Line troops on the front lines in fox holes and trenches in battle often went as long as two to three weeks wearing the same combat uniform. In the Pacific theatre the clothes would often just tear and rot. The knees and elbows were the first to tear, buttons would break, the clothes were salt stained and jock itch was common. Foot care was hard, leather boots and brogans would rot from being wet. DDT was welcome to deal with body lice and mosquito borne malaria. Water was vital, carried in water barrels that often had previously carried gasoline or oil that was casually rinsed out. If you caught a parasite you might get dysentery which is a chronic diarrhea with cramping. There were no antibiotics until near the end of the war. Wounds were liberally doused with sulfa powder. Crush injuries and bad compound bone breaks got infected easily and led to blood poisoning/sepsis and amputations. My dad was a medic and had horrific stories. I miss him. His name was Jack and he turned 20 the summer if 1945 just as the war ended. I miss him, he was a good man🇺🇸
Wow! Very interesting and informative read on this subject. I bet your dad saw everything and was most likely a very wise person and a calm one. Men who went through things like that who came back home did not tend to throw temper tantrums for things such as flat tires like their own sons and grandsons did... and great grandsons, well they are carrying purses and wearing buns on top of their heads. They would have never imagined a future like this one.
@@valfletcher9285 I completely agree with you. The World War 2 Vets would never think even in their wildest dreams that guys nowadays would be wearing there hair in buns and carrying purses like women. To each there own but some of the trends that are going on now are ridiculous.
@@peterliebezeit5636 "The only movie daring enough to tell THEIR story; the men of the 750th fought the tyranny of grease and blood stains! The Kamikaze attacks of weather stains! The blitzkrieg tactics of rips and tears, they were the brave men and women of the 750th, identifiable by the prune like texture of their water soaked fingers! In a movie theater near you soon!
My grandfather was in WWII and was taken POW at Dieppe. He was one of the lucky ones who came home in 1945. I remember going to my grandparents house when I was 9 and he told me all about the war and how Hogan's Heroes was a complete farce. When I told him that it was a comedy he told me (very sternly) that a German POW camp was anything but funny and that he knew many friends and fellow soldiers who died there for no good reason other than they were "the enemy". I have never watched that show out of respect to Grandpa. I miss him. He died 30 years ago. I miss you Grandpa.
I cared for a gentleman who served in WW2. He came home with syphilis. It didn't show symptoms until he was in his late 60's. It effected his brain and caused a massive decline in his health until he was wheelchair bound and 100% unable to care from himself. I was a paramedic who cared for him many times as I transported him to the ER for different acute episodes. It was terrible to see him decline so rapidly. He died 7+ years later and I worked his cardiac arrest. He refused a DNR because his wife wanted him to be saved. He was brave and I learned a lot about what it was like to serve. I went to his funeral. The family became our friends. It was difficult. I always thanked him for his brave service.
Hope he is still well and with us. If he is get his stories recorded before his time comes. Wish I had recorded the experiances of my family members who were in the Dust Bowl/Depression/WWII. RIP to the Greatest Generation.
Only vets that deserve respect are ww1 & ww2 vets. Vietnam vets died/fought for no reason & military people today are literally protecting nothing & are only serving higher ups who want war & power.
@@pappasmooth9051 I see how you could fell that way but Vietnam soldiers feared the domino effect, also many were drafted, or enlisted out of sheer patriotism. and soldiers now enlist because of the benifets, like money or collage and because of patriotism and loving they're country. So I think anyone brave enough to join the military should be respected.
My grandfather was in Guadalcanal, Philippines, and the Pacific theater as a pilot. He told me all kinds of stories about running out of food, ammo, av gas, water, e.t.c. He had a silk flying suit (it's cold at higher altitudes) that would be drenched in sweat getting ready to fly in 35°C+ weather on the ground, then be cold as hell when he was flying. The only thing he had to eat for 4 days in a row was pineapple. One hell of an awesome guy.
My grandfather served in World War 2 and I remember him telling me about having to change his socks alot. And having to watch a movie on jungle rot. I remember him telling me about playing poker with his friends on the ship on the way to Iwo Jima. He said that they would bet cigarettes when playing. Rest in peace grandpa 1923 -2016.
I was a personal care worker for a Ww2 vet. I couldn’t believe that they HAD to shave. He said it was to keep up a bit of normality and morale. Incredible
It was to prevent disease and infections. Like fleas, beard lice could transmit disease. Too much facial hair can also compromise breathing masks used in chemical warfare. It's how Hitler was exposed to the full effects of mustard gas during WW1 and likely contributed him becoming the Hitler we all know and hate. He had his signature mustache in his older years while he had a bushy one when he was a young man. Too much hair anywhere can get in the way of surgery, properly dressing wounds and keeping them clean. It's why vets shave animals in the areas they're going to operate on and the directions for their owners afterwards requiring daily wipings so no bacteria can accumulate there and cause infections while it's still healing.
As far as I know, all branches of the military have to shave still. I was in the navy and the only time we were allowed to stopped shaving was when we were at sea for roughly 30 days and it was approved by the CO.
My grandfather was 16 when he joined the British army in WW1. He suffered from pyorrhoea of the mouth due to poor oral hygiene. He ended up having all his teeth extracted. He also described the smell of trenches unbearable due to dead bodies, rats, mud, rain and and overflowing toilet holes. He raised me from age four and died when he was 90. RIP. ❤
The first thing I learned before going on my first field exercises was to buy baby wipes. You always knew when a unit was getting ready to the field when the shoppet was sold out of baby wipes and beef jerky.
@@TunTheOfficial it was mostly to clean the important areas. If we were going out to the field for a week or two it wasn’t guaranteed that we were going to have a chance to take a shower.
I asked the same question!!!. I know the American Indians would use moss bc it’s not only sanitary and hygienic, it was everywhere. Not to be too gross, my mom said back in the 50s in ky, the used actual rags and were excused from school for a week. We are so lucky. I thank Jesus when I turn on my water and electric bc we take it all for granted.
@@debrabarnhardt1103 If menstruation is belitteling you, then just stop bleeding lmao. Seriously, I feel like I have to answer stupidity with even more stupidity, a languqage you clearly master. I don't give a f*ck it's natural, it's still f*cking gross. You wouldn't want to hear how men deal with their things also. If menstruation is constraining you, then I really don't know what to tell you other than grow up ans stop being a little spoiled feminist beech.
My great-grandpa was a Soviet WWII soldier who had completed the whole war till Berlin and died in 2005, so I remember him well. He left some kind of a diary which he had been writing during the defense of Stalingrad (Volgograd nowadays), and he said there wasn’t even pure water to drink, and people were starving. In an occupied Leningrad (St.-Petersburg now) people had to eat rats, mice and even cats, a lot of people died from hunger there. My grandpa, who’s 82 now, lived in Kiev, Ukraine, and says there was absolutely nothing to eat after the war ended. For me, born in 90s, it’s hard to imagine, but he says that “we live like the kings” comparing with his childhood.
Wash regularly, change socks often, avoid std/sti’s. Sounds like a high school health class. Thanks for another great video Weird History. Happy Memorial Day everyone
For some reason, this reminded me of my grandfather chastising me at church when I was 17 and not clean shaven. He told me he broke through iced over water to shave while serving in Belgium during WW2. I thought he was just acting tough and looking for a reason to criticize until I read Dick Winters book and watched Band of Brothers episodes covering the Battle of the Bulge. I was shocked and embarrassed. I never went to church unshaven again until I was older and married and started wearing a full beard. But I still to this day, 30 years later, make sure my beard is freshly trimmed and neck is clean shaven. Funny things you remember.
well at least you can have a beard... ive been active duty for 8 years now. I've been forced to have a baby face the entire time. Fun fact: the US military is one of the only militaries that do not allow beards in modern times. Only way you'll see a bearded US military member is if they got a shaving waiver for getting severe bumps breakouts from shaving.
I love snafu and Mac. I watch them on my Streamstalgia Sundays to look back at old media. As a veteran it's cool to see the evolution of training media.
A good friend of mine was a GI in Vietnam. When he went off on mission, I asked him if he carried enough clean water for several days and he said he did. He said it was cumbersome, but it beat the heck outta putting an iodine tablet in the nastiest water he'd ever seen
Ask any GI about staying clean or trying to stay clean. My dad served in both WW2 and Korea and still remembered how soldiers tried to be clean under field conditions. The mantra of wash regularly, change underwear, change socks and avoid stds was part of training. Ask an ex G.I. about the ' bird bath' . This was when one has just enough clean water to fill a helmet.
When I say I’m interested in historical war this is what I mean. It’s fascinating how the military really made its own self contained society at this period
In the World History classes I support at the high school (I'm a Bilingual Teaching Assistant), we have been studying WWII. I sent the link to this fascinating video to theteachers. I found especially interesting the lengths gone to to prevent the horrors of trench foot, which was covered in the classes when we were studying WWI. Thank you so much for this fascinating information! It was also fun to see some familiar faces...like that of Dick York who went on to star on t.v. in "Bewitched." I think I saw Wendell Corey in one of the clips, too!
So did my grandpa! He traded for the cigs then sold them for a profit to send money home to my grandma who had just had their first baby, my uncle David!
My Dad (WW2 veteran) said he had a shaker of DDT that he used on bedding and cloths. He said it was necessary. When it banned in the '60, he still was glad they had it.
My grandfather fought in ww2 and in Korea. Died in 2007, memorial day here in America we gotta pay our respects. Oh and I have his uniform he fought in
When my Papa was serving in Germany and the camps had been liberated, the US soldiers tried to give the survivors their rations but most refused because they didn’t have anything to offer in exchange. The US soldiers didn’t want to trade but the survivors still had their dignity and largely refused the offers. That story, along with all the others, will always haunt me.
Same here. As a kid I lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and trucks would drive slowly down the streets spraying everything with DDT. Never saw any dead birds or any bad things. 75 now and no affects except malaria is now the top killer in the world.
I don't know what the spray was but in Mississippi in the 80's the trucks would come through the neighborhood spraying mosquito spray and we'd ride our bikes behind it and follow it around. Whatever it was it was toxic, no doubt.
In 2005, while in Iraq with 3rd ACR, our laundry was still done by military laundry service. We didn't have to pay for it though. It was done once a week, they had a Regiment (Brigade for non-cavalry units) to service, which was not often enough. Seeing soldiers walking around with salt built up on their uniforms was common. Condoms were for sale at some of the PXs, despite it being widely broadcast that sex was prohibited, but they weren't stupid. They gave us little tubes of insecticide (like a third the length of an average tube of toothpaste) that if memory serves me, had DDT in it. We avoided using it ... till we got ate up by what we were told were sand fleas. There would be hundreds of bug bites on our legs and arms that itched like crazy. I realized that if I scraped the tip of the bug bite off, it wouldn't itch anymore, but could get infected. After that, we used the insecticide. I remember after getting back, we were getting shots and asked questions by a variety of people. One medic asked if I was exposed to insecticides or DDT. I told him I did, he seemed shocked. He asked me how, I told him, "The Army gave it to us." He seemed shocked and confused by that. Spending more time off base than on, food cleanliness and nutritional needs were easy, eat an MRE.
And they probably selected her precisely because of the "girl next door" look. Just to show that they didn't have to look like stereotypical streetwalkers to be infected.
I remember some of those videos from my training as a USAF Medic. Of course, some of the material was much more graphic. A couple of guys got physically sick while watching them.
Read "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge. It's a good book that describes the absolute misery faced by Marines in the Pacific. It's downright depressing at times, but it makes you appreciate what these young men and women from around the world went through to save the world from the Axis powers.
the beginning of your video really points out a very interesting fact. As absolutely terrible and horrifying as WWII was, if spurred an unbelievable amount of innovation.
Interestingly, part of that inspired innovation was apparently the interstate highway system. Eisenhower was repeatedly frustrated by logistical troubles in western Europe and as president wanted America to be much improved in that area.
I notice Dick York (who later was best known as "Darrin" in "Bewitched") appears in a couple of the hygiene clips. I wonder if some of the clips were actually post WW2, as he was born in 1928 and he would have been quite young by 1945 when the war ended. Nonetheless, it is a very good video presentation; although it would have been good to provide the info about the long term effects of DDT.
It's facasnating the things guys had to deal with. You can study all you want. But to actually be there. I have gotten trench foot just working outside for 8 plus hours. But at least when my shift ended it was as easy as going home and changing. At least my feet started out dry at start of shift.
So not much has changed. As an Army Infantryman from 05-13, there were times I went weeks without being able to shower or clean my uniform. We would go out to the field (FTX) anywhere from a week to three weeks (longer for some other units). As a germaphobe and someone who needs to shower daily, these field trainings are my worst memories of the Army. I could deal with sleeping on the ground, being rained on and running missions all day and night . I couldn’t stand being dirty. To my surprise this didn’t seem to bother my fellow infantryman . I’ll never forget the stench that develops from weeks in the field.
Did you notice: the boy with the big ears in the sink scene, talking about water and shaving is an extremely young Dick York- from "Bewitched" fame...definitely a young man from the Hal Roach California studios...how funny...🇺🇸🌐🇺🇸
Both of my grandfathers fought in WW2; my maternal grandpa fought in Normandy and my paternal grandpa in the South Pacific. While the first died before I was born, the latter didn't speak too much about the war (for obvious reasons), though I do remember an occasional comment of "everyone smelled". So there you go.
My thanks to your Grandfathers. My Maternal Grandmother was a Holocaust Survivor. I never would have been born without your Maternal Grandfather's survive .
I love the seemingly inconsequential aspects of history. Like you think what does it matter if a GI doesn’t brush his teeth but it’s these small things that were actually vital for fighting Edit: also makes you see how vital the non combat units were
from std infected lice infested rotten flesh to dirty mud covered faces and smelly armpits, basically not much changed other than the diseases were gone and the soldiers bathed more, but they still got dirty and probably still smelled like a zoo
My grandfather was in the Battle of the Bulge; wounded, sent home, awarded Purple Heart. He only talked about the war once, for a school project I did, weeks before he dropped dead of a heart attack in 2002. His brother was in D-Day (I was told that he piloted the planes or something), but they never got along, he lived in Florida, and I only met him once. He died in 1997.
My father in law, who was part of he invasion force on Iwo Jima, said soldiers pooped in their pants since they didn't want to chance getting caught in the wild with their pants down. He said the smell from fellow soldiers was horrific! Few people know this since in our culture we are all reticent to speak about these activities, but I think it is good to know what life was REALLY like for WWII soldiers and the struggles they faced during combat.
And that was the time before everything come already prepared and just cut the bags open right? Did he taught you any tips and tricks on time savings and speed up preparation? Peeling and chopping meat and veggies without powered food processor can't be fast or easy if you don't know how.
My grandfather actually quit smoking during the war . Him and his men was ordered not to smoke because the Japanese could smell it soo they chewed RedMen tobacco.
My father was in the German army in World War II. He served in North Africa, was taken prisoner by the British, and spent several years in a POW camp in Alberta, Canada. Interestingly, he immigrated to the US in 1952, married a nice (at least, seemed nice at the time) Jewish girl, got his PhD in American Literature, and became a citizen. After reunification he was able to travel to his childhood home just outside Berlin. That meant a lot to him.
@8:17 idk why but I've always loved war posters like these. My all time favorite is an airplane that crashed into an elementary school with flames everywhere and a little child running away on fire. On the bottom it said "IT COULD HAPPEN!". It was a poster for picking up FOD (foreign object debris) which jet engines can suck up. It was so over the top. The one thing I absolutely do not miss about the Air Force is daily FOD walks where every single person walked in a line, side by side, on the flight line to pick up small objects. Most of the time we pretended to pick things up because there was absolutely nothing there.
One of my uncles was a front line tank driver who enlisted a week after Pearl Harbor. He told of one time that he didn't take his boots off for almost a month. He was either getting shot at, shooting at someone, sleeping, eating, or trying to take a shit. (His words) He said a hot shower was almost more desireable than a hot woman. LOL.
I know this is about WW11 but things didn't change much by Vietnam. In the field there was little water. Everything was brought in by Helicopter and when they couldn't get in to you, you got nothing. Trench foot was a problem since we were often walking in rice paddies. They told you to keep your feet dry but your jungle boots had ventilation holes in the sides that let water in. Many guys went with the solid black boots instead. Jungle rot was a problem. If you got a cut, scrape, or puncture, it became infected quickly and you got a painful blister that could last for weeks. Water was saved for drinking and if you got a shaving cut, jungle rot. Many guys did not shave for days. If you didn't get re d-supplied, you got water from wells and often filled your canteens from rice paddies, bugs and all. We were given pills to put in our canteens but didn't always have them and some guys never used them anyway. Same with clothes. You often didn't change for days and didn't carry any clean clothes anyway. Couple pairs of socks and maybe an extra shirt. Bathing was near impossible and you might go a week or more without cleaning yourself. The people in ww11 had our respect and I sometimes believe they had more against them then we did, but seeing this, it all sounds too familiar. The movies we saw were a joke, the cartoons were amusing but so were the others which were meant to be more serious. They were training movies from WW11 and Korea and this was 1969. One thing we all did was take the malaria pills. 2 of my friends got it and almost died.
It's really tragic how addicted to tobacco many of them became (due to stress, etc.). How many contracted lung cancer in the years that followed, I wonder?
I had a curious thought about how people through the centuries dealt with acne. These days we have all sorts of treatments to help, but do the things we eat now make our skin worse or did the lack of modern hygiene in past centuries make their acne issues worse?
Now we promote diversity and acceptance of everyone qualified or not into the military..those we're men and women people nowadays should be thankful for and strive to be
As a veteran, when I see pictures or drawings of past wars there’s one thing I think about, the stench lol. One can easily go 1-4 weeks with no shower while overseas.
My father fought in WWII. This video kind of explains the origins of some of his habits He was a staff seargent of the RailSplitters anti-tank division serving in mostly Germany... which when i think of it, is kind of awkward considering his father had been a German immigrant to the US.
My grandparents were also German immigrants and my dad joined the Army & served in Special Forces in Germany. He was sent into the country as a spy because he could speak German like a native.
STDs at the beginning of the war were treated with large amounts of mercury. Towards the end of the war treatment transitioned towards antibiotics, though the timeline is not clear.
@@stevekaczynski3793 You can find the WW2 std video on TH-cam. According to the film, there was a specialized clinic onboard ships where the soldiers were supposed to go if they had sexual contact. There were sinks designed for washing their genitals (done by a fellow soldier) and the substance they bathed their penises with didn't look like penicillin in the film. I'm guessing it was mercury.
“Remember, boys: flies spread disease, so keep yours closed.” 😂
Band of Brothers is a great show. One of the funniest lines.
For some fellows though, depending on their upbringing, that was actually rather easy to do (keep it closed). LOL.
@@curefordepression4016 when Luz tries to be funny, he usually is.
@@curefordepression4016 have you tried watching it with the sound on?
Hahahahaha
Line troops on the front lines in fox holes and trenches in battle often went as long as two to three weeks wearing the same combat uniform. In the Pacific theatre the clothes would often just tear and rot. The knees and elbows were the first to tear, buttons would break, the clothes were salt stained and jock itch was common. Foot care was hard, leather boots and brogans would rot from being wet. DDT was welcome to deal with body lice and mosquito borne malaria. Water was vital, carried in water barrels that often had previously carried gasoline or oil that was casually rinsed out. If you caught a parasite you might get dysentery which is a chronic diarrhea with cramping. There were no antibiotics until near the end of the war. Wounds were liberally doused with sulfa powder. Crush injuries and bad compound bone breaks got infected easily and led to blood poisoning/sepsis and amputations. My dad was a medic and had horrific stories. I miss him. His name was Jack and he turned 20 the summer if 1945 just as the war ended. I miss him, he was a good man🇺🇸
Important memory record...🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🌐🎟
Wow! Very interesting and informative read on this subject. I bet your dad saw everything and was most likely a very wise person and a calm one. Men who went through things like that who came back home did not tend to throw temper tantrums for things such as flat tires like their own sons and grandsons did... and great grandsons, well they are carrying purses and wearing buns on top of their heads. They would have never imagined a future like this one.
@@valfletcher9285 I completely agree with you. The World War 2 Vets would never think even in their wildest dreams that guys nowadays would be wearing there hair in buns and carrying purses like women. To each there own but some of the trends that are going on now are ridiculous.
I thank your father then for this memorial day. Thanks Jack, you made it possible for a young man like myself to grow up in this wonderful country.
@@MasterMatter couldnt have said it better myself or ANYBODY for that matter.. 100000%
“Grandpa, what did you do during the war?”
“The laundry, son...”
Many grandkids would have to access the akashaic records to ask that question.
@@peps5202 Yeah, and it’s still an important job. You just won’t see any movies being made about the 750th Laundry Division anytime soon.
@@peterliebezeit5636 "The only movie daring enough to tell THEIR story; the men of the 750th fought the tyranny of grease and blood stains! The Kamikaze attacks of weather stains! The blitzkrieg tactics of rips and tears, they were the brave men and women of the 750th, identifiable by the prune like texture of their water soaked fingers! In a movie theater near you soon!
" I shoveled shit in Louisiana , son"! Patton 1970 , starring George C. Scott
Seems like they were banging a lot too. Probably while they were waiting for their clothes to dry.
My grandfather was in WWII and was taken POW at Dieppe. He was one of the lucky ones who came home in 1945. I remember going to my grandparents house when I was 9 and he told me all about the war and how Hogan's Heroes was a complete farce. When I told him that it was a comedy he told me (very sternly) that a German POW camp was anything but funny and that he knew many friends and fellow soldiers who died there for no good reason other than they were "the enemy". I have never watched that show out of respect to Grandpa. I miss him. He died 30 years ago. I miss you Grandpa.
This video gave me a better insight as to what my grandfather may have gone through during his time in the Pacific during World War II
Sorry for your loss. I hear that the kamikaze were fierce in battle
@@neobliss2120 Scott C (op) never specifically said that his grandad died in the war.. regardless, yours was an incredibly respectful comment 🙃
Same!
@@SeanTrn Thanks!!! Honestly I assumed on the thought that all good kamikaze would have made the ultimate sacrifice. I guess I took a leap there🤓
Was he in the navy? What ship was he on.
I cared for a gentleman who served in WW2. He came home with syphilis. It didn't show symptoms until he was in his late 60's. It effected his brain and caused a massive decline in his health until he was wheelchair bound and 100% unable to care from himself. I was a paramedic who cared for him many times as I transported him to the ER for different acute episodes. It was terrible to see him decline so rapidly. He died 7+ years later and I worked his cardiac arrest. He refused a DNR because his wife wanted him to be saved. He was brave and I learned a lot about what it was like to serve. I went to his funeral. The family became our friends. It was difficult. I always thanked him for his brave service.
My Great Grandfather is just turned 98 and fought in WW2, he was stationed in Africa, Italy and Sicily. Such a great man with even better stories 🇺🇸
Hope he is still well and with us. If he is get his stories recorded before his time comes. Wish I had recorded the experiances of my family members who were in the Dust Bowl/Depression/WWII. RIP to the Greatest Generation.
RIP to all of our fallen Veterans. Mad Respect to all Veterans! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
🇺🇲
Yes respect for all veterans of this conflict too not just USA.
@@KIJIKLIPS not the Germans,
EDIT: by that I mean like hitler and the generals
Only vets that deserve respect are ww1 & ww2 vets. Vietnam vets died/fought for no reason & military people today are literally protecting nothing & are only serving higher ups who want war & power.
@@pappasmooth9051 I see how you could fell that way but Vietnam soldiers feared the domino effect, also many were drafted, or enlisted out of sheer patriotism. and soldiers now enlist because of the benifets, like money or collage and because of patriotism and loving they're country. So I think anyone brave enough to join the military should be respected.
RIP to all the fallen soldiers especially on this Memorial Weekend,Salute!🇺🇲❤️
Amen
May god bless their souls
Hope they are in better place
Bye 😭
My grandpa was a Marine during WW2 and he said the most important things to keep clean and dry are your feet.
Once Your feet get wet, You're terribly screwed, especially in Cold weather!
@@BETTERWORLDSGT 2 paire off sock s alway s in your bergham
Hygiene is hard, especially during war. Thanks Weird History. Can't wait for Timeline to appear soon.
yes! the hygiene series is back!
Never thought I’d be glad to have a hygiene series but here we are
@@Green_Stache_Productions hahahaha
UNIQUE
My grandfather was in Guadalcanal, Philippines, and the Pacific theater as a pilot. He told me all kinds of stories about running out of food, ammo, av gas, water, e.t.c. He had a silk flying suit (it's cold at higher altitudes) that would be drenched in sweat getting ready to fly in 35°C+ weather on the ground, then be cold as hell when he was flying. The only thing he had to eat for 4 days in a row was pineapple. One hell of an awesome guy.
Thank you to all our soldiers, past and present, for their sacrifices.
My grandfather served in World War 2 and I remember him telling me about having to change his socks alot. And having to watch a movie on jungle rot. I remember him telling me about playing poker with his friends on the ship on the way to Iwo Jima. He said that they would bet cigarettes when playing. Rest in peace grandpa 1923 -2016.
I was a personal care worker for a Ww2 vet. I couldn’t believe that they HAD to shave. He said it was to keep up a bit of normality and morale. Incredible
It was to prevent disease and infections. Like fleas, beard lice could transmit disease.
Too much facial hair can also compromise breathing masks used in chemical warfare. It's how Hitler was exposed to the full effects of mustard gas during WW1 and likely contributed him becoming the Hitler we all know and hate. He had his signature mustache in his older years while he had a bushy one when he was a young man.
Too much hair anywhere can get in the way of surgery, properly dressing wounds and keeping them clean. It's why vets shave animals in the areas they're going to operate on and the directions for their owners afterwards requiring daily wipings so no bacteria can accumulate there and cause infections while it's still healing.
@@MsKeroseneLamp Is that what they told you? Or did you read about it?
As far as I know, all branches of the military have to shave still. I was in the navy and the only time we were allowed to stopped shaving was when we were at sea for roughly 30 days and it was approved by the CO.
@@JeffReams US sure, but there's exceptions outside of that. Canadian snipers often have big beards.
Soldiers had to shave even sure the Gulf War. Maintain standards and ensured your mask fit correctly:) Yes, I was there
My grandfather was 16 when he joined the British army in WW1. He suffered from pyorrhoea of the mouth due to poor oral hygiene. He ended up having all his teeth extracted. He also described the smell of trenches unbearable due to dead bodies, rats, mud, rain and and overflowing toilet holes. He raised me from age four and died when he was 90. RIP. ❤
Sounds like your grandfather was a badass. Hail from Texas!
Graeme, I don't know if you've seen "Boardwalk Empire", but the character James Darmody describes WWI as a living, breathing, relentless nightmare...
Sorry you lost your grandfather....
I haven’t seen it Di. I’ll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for your kind words too. ❤️
The first thing I learned before going on my first field exercises was to buy baby wipes. You always knew when a unit was getting ready to the field when the shoppet was sold out of baby wipes and beef jerky.
and there were no such things for the wars previously
@@cyndywest okay, where did I say there were? All I did was give my experience.
Where the baby wipes like to replace toilet paper/wash rags?
@@TunTheOfficial it was mostly to clean the important areas. If we were going out to the field for a week or two it wasn’t guaranteed that we were going to have a chance to take a shower.
@@kenyattaclay7666 oh that makes sense
Feminine hygiene through the ages.
I asked the same question!!!. I know the American Indians would use moss bc it’s not only sanitary and hygienic, it was everywhere. Not to be too gross, my mom said back in the 50s in ky, the used actual rags and were excused from school for a week. We are so lucky. I thank Jesus when I turn on my water and electric bc we take it all for granted.
@@debrabarnhardt1103 💯
@@debrabarnhardt1103
If menstruation is belitteling you, then just stop bleeding lmao.
Seriously, I feel like I have to answer stupidity with even more stupidity, a languqage you clearly master.
I don't give a f*ck it's natural, it's still f*cking gross.
You wouldn't want to hear how men deal with their things also. If menstruation is constraining you, then I really don't know what to tell you other than grow up ans stop being a little spoiled feminist beech.
Cunnilingus!
I would like to know in wich civilizations women shaved their armpits and private parts lol 😄 (I know Anc.Egipt was one)
Can u do a video about the gold rush era and the miners?
My great-grandpa was a Soviet WWII soldier who had completed the whole war till Berlin and died in 2005, so I remember him well. He left some kind of a diary which he had been writing during the defense of Stalingrad (Volgograd nowadays), and he said there wasn’t even pure water to drink, and people were starving. In an occupied Leningrad (St.-Petersburg now) people had to eat rats, mice and even cats, a lot of people died from hunger there.
My grandpa, who’s 82 now, lived in Kiev, Ukraine, and says there was absolutely nothing to eat after the war ended. For me, born in 90s, it’s hard to imagine, but he says that “we live like the kings” comparing with his childhood.
Damn was your grandfather involved in the invasion of Berlin at the end of the war? I bet he has stories
@@WhoIsRuccaz no, not my grandpa, but my grandmother’s dad. He died in 2005 in the age of 85. But yes, he was. He was a Soviet soldier.
i wish i could have talked him...i'm fascinated with russian history...so much to learn from it
Wash regularly, change socks often, avoid std/sti’s. Sounds like a high school health class.
Thanks for another great video Weird History.
Happy Memorial Day everyone
And don't forget your daily DDT spray! LOL.
@ Thunderbird 1
Thanks! I thought I was forgetting something.
Most of our brave men that faught for our freedoms were just out of highschool or even still in highschool, soooooo what's your point?
I was one of them, to be honest.
My point was that it’s a lot of the same information. That’s all.
Have a nice day.
@@adamjenks9613 ahh, alrighty. You too mate
For some reason, this reminded me of my grandfather chastising me at church when I was 17 and not clean shaven. He told me he broke through iced over water to shave while serving in Belgium during WW2. I thought he was just acting tough and looking for a reason to criticize until I read Dick Winters book and watched Band of Brothers episodes covering the Battle of the Bulge. I was shocked and embarrassed. I never went to church unshaven again until I was older and married and started wearing a full beard. But I still to this day, 30 years later, make sure my beard is freshly trimmed and neck is clean shaven. Funny things you remember.
well at least you can have a beard... ive been active duty for 8 years now. I've been forced to have a baby face the entire time. Fun fact: the US military is one of the only militaries that do not allow beards in modern times. Only way you'll see a bearded US military member is if they got a shaving waiver for getting severe bumps breakouts from shaving.
The idf would probably be the best to be in. Less regimentation and beards galore
Also singing and dancing
And plenty of female soldiers
@@angloaust1575 some spec ops waive grooming standard it seems.
@@Idk910 thanks for standing a post bro. Stay safe.
@@Idk910 or religion. Didn’t the US military start allowing Sikh members to have beards as long they’re neatly trimmed?
I love snafu and Mac. I watch them on my Streamstalgia Sundays to look back at old media. As a veteran it's cool to see the evolution of training media.
A good friend of mine was a GI in Vietnam. When he went off on mission, I asked him if he carried enough
clean water for several days and he said he did. He said it was cumbersome, but it beat the heck outta putting an iodine tablet in the nastiest water he'd ever seen
My father served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW2 . Maybe this was one of the reasons why he was so meticulous about hygiene ?
Ask any GI about staying clean or trying to stay clean. My dad served in both WW2 and Korea and still remembered how soldiers tried to be clean under field conditions. The mantra of wash regularly, change underwear, change socks and avoid stds was part of training. Ask an ex G.I. about the ' bird bath' . This was when one has just enough clean water to fill a helmet.
When I say I’m interested in historical war this is what I mean. It’s fascinating how the military really made its own self contained society at this period
You should do a dating series! Like: “What was dating like in the medieval period.” Or “What was dating like as a Viking” etc
I doubt it.
@@carteriffic1681 yea they probably won’t but the idea is cool lol
She would say yes or the club over the head would do the speaking
How it was like to date in the medieval period: I'll give you three cows for your daughter
Rough times for the lady.
Viking: "sit, eat!"
Peasant: "want some gruel?"
In the World History classes I support at the high school (I'm a Bilingual Teaching Assistant), we have been studying WWII. I sent the link to this fascinating video to theteachers. I found especially interesting the lengths gone to to prevent the horrors of trench foot, which was covered in the classes when we were studying WWI. Thank you so much for this fascinating information!
It was also fun to see some familiar faces...like that of Dick York who went on to star on t.v. in "Bewitched." I think I saw Wendell Corey in one of the clips, too!
My dad served in Germany from 44-46. He didn't smoke and would trade his cigs for candy with the other guys in his troop.
I’m glad your dad made it back safe and am thankful for his service.
Smart man!
So did my grandpa! He traded for the cigs then sold them for a profit to send money home to my grandma who had just had their first baby, my uncle David!
That’s me during field training. I would buy cigarettes and trade them for people doing my work, food and other luxuries lol
Smart move
Thanks WH you never fail to amaze and amuse!...Is that "Durwood" from the Bewitched series?!....RIP Dick York.
It certainly is Richard "Dick" York himself. Classic character in Bewitched but such a sad ending for the young actor and severe back pain.
My Dad (WW2 veteran) said he had a shaker of DDT that he used on bedding and cloths. He said it was necessary. When it banned in the '60, he still was glad they had it.
My grandfather fought in ww2 and in Korea. Died in 2007, memorial day here in America we gotta pay our respects. Oh and I have his uniform he fought in
Didn't mention going to the bathroom and the difficulty war presents for that activity. My late uncle served in WW2. God Bless all those who served.
This channel is great!
Yeah, they also have a facebook page but its comment section is rotten with idiots lol, their youtube is a lot better
Darn shame they didn't teach nothing like this in school. Would have made history class a hell of a lot more interesting
This channel is very informative.
"Would you have made it as a soldier from ww2?"
Me: I'm already struggling to make it to the weekend.
When my Papa was serving in Germany and the camps had been liberated, the US soldiers tried to give the survivors their rations but most refused because they didn’t have anything to offer in exchange. The US soldiers didn’t want to trade but the survivors still had their dignity and largely refused the offers. That story, along with all the others, will always haunt me.
Awesome!! Love this channel!
Great and fascinating insight about hygiene of WWII. This is something.
In our city, I remember trucks going up and down our streets spraying DDT on every tree in sight. We got sprayed, too.
Same here. As a kid I lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba and trucks would drive slowly down the streets spraying everything with DDT. Never saw any dead birds or any bad things. 75 now and no affects except malaria is now the top killer in the world.
ddt is the main ingredient in mosquito repellent, but its not used to kill them anymore because they basically evolved to become immune to it
Really interesting video, thanks!
We used to get DDT spray in the category of mosquito control. Both spray from planes and fog from trucks.
I don't know what the spray was but in Mississippi in the 80's the trucks would come through the neighborhood spraying mosquito spray and we'd ride our bikes behind it and follow it around. Whatever it was it was toxic, no doubt.
@@kyriljordanov2086 I don't know about the 80s, but in the 60s in S Florida we also rode our bikes in the cloud of fog behind the truck 😄
In 2005, while in Iraq with 3rd ACR, our laundry was still done by military laundry service. We didn't have to pay for it though. It was done once a week, they had a Regiment (Brigade for non-cavalry units) to service, which was not often enough. Seeing soldiers walking around with salt built up on their uniforms was common. Condoms were for sale at some of the PXs, despite it being widely broadcast that sex was prohibited, but they weren't stupid. They gave us little tubes of insecticide (like a third the length of an average tube of toothpaste) that if memory serves me, had DDT in it. We avoided using it ... till we got ate up by what we were told were sand fleas. There would be hundreds of bug bites on our legs and arms that itched like crazy. I realized that if I scraped the tip of the bug bite off, it wouldn't itch anymore, but could get infected. After that, we used the insecticide. I remember after getting back, we were getting shots and asked questions by a variety of people. One medic asked if I was exposed to insecticides or DDT. I told him I did, he seemed shocked. He asked me how, I told him, "The Army gave it to us." He seemed shocked and confused by that. Spending more time off base than on, food cleanliness and nutritional needs were easy, eat an MRE.
I need a face reveal from the narrator he’s funny ... I love this channel ❤️
I think he also does V/O for Duracell ads too
He is the best!! I love this channel too!!❤🤣❤🤣
He kinda sounds like Steven Colbert. I know its not but to me they sound similar.
He doesn't look how he sounds lol
Right? Even as a straight guy I'm curious about the face to fit this sexy voice... I could listen to homeboy's PERFECT annunciation all day!
Thanks for doing my video suggestion!
5:00 Imagine thinking you’re modelling for a magazine but they end up using your picture for syphilis & gonorrhoea awareness 🥲
Like Joey from Friends. Lmao.
@@kareemkhederoo4092 So much for her film career...
Be a stock-photo model, they said. What could go wrong, they said.
And they probably selected her precisely because of the "girl next door" look. Just to show that they didn't have to look like stereotypical streetwalkers to be infected.
I don't think she was a model. I think she was the actual good time girl.
I remember some of those videos from my training as a USAF Medic. Of course, some of the material was much more graphic. A couple of guys got physically sick while watching them.
Read "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge. It's a good book that describes the absolute misery faced by Marines in the Pacific. It's downright depressing at times, but it makes you appreciate what these young men and women from around the world went through to save the world from the Axis powers.
His story is depicted in the series, The Pacific.
@@jasonroberts6080 Indeed
the beginning of your video really points out a very interesting fact. As absolutely terrible and horrifying as WWII was, if spurred an unbelievable amount of innovation.
Interestingly, part of that inspired innovation was apparently the interstate highway system. Eisenhower was repeatedly frustrated by logistical troubles in western Europe and as president wanted America to be much improved in that area.
Yeah that’s why I think anti-war songs like “war” by Eddie Starr are pretty ignorant.
Have u seen the progress of plane development during ww1
I notice Dick York (who later was best known as "Darrin" in "Bewitched") appears in a couple of the hygiene clips. I wonder if some of the clips were actually post WW2, as he was born in 1928 and he would have been quite young by 1945 when the war ended. Nonetheless, it is a very good video presentation; although it would have been good to provide the info about the long term effects of DDT.
spot on...I too thought that and confirmed via another video about "insomnia" and this was Mr. York's first "credit" (dick york wikipedia)
It's facasnating the things guys had to deal with. You can study all you want. But to actually be there. I have gotten trench foot just working outside for 8 plus hours. But at least when my shift ended it was as easy as going home and changing. At least my feet started out dry at start of shift.
That was one of the best reports I have ever seen on your channel!
TIMELIME 1995 UPDATE PLEASE. THANK YOU WEIRD HISTORY. I’M LOVIN IT.
I've been told that it will start next week. Don't know if that is accurate though
Yeah, I wish they’d update on the delays and schedules more often.
A+ video!
LOVE IT! What a fascinating topic and video, a lot to think about!
Can do what hygiene was like for soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars?
No
@@redsnoopy8793 No one ask you
I ask my self
So someone did ask hahhaha
@@redsnoopy8793 No you didn't
I luv this channel a lot! Thank for your valuable information😄❤
So not much has changed. As an Army Infantryman from 05-13, there were times I went weeks without being able to shower or clean my uniform. We would go out to the field (FTX) anywhere from a week to three weeks (longer for some other units). As a germaphobe and someone who needs to shower daily, these field trainings are my worst memories of the Army. I could deal with sleeping on the ground, being rained on and running missions all day and night . I couldn’t stand being dirty. To my surprise this didn’t seem to bother my fellow infantryman . I’ll never forget the stench that develops from weeks in the field.
Did you notice: the boy with the big ears in the sink scene, talking about water and shaving is an extremely young Dick York- from "Bewitched" fame...definitely a young man from the Hal Roach California studios...how funny...🇺🇸🌐🇺🇸
I thought he looked familiar.
You're right! Before he got "Bewitched".
Noticed that right away😁
Derwood
I came to the comments specifically to see if anybody else noticed!
Now I get to hear about what hygiene was like for my grandfather rip and his brother
Both of my grandfathers fought in WW2; my maternal grandpa fought in Normandy and my paternal grandpa in the South Pacific. While the first died before I was born, the latter didn't speak too much about the war (for obvious reasons), though I do remember an occasional comment of "everyone smelled". So there you go.
My thanks to your Grandfathers. My Maternal Grandmother was a Holocaust Survivor. I never would have been born without your Maternal Grandfather's survive .
Anybody else notice the young fella in the training videos is Dick York who played the first Darren Stevens in Bewitched?🤔🦋♥️🦋
Wow I didn't realize that was him
I noticed that
yeah, I had to check and see if anybody caught that. Good eye!
Thank you for making my workouts just a little easier and my kids love your channel!
I love the seemingly inconsequential aspects of history. Like you think what does it matter if a GI doesn’t brush his teeth but it’s these small things that were actually vital for fighting
Edit: also makes you see how vital the non combat units were
Honestly, I love this series.
You should do a full comparison of hygiene between ww1 and ww2!
Covered in poop not covered in poop
from std infected lice infested rotten flesh to dirty mud covered faces and smelly armpits, basically not much changed other than the diseases were gone and the soldiers bathed more, but they still got dirty and probably still smelled like a zoo
Love your videos!! Love from 🇵🇭!!
Love this channel
My grandfather was in the Battle of the Bulge; wounded, sent home, awarded Purple Heart. He only talked about the war once, for a school project I did, weeks before he dropped dead of a heart attack in 2002.
His brother was in D-Day (I was told that he piloted the planes or something), but they never got along, he lived in Florida, and I only met him once. He died in 1997.
My father in law, who was part of he invasion force on Iwo Jima, said soldiers pooped in their pants since they didn't want to chance getting caught in the wild with their pants down. He said the smell from fellow soldiers was horrific! Few people know this since in our culture we are all reticent to speak about these activities, but I think it is good to know what life was REALLY like for WWII soldiers and the struggles they faced during combat.
Gross, probably should of taken the weapons from those ones.
Dad cooked for 5K troops bound for home Imagine cooking for 5,000 men in one sitting pretty AWESOME
And that was the time before everything come already prepared and just cut the bags open right?
Did he taught you any tips and tricks on time savings and speed up preparation? Peeling and chopping meat and veggies without powered food processor can't be fast or easy if you don't know how.
Thank the troops who passed to give us the freedom we have here in America. Happy Memorial day
Thank you very much for this perfect video ♡
My grandfather actually quit smoking during the war . Him and his men was ordered not to smoke because the Japanese could smell it soo they chewed RedMen tobacco.
My father was in the German army in World War II. He served in North Africa, was taken prisoner by the British, and spent several years in a POW camp in Alberta, Canada. Interestingly, he immigrated to the US in 1952, married a nice (at least, seemed nice at the time) Jewish girl, got his PhD in American Literature, and became a citizen. After reunification he was able to travel to his childhood home just outside Berlin. That meant a lot to him.
The book “Silent Spring” was what took DDT off the shelves across the world. Crazy stuff
I always heard: "WAR IS HELL." God bless anyone and everyone who had to go fight. I salute you.
please do the 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999 timeline on
weird history
No Jeff
@8:17 idk why but I've always loved war posters like these. My all time favorite is an airplane that crashed into an elementary school with flames everywhere and a little child running away on fire. On the bottom it said "IT COULD HAPPEN!". It was a poster for picking up FOD (foreign object debris) which jet engines can suck up. It was so over the top. The one thing I absolutely do not miss about the Air Force is daily FOD walks where every single person walked in a line, side by side, on the flight line to pick up small objects. Most of the time we pretended to pick things up because there was absolutely nothing there.
One of my uncles was a front line tank driver who enlisted a week after Pearl Harbor. He told of one time that he didn't take his boots off for almost a month. He was either getting shot at, shooting at someone, sleeping, eating, or trying to take a shit. (His words) He said a hot shower was almost more desireable than a hot woman. LOL.
I know this is about WW11 but things didn't change much by Vietnam. In the field there was little water. Everything was brought in by Helicopter and when they couldn't get in to you, you got nothing. Trench foot was a problem since we were often walking in rice paddies. They told you to keep your feet dry but your jungle boots had ventilation holes in the sides that let water in. Many guys went with the solid black boots instead. Jungle rot was a problem. If you got a cut, scrape, or puncture, it became infected quickly and you got a painful blister that could last for weeks. Water was saved for drinking and if you got a shaving cut, jungle rot. Many guys did not shave for days. If you didn't get re d-supplied, you got water from wells and often filled your canteens from rice paddies, bugs and all. We were given pills to put in our canteens but didn't always have them and some guys never used them anyway. Same with clothes. You often didn't change for days and didn't carry any clean clothes anyway. Couple pairs of socks and maybe an extra shirt. Bathing was near impossible and you might go a week or more without cleaning yourself. The people in ww11 had our respect and I sometimes believe they had more against them then we did, but seeing this, it all sounds too familiar. The movies we saw were a joke, the cartoons were amusing but so were the others which were meant to be more serious. They were training movies from WW11 and Korea and this was 1969. One thing we all did was take the malaria pills. 2 of my friends got it and almost died.
Wish this guy narrated more things or read audio books
His name is Steven host of the greatest late night show ever!
@@jacobwilhelmjacobwilelm3485 what show would that be and Steven who?
@@jacobwilhelmjacobwilelm3485 that's not him
Very good narrating. Thanks for the great videos
They probably smelled like beans and tobbaco
Well for my great grandpa that smell carried well into the 21 century
@@lidsmccovered2498 my grandpa smelt like someone comforting
It's really tragic how addicted to tobacco many of them became (due to stress, etc.). How many contracted lung cancer in the years that followed, I wonder?
I’d say they smelled like a whole lot more than just that. You’d pick up a lot of smells during the war.
Smelled like sweat, dirt, gunpowder/cordite and the clingy odor of decomposing bodies, shit and blood from bodies that were blown up.
I had a curious thought about how people through the centuries dealt with acne. These days we have all sorts of treatments to help, but do the things we eat now make our skin worse or did the lack of modern hygiene in past centuries make their acne issues worse?
we have way more aceess to processed foods and sugars so im pretty sure its worse for us, but ya thats an interesting question
Now we promote diversity and acceptance of everyone qualified or not into the military..those we're men and women people nowadays should be thankful for and strive to be
Your humor and voice made me a happy subscriber ❤️from Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 God bless
As a veteran, when I see pictures or drawings of past wars there’s one thing I think about, the stench lol. One can easily go 1-4 weeks with no shower while overseas.
Informative. Thanks.
I’d love to see a video on hygiene during prehistoric times
I’ve often thought about that
Can you do one on what soldiers are during the Vietnam war please? Huge fan! Always been a history nerd lol.
I like these type of videos they interest me
Amazing channel 🍻🍻🍻 I wonder how many people work on these kind of videos... Unknown heroes!
My father fought in WWII. This video kind of explains the origins of some of his habits
He was a staff seargent of the RailSplitters anti-tank division serving in mostly Germany...
which when i think of it, is kind of awkward considering his father had been a German immigrant to the US.
My grandparents were also German immigrants and my dad joined the Army & served in Special Forces in Germany. He was sent into the country as a spy because he could speak German like a native.
My dad was in WW2. He told us once that he changed his socks everyday, no matter what. Goid advice for everyone.
Do a video on what the training course was dying ww2 for medics that’s would b very interesting I used to b an EMT soo it’s interesting for me
STDs at the beginning of the war were treated with large amounts of mercury. Towards the end of the war treatment transitioned towards antibiotics, though the timeline is not clear.
By 1944 penicillin was openly being advertised for gonorrhoea. There is a photo on Wikipedia re penicillin.
@@stevekaczynski3793 You can find the WW2 std video on TH-cam. According to the film, there was a specialized clinic onboard ships where the soldiers were supposed to go if they had sexual contact. There were sinks designed for washing their genitals (done by a fellow soldier) and the substance they bathed their penises with didn't look like penicillin in the film. I'm guessing it was mercury.
Are you guys gonna finish the 90s timeline? It's been a month since 1994
He said he would post the 2nd half of the 90’s in June a couple of episodes ago.
Actually 317 months ago but who is counting...? 😜😉🤣
I need you to narrate my life, sir. 😊😊 As always, love the video!