HAT, YELLOW ON ONE SIDE, OLIVE DRAB ON THE OTHER, (1ea).

DWG-44G-5062

Wear this hat at all times. You may look like a pirate, but it will protect your head against sunstroke, rain, bugs, wind, and spray. keep the rear brim turned down to prevent rain from driping down your neck. Wear the OD color on the outside as protective camouflage when stalking game or when in enemy held teritory. Otherwise, wear the yellow outside to attract attention of searching planes-yellow has the highest visibility of all colors. Use the hat as a container for berries, roots, mussels, clams, etc, but be sure the OD side is innermost to avoid soiling the yellow side. The hat can be used also to bail out a life raft or to fan a smoldering fire into flame. Don't be discouraged by the large size of this hat, it was made to fit the biggest head in the Army. Adjust it to fit yours by threading the leather band through the loops, and fastening the snaps at the proper interval to insure a snug fit. The early version hat had a leather, or dark green canvas adjustment band, and the later had a cloth band! These were placed in pocket # 15

HEADNET, MOSQUITO (1ea)

Stock No. 8300-601250.

Part No. 43G3868

Wear the headnet at all times in the jungle, particularly at night when the danger of being bitten by malarial mosquitoes is greatest. The hat should be worn under the headnet to hold it away from your face. The drawstrings which pass under the armpits should be tied tightly to the loops on the headnet. Wear the headnet also in the Artic summer, when mosquitoes and other insects pests are even more numerous than in the tropics. Though not disease-bearing, they can be very painful nuisances. There are two different colors of this net, the early net was Olive Drab, and the later was a light green color with black, or white straps. Mint early Net pictured has tag with COMBAT SERVICEABLE CHARLOTTE QM. DEPOT As of April 1, 1944 these cost $0.10 cents each. These were placed in pocket # 14

TOILET TISSUE (1 ounce).

Use the toilet paper as long as it last-don't resort to leaves or other material. In emergencies you can use the paper to help start fires in rainy weather, for swabbing wounds, for cleaning birds and fish, or for writting notes. Keep the paper in its cellophane container when not in use, otherwise wetness will ruin it. I believe that the Tissue, Bandage, Instructions, and Survival Manual were all packed in the same cellophane container, in later vests, this makes sence because the paper items would be useless if they got wet! Measures 8 1/4" x 3 5/8" Packed in Craft paper! These were placed in pocket # 14

BANDAGE, GUAZE, PACKET (1ea).

Wtih this 10-yard bandage comes a packet of Sufanilamide Powder. Keep dry untill needed. Sprinkle powder in deep wounds. Wrap bandage around wound three or four times, securing it with safety pins. Bandage can be used also as a sling, wet compress to relive snow-blindness, strapping for a sprained limb, etc. Measures 8 1/4" x 3 5/8" Packed in Craft paper! These were placed in pocket # 14

FISHING-SEWING KIT, IN PLASTIC CONTAINER

Since fish are found practically the world over, your best chance of eating depends on the skill with which you use your fishing kit. Read carefully the instructions enclosed with it.

General Hints: Before you start unwinding the line, cut a chunk of wood and tie a free end of the line to it. If you reel up your line on the wood as you first uncoil it, you will prevent snarls. Drive the hook firmly into the wood or tuck it under the coils. This will help to prevent the wet line from snarling when not in use. You can then carry this makeshift reel in one of the large pockets of the vest or in your own pockets, ready for instant use. At see, use the empty plastic box of your fishing kit as an improvised line holder.

Most fish will bite at meat or worms. Use flies only if everything else fails. In choosing your fly, try to pick one that most closely resembles the insects present in your area. Draw it across the water’s surface slowly, in a lifelike manner.

If you are camping near water, leave a “set line” overnight. If you have an improvised pole, wedge it firmly between tow large rocks or logs. Tie the base of the pole to a tree with a spare piece of line, and as an extra precaution attach your baited line to the pole in the following manner: Tie the end to the base of the pole. Carry the line up the pole, making half-hitches at intervals of one-third pole-length and tying a full hitch at the tip. If the pole breaks at night, you will not lose you line or your fish. Use the stainless steel leader on a “set line,” or a turtle or large fish may chew your line away overnight.

Remember that successful fishing requires a lot of patience. Don’t be discouraged if your first efforts fail. Try another place; try again at a different time of day. Be quiet, move slowly. Along the banks of clear-water streams and lakes, keep yourself hidden. At sea, use all the line you have, and attach the lead weights for sinkers. Throw the weighted and baited hook as far away from the raft as possible. If you are on shore, a stone or heavy weight lashed to the line will add extra distance to your heave and enable you to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Swing a 3-foot length of the weighted line like a pendulum or sling and release it at the correct moment. Be sure the line is unsnarled before attempting a cast, an attach the free end securely to you raft. If large fish, such as sharks, are around, under no circumstances attach the line directly to your body or you may end up as bait yourself.

By removing the weights and bating your hook with a small fish, such as a minnow, seagulls and other birds may also be caught with your fishing kit. Pull the bait along the surface of the waves some distance from you as lifelike a manner as possible.

Sewing Kit. Use this kit to mend torn clothes and equipment, such as your headnet. The safety pins will help to make improvised footgear and other items from canvas or parachute cloth. Extra fish hooks also can be improvised from the pins.

There is some variation in the items in this compact kit, but several thousand have been manufactured with the above items included, The cloth patches are for use as lures. The early kits are marked as "VEST TYPE PARACHUTE EMERGENCY KIT" With the later version being marked: "EMERGENCY SUSTENANCE VEST TYPE C-1" The plastic box measured: 1" x 3" x 3" These were placed in pocket # 13

FISHING-SEWING KIT (1ea).

Flies, small (3 ea).
Hooks, assorted (8 ea).
Lure, spoon, (1ea).
Cloth patches, red (1ea).
Cloth patches, yellow (1ea).
Line, Cuttyhunk, 54-pound test, 75 feet.
Line, Cuttyhunk, 18-pound test, 75 feet.
Leaders, nylon 6-foot (1ea).
Leaders, stainless steel, 6-foot (1ea).
Sinkers (3 ea).
Booklet, fishing instructions, waterproof (1ea).
AAFMC-397-A-WF-12-11-43 4M
Pins, safety, assorted (12 ea).
Pins, straight (6 ea).
Needles (3 ea).
Thread, assorted (3 ea).

SPIT AND GAFF ASSEMBLY, COLLAPSABLE (1ea).

No. SGA 43-27

You will not find this item in some kits, aparently not included in all of the prototype variation vests. Probably included in some later protoype kits because the cooking container was being omitted. It was included in the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd variation vests! Complete instructions are inclosed with it.

Use the spit to roast small game, such as squirrels, rabbits, fowl, and fish. For spearing fish, the length of the shaft may be extended to six or seven sections by using the contents of two or more kits or by the addition of a wooden pole. Be sure the joints are tight to prevent bending and buckling of the shaft. Look for fish swimming alongside of abandoned breakwaters, sand spits, and lagoons. Fish also can be speared from a raft. The spit, with eyelet attached, can be used as fishing pole if no wood pole is available.

Caution: Don't try to harpoon a shark or other large fish. You will only lose the spear and perhaps upset the raft. Concentrate on fish up to 2 feet in lenght. Lash the spear securely to your raft with a small piece of heavy fishing line of 'chute shroud line, threading it through the hole in the handle of the spear to form a loop. Spits were placed in pocket # 3 Gaffs were placed in pocket # 15

SPIT AND GAFF ASSEMBLY, COLLAPSABLE
Manufactured by at least 3 different companys:
U.S. Lite Ray Company, Dayton, Ohio.
Aircraft Specialty Products Co. PA,
American Display CO., Dayton Ohio.

GOGGLES, SUN FOLDING, POLOROID GREEN (1pr).

AAF Stock No. 74-G-76-38 Type III Goggle M-1943 All had green poloarizing liminated Cellulose Acetate Lenses, early examples were stored in a paper envelope, later designs may have had plastic, or leather cases, and some were sealed in a evacuated vinyl cover. These were placed in pocket # 14

COOKING UTENSIL, COLLAPSABLE, ASBESTOS (1ea).

This item you will probably not find in the kit for it was included only in the original prototype test procurement, and some vary early 1st variation vests, it is true that some 2nd, & 3rd variation vest have "Cooking Container" printed on the inside pocket, but this was due to the aggressive production of the vests, and was an oversight to the fact that the container had allready been deleted from the components list. With cords drawn, it becomes a retangular, rubber-lined, asbestos cooking pot designed to be hung above a small fire. It will hold approximately a pint of water and will not catch on fire if kept well above the flames, but it tips over very easily and the cords which support it break easily. This potentially hazardous item was made out of Asbestos with a Neoprene coating inside, and was supported by a weak Asbestos cord. It was rejected , because it often caught fire, and not because the danger to health of Asbestos was realized at the time. Asbestos cords with metal reinforcement bars inside, Grey-White outside with Black Neoprene inside. Dim Approx 4 1/2" x 7" x 2" when in use. Overall 10" x 14" The toilet tissue, bandage, mosquito headnet, plastic water canteen, and goggles were placed inside the container in early vest's to protect it from cracking. These were placed in pocket # 14

NON WOVEN FABRIC, PACK (1ea).

Wet and use as you would a cloth
for cleaning cooking and eating utensils
Wraped in Kraft colored paper,
9'x4 3/4' Found in late war vest! These were placed in pocket # 14

Photo Courtesy Of Dustin Clingenpeel

LIGHT, ATTACHABLE, LIFE JACKET,

Stock No. 17-L-11793, Navy.

The attachable light for the life vest is a navy item. A number are being procured for Air Force issue pending development of a suitable model by the Army Air Forces. The light is waterproof and pins on the clothing or the life vest. Visibility at night is approximately two miles.

Apparently these were sometimes used in the C-1 vest!

See C-1 Vests in Air Sea Rescue Reports on page 6

Photo Courtesy Of Dustin Clingenpeel

Life preserver lights, three navy versions in grey paint and one AAF version in blue, the grey models are stamped USN and blue is stamped US

COOKING UTENSIL Packed View:

This was packed with the bandage, toilet tissue, canteen, goggles and headnet on top, this is an early cooker, with early version headnet. (Type found in earleir B-4 kits. This was later changed to the full head version.)

COOKING UTENSIL BottomView:

Printed instructions: This side to flame.

COOKING UTENSIL TopView:

Black neoprene rubber coating, metal reinforcment bars, and asbestos cords.