Whats Up with the marine helmet cover on Sgt Saunders ?

Marion,

I love the show. I'm so glad that it is still aired along with "Galant Men", which takes place in Italy.

Here is another great link:

CombatFan.com

This site has forums, bloopers and names of all the episodes. Good info to get you motivated to watch it more closely. AND the forum answers Jiggers question.

Quoting from Forum:

Answer:

1) Because it's not a Marine helmet. It's a standard issue helmet that has Camoflage parachute silk over it. This was something that soldiers in Normandy were known to do -- photos from the period exist of this addition soldiers made to their standard issue.

2) It makes it easier to keep track of Saunders in the battle sequences.

Another reader stated:

As a child, the "urban myths" to explain this error were as follows:

1. Sgt Saunders was supposed to have been prior service Marine Corps and had been sent to Europe because he was either in the Philippines or Pearl Harbor when they were attacked. He had a grudge against the Japanese, so he was transferred to the Army in Europe.

2. Sgt. Saunders' brother was a Marine, who was killed in the Pacific, and brother Chip is wearing his "colors" in tribute.

3. Vic Morrow was,himself, a Marine and decided to wear it, despite its being incongruous, because it looked "cool."

Several points. First of all, the helmet camo cover that Saunders had was a genuine Army issue... same as mine was when I was in in the late 1970s... so, that's where it came from in reality. In point of fact, there are indeed pictures of ETO GIs with camo covers on their helmets, although generally of a different pattern, ie. something from the 1940s, not the 1960s (as it was then-current issue). Interestingly, in one episode, Kirby ends up wearing the helmet belonging to last season regular William Bryant (McCall), who wore a wide "rubber band" cut from a tire inner tube around it to hold foliage, etc. Sometimes, even the prop and wardrobe people screw up... only you didn't hear that from me!!!

As I understand it, camo uniforms were also issued to ARMY units but were quickly discarded by the troops themselves because of their similarity to Waffen SS camo uniforms, and the fact that soooo many mixups occured (i.e. friendly fire). I dont think the Army had to ban them - nobody wanted to wear them!

Then it finally ends with someone summing up that it was a way that Hollywood would make Vic Morrow's character stand out from the others.

Reference Source: "U.S. Combat Helmets of the 20th Century" (September 1997), ISBN 0-7643-0357-0, Hardcover with 108 pages including over 250 photographs, $39.95 from Schiffer Publishing.

Steve

As I understand it, camo uniforms were also issued to ARMY units but were quickly discarded by the troops themselves because of their similarity to Waffen SS camo uniforms, and the fact that soooo many mixups occured (i.e. friendly fire). I dont think the Army had to ban them - nobody wanted to wear them!

Quite right there Steve! Too many friendly fire incidences and that came quickly to a halt! Good idea gone bad...

Ah, I was on the combat fan site just this morning. Great minds DO think alike.

I have a Vietnam era cover that is brown camo on the inside . It looks just like Sgt. Saunders.

Geez, this guy gets around...

You never know when I will get back to Michigan !

Okay and bring the Sarge too.

That is a possibility as we have friends in Richland and Grand Rapids MI. I would be traveling with two Troopers from South Philly so back OFF.

Am I invited too? Miss ya Tony and I still havent gotten your package in the mail. Taylor is home for this week before he goes to Iraq so I have been pre occupied with fun...

As long as you can drink beer Cindy. The Richland Pub is the supposed target , now if we can only get a certain Irishman out of South Philly for a weekend.

I guess it was a good thing that our TV reception was not that good. We could get only 1 channel but sometimes we could get 3. "Combat" was on one with the poor reception. I remember watching it on occasion. If I had been able to watch more of it, there is no telling what we would have done.

I remember collecting bubble gum cards of COMBAT series. I don't know what ever became of these. They were in color and really cool.

As a kid, we loved to "Play Army". With the helmets and stuff my Dad brought back from the war, it got pretty serious, too.

Steve

Yours truly in my early days of Playing Army. I'm wearing the German Police helmet and rows and rows of my Dad's ribbons and medals. Behind my tent, I was flying the Nazi flag he liberated. (No, that is not a real gun.)

We received two disks from the 2nd season from NetFlix, and the second show on the first disk was about combat engineers. The platoon was to accompany this grumpy and stern combat engineer on a mission to blow up a foot bridge. Seems this engineer had seen action in North Africa, Sicily and Italy and was now in France.

It started off and I'm saying, cool, combat engineers!

Was that Combat Engineer Lee Marvin? Great episode!

DD

Yes, he was the cantankerous combat engineer!

I recently purchased Combat The Complete Series, a 40 disc DVD set. My dad never missed it and I could always be found watching it with him. Like I had a choice So I became a fan, especially of Sgt. Saunders. I'm doing my very own New Year's Combat Marathon and I've just watched a retty good episode. The following episode review is from the website:

http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/main.html

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Reviews of the TV Show COMBAT! by Jo Davidsmeyer

Episodes are rated from 0 to 4 bayonets

(034) Bridge at Chalons

Rating:

3½ bayonets

Written by Bob & Esther Mitchell

Directed by Ted Post

First aired 17-Sep-1963 (Episode 1 of Season 2)

Produced by Gene Levitt

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SYNOPSIS:

On a mission with a hard-nosed demolition expert (Sgt. Turk, played by Lee Marvin), Saunders mother-hen's his men, and in the end, even Sergeant Turk. While behind enemy lines, Turk shows his contempt for the squad's ineptitude and a mutual hatred develops between the sergeants. Saunders' men are picked off one by one, until only the two sergeants remain to complete the mission.

REVIEW:

Guest Star Lee Marvin is superb as the sergeant-with-an-attitude who makes Saunders' life miserable. Marvin was larger than life both on camera and off.

Rick Jason was surprised to see Marvin do a guest stint. After a three-year run as star of the series "M Squad," in which he was to share in the profits, Marvin should not have needed the money. But Marvin confided in Jason that the books for the series showed no profits, so Lee Marvin was again working series, but trying to select only good shows.

An ex-Marine, Lee Marvin brought touches of realism to his role. Marvin saw action in WWII in the Pacific and was wounded in the battle of Saipan. In "Bridge at Chalons," he is completely natural as a man of arms. He holds his weapon like someone familiar with the feel. He added the rubber inner tube around his helmet, just as he had done with his own helmet in the Pacific.

ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:

When asked about guest stars on the show, Lee Marvin is the first one all the actors and crew mention. "I always thought Lee Marvin was so cool," says Tom Lowell. "The way he came in and had his rifle slung that way. Remember the way he had his elbows looped through the strap. That was so cool. I tried to do that for every show after that and Dick would look down at me and say, 'Don't even try it.' After Lee Marvin came on, everyone wanted a rubber band wrapped around their helmet."

Jack Hogan about Lee Marvin: "I remember Lee Marvin as one of the most bright military guys and a fantastic actor. After work, the Retake Room (a bar just off the MGM lot behind the Thalberg building) was busy when he was there."

"Lee Marvin was a kick in the tail," says Conlan Carter. "He was a piece of work, boy. The fun part of him was not so much in the acting, though he was good and he did what he did well. But he was a hard drinker. After the shoot was over for the day, man, could he put them down. Tell the stories! And he had incredible recovery. He could drink to one, two, three o'clock in the morning and show up on the set the next day and look like he'd never been out."

Georg Fenady says, "I was still an assistant then. I made the mistake of trying to stay with him one night. That man had a hollow leg. At two o'clock in the morning I'm staggering out to my car and he says 'Where are you going, I know a place to go.' I said, 'Lee, we have to get up in two hours.' I left him, and he went wherever he went. The next day, at seven in the morning, he put on all of his equipment -- backpack, helmet, and rifle -- and stood three feet from the camera all day, standing tall. Incredible. What an interesting man. A really interesting man."

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:

Sarge starts out the day with a holstered .45 and a sheathed bayonet on his belt. Later the bayonet has disappeared.

While carrying Turk back on the stretcher, Sarge's Tommy gun is on his left shoulder. After he sets the stretcher down, it's on his right shoulder.

The pontoon bridge is also seen in "One More For the Road" and blown up for a second time in "Command."

The French barnyard is the same one in "The Squad."

Filmed on the MGM backlot and at Franklin Canyon.

"My favorite Ted Post story," says Dick Peabody, "is the one with Lee Marvin. A two-shot between Vic and Lee. They did the scene and Ted said, 'Okay. Cut. Print.' And Vic said, 'Ted, are you out of your mind? Don't you realize I flubbed that whole last sentence?' And Ted said, 'I 'm sorry, Vic. I wasn't listening.' He was reading the Hollywood Reporter while the scene was going on. Paying absolutely no attention. As I recall, that was end of Ted Post on Combat!"

CAST:

Vic Morrow as Sgt. Saunders

Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley

Guest Star Lee Marvin as Sgt. Turk

Jack Hogan as Kirby

Pierre Jalbert as Caje

Tom Lowell as Billy

Dick Peabody as Littlejohn

Conlan Carter as Doc

Lee Kreiger as Capt. McQuillan

Rudy Hanson as German Leader

Peter Helman as German

Kurt Landon as Other German

Donald Ein as German Corporal

Mathais Uitz as 1st German Cyclist

Heinz Sadler as 2nd German Cyclist

Chris Anders as 1st Bridge German

Deiter Jacoby as 2nd Bridge German

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