather on the toe. Really wretched stuff when you think of it.