The History of Camping Gear: WW2 Sleeping Bags

Continuing our series on the effects WW2 had on the History of Camping Gear, we examine the two most influential bags developed in WW2.
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[@honorableoutfitters]

This was fantastic brother. Thank you.❤🎉

[@sargevining]

Thanks! I'm working on something I just told my Members about that you may enjoy as well---will be a minor interruption of the History of Camping Gear, but I think a boon to trail videographers.

[@kevinharper801]

Thanks for the info regarding the 1944 woolen mummy bag Sarge. I acquired one here in the UK a few years ago. I've always wondered what the origins were. I'm not sure if there are any labels on it. I'll have to dig it out of the attic and check... 👍

[@sargevining]

They're a great summer bag, even today. Sometimes a down sleeping bag can be too warm. This one is good from 80 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Over 80 and you'll be too hot, and under 40 is cold.

[@haappycat]

I used an Army down sleeping bag in Boy Scouts in 1963. It was full zip and had eyelets for the cover like your wool mummy bag. I suspect it was Korean War surplus.

[@sargevining]

There were a lot of them around, late WW2 and Korean surplus, hard to tell one from the other. The wool bag was the one everybody I hung with preferred. Thanks for watching!

[@behindthespotlight7983]

14:27 Buck Island Lake, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, 1983. I was thrilled to have successfully toted my 1943 US Army surplus mummy bag the five miles from trailhead to camp. We camped on massive granite boulders. Prior to bedding down I’d awed the adults in our party by building a one match log cabin fire that fed itself from tinder to fuel logs. We told ghost stories and even at age 11 I held my own. (It was my third year collecting and recording old radio shows and I did a mashup of :22 minute plots from Lights Out to Suspense, Inner Sanctum to Night Beat. Well sir the story time must’ve gotten to me because in the middle of the night I awakened to relieve myself only to discover I was tightly cocooned in that ‘43 mummy bag. Apparently I tore the thing to shreds from the inside out and my then-stepdad had to calm me down and untie/unzip me. Next morning our post card of a campsite looked like Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man engaged in a cage match with Pillsbury and the Michelin Man. To this day I must sleep with minimum one leg, knee down, outside the covers. (deep sigh) They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Neither the surplus bags nor the entertainment. 40 years later I guarantee you the boulders are the same.

[@sargevining]

Ahhhhh yes---the evidence that the last guy to use the campsite used a WW2 or M49 bag was that it looked like the farmer's yard the day before Christmas Goose was going to be served for supper. I had friends tell me that they were convinced I was raising chickens in there. It was like a badge of honor.
Yah, the suicide bags were proof that the Army had some input on the design-------

[@kurtbaier6122]

Very informative thank you

[@sargevining]

Thanks for watching!

[@linechaay6430]

No millitary geeking! Just gear! Lovely

[@sargevining]

The Gear is the Thing, isn't it?
Thanks for watching!

[@57WillysCJ]

Good stuff again. Periscope Films has a 1943 AAF training film about a pilot down in arctic conditions who didn't pack his emergency gear. Toward the end of the second part he was snuggling down in his double bag. I guess they would have called him a Dilbert back then. Funny the one thing dad kept was his wool overcoat which he only needed after mustering out for home as in the South Pacific it wasn't needed. As far as I remember he had it until he passed away in 78.

[@sargevining]

There's also a good John Wayne film, Island In The Sky, taken from an Ernest K. Gann story that shows a lot of survival stuff:
th-cam.com/video/HlfyImCWJGo/w-d-xo.html

[@57WillysCJ]

@@sargevining Yes, I have that on DVD from well when DVDs came out. Periscope has another about crashing in the Tundra from crashing a C- 119 flying boxcar. When you see these you start to realize why they focused on air crews, that and the fact they are more expensive to train. Periscope and Pathe are great film sources to look at equipment.

[@Ray_Here]

Good job. I’m going to go back and catch up on the earlier videos!

[@sargevining]

Thanks for watching! What I've tried to do is let folks be able to come into the History of Camping Gear time line at any point they want to focus on the period or gear they're most interested in, but yah, you should be able to get a fuller flavor and better understanding of the evolution of camping gear and how we got to where we are today.

[@nancyreuter9813]

I have some very old sleeping bags that I received from my father in law… I am wondering about them and don’t know where to turn. They look like the first ones you showed in this video.

[@sargevining]

If you FIL's sleeping bag has a wool liner, then it is most likely pre-WW2 manufacture. If it has a flannel liner with ducks or some other hunting theme printed on it, then it is most likely post WW2. Hope that helps. If you post pics on the Bannerman's Camp Facebook page, we can get you a more definitive answer. Thanks for watching!

[@Diebulfrog79]

Watched and like

[@sargevining]

Thanks!

[@phillipchallis966]

Normally I'm down with this channel, but not today. A little too whiny for my tastes I guess.

[@sargevining]

Sorry to disappoint. We'll keep trying to make the next video a little bit better than the last. Thanks for watching!