Eisenhower jacket

The Eisenhower jacket, or "Ike" jacket, is a type of waist length jacket or blouson developed for the U.S. Army during the later stages of World War II. Intended to be worn on its own or as an insulating layer beneath the M-43 Field Jacket, it featured a pleated back, adjustable waist band, fly-front buttons, bellows chest pockets, slash side pockets, and shoulder straps.

Overview
Until the late-1930s, the United States Army’s field uniform consisted of a wool shirt, mid-hip-length "all-purpose service coat" and wool overcoat. Save for its belted waist, the single-breasted service coat resembled a suit or sport coat more than a uniform. Little changed since World War I, it featured notched lapels and five metal buttons from its open collar to its belted waist. Made of heavy wool serge, it touted two flapped and button-through patch pockets at the breast and two identically styled patch pockets below its belted waist – its four pockets either box-pleated or bellows-styled-pleats.

Using civilian "windbreakers" as its ideal design objective, the army began a four-year study in 1935 to develop a more practical and effective combat jacket to replace the service coat.



In 1940, it first adopted the first pattern field jacket, the "Parsons Jacket" named for Major General James K. Parsons who helped with its development. This was quickly followed by an updated pattern, using the same nomenclature. Simply designed and modeled after a civilian windbreaker made by John Rissman & Sons of Chicago, it was a short, button-front weatherproof jacket with a tight fitting waist and two flapped and button-through front pockets.

In early 1943, front-line skirmishes in North Africa and Europe proved the Service Coat, as well as the field jacket, inappropriate for combat. The Service Coat was re-designated for garrison and parade duty and the field jacket was replaced by a new and completely redesigned Field Jacket, M-1943.

Field Jacket, O.D. ("Parsons Jacket")
Although the Field Jacket, O.D. (more widely known as the "Parsons Jacket" or the modern term "M41 Jacket") was widely used in many theaters during World War II, it was found to be an unsatisfactory solution for the soldiers using it. The War Department created a new field jacket based on the layering principle to give greater flexibility for the numerous environmental conditions encountered in the world-wide war.

Field Jacket, M-1943
Built around the layering principle, the M-1943 became the basic building block of a multi-environment, all-season combat uniform being developed by the Office of the Quartermaster General (OQMG) for worldwide combat.

On May 15, 1943, the Air Transport Command (ATC) recommended development of a short, waist cropped woolen field jacket that could be worn under the M-1943 as an added insulater.

Field Jackets, Wool, O.D.
By mid-1944, the OQMG finalized the several layering components of its multi-environment combat uniform, anointing the M-1943 Field Jacket its basic, universal building block. A completely new design, the M-1943 touted a wind-proof, olive drab colored cotton poplin outer shell with internal layers that could be added or eliminated depending on local battle conditions. In cold environs, its notched lapels converted to a stand-up, storm-flap for added neck protections. A pile jacket liner and fur-edged hood could also be added.

During the Autumn of 1943, the Army Air Corps prototype jacket was sent to Chief Quartermaster of the European Theater of Operations for review and possible adoption by ETO commanding general, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Eisenhower Jacket
Eisenhower had already requested a waist-cropped style; stemming from his appreciation of the functionality of the British battle jacket, "but with more distinctive style."

The M-44 jacket that emerged was fundamentally a waist-length M-43, with some improvements. Made of olive drab 18-ounce wool serge, it shared the notched lapel "storm collar", snag-free "fly front" buttons and flapped, bellows breast pockets, epaulets for gear retention, and roomy sleeves to accommodate insulating layers.

Staggered cuff buttons adjusted for layering or allowed a loose fit in warmer conditions, as did adjustable waist buckles. A pair of "action-back" pleats extended from shoulder to waistband, providing freedom of movement with a slim fit. Intended to be worn on its own or underneath the M-43,, the "Ike jacket", was classified standard issue in November 1944, and additionally designated as the Army’s dress and parade uniform.

According to Paul Fussell’s Uniforms, "Eisenhower had a reputation among his troops as an eminently decent man, friendly and sympathetic," an admiration that Ike elevated even further, tells Fussell, by having the bravado to casually rest his hands inside his pocket and "violate the sacred Army injunction." That anecdote, Fussell says, explains why Eisenhower refused to adorn his personal jacket with gilded buttons: He considered his jacket an every-warrior’s combat uniform. Eisenhower died in 1969 and was buried dressed in his famous short green jacket.

The US Marine Corps and the Vandegrift jacket
Following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the 1st Marine Division under Major General Alexander Vandegrift were posted to the cooler climate of Melbourne Australia. As the Marines only had dungarees and tan summer uniforms, they were issued Australian army battle dress with the Marines calling the short jacket the Vandegrift Jacket. An American made forest green version was issued to officers in December 1944 and to enlisted Marines in August 1945. The Vandegrift jacket was retained until 1960.

The post-WWII redesigns and adaptations


Post World War II development of the U.S. field jacket was momentous. In 1947, the Army introduced a shorter and better tailored version of the M-44. Designated the MQ-1 and designed solely as a dress and parade uniform, the jacket was again refined in 1950 and re-introduced as the M-1950 Field Jacket, but without button cuffs. With the later introduction of the "Army green" U.S. Army service uniform in 1957, the Ike jacket gradually began to disappear domestically but was still a uniform option for troops stationed in international theaters.

In 1947, the United States Air Force (USAF) added still another Ike jacket design iteration, the M-47, and continued its use for the next two years, before changing its color to "Air Force blue" in 1949, where it remained a signature of the USAF, until being retired in 1964.

The design of the M-1943 jacket was to prove so successful, that many military forces around the world still wear field jackets that closely follow its original designs. During the 1950s, a modified version, called the M-1950, was issued to U.S. forces in Korea. It had a button-in liner instead of the separate liner garment as in the M-1943. During the next year, the sometimes permanently hooded, M-1951 coat came into use. It was another very similar design, but now had both a zip instead of buttons under the front fly and metal snap closures for the pockets. The M-1951 field jacket was actually not sent to the forces in Korea until after the 1953 armistice and so was not seen during the Korean War. It thus remained in service until replaced by the M-1965 field jacket in 1965.

Thanks to its greater comfort and the unobstructed ease it offered while operating a vehicle or brandishing a side-arm, the Ike jacket design became a popular post-WWII uniform staple among Federal and state law enforcement agencies as well as with countless numbers of municipal and civilian police departments throughout America.

To this day, uniforms of the U.S. Border Patrol, along with most allied agencies within its broader, umbrella department, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (USCBPA) and the National Park Service (NPS) have a dress jacket that is nearly identical to the Ike jacket original.